October, 1917 
25 
itself. Their roots will promptly reach out and 
into it for the food that is necessary to growth, 
while the bulb itself will be secure from the 
killing dampness that is so sure to rot it. 
Bulbs can be grown in practically any soil, if 
planted in this way. 
The use of a fertilizer rich in phosphate is 
desirable, just as with all flowering plants; 
but great care must be taken to prevent direct 
contact between bulbs and manure of any kind. 
In this connection “bulb” means the entire 
class of plants—rhizome, bulb, corm and tuber. 
Manure is one of the richest phosphate mate¬ 
rials; but manure also is very alkaline, and 
burns. If it touches the bulb itself, it is almost 
sure to kill it. The only safe way to apply 
it, when planting is being done, is to mix it 
through the earth beneath and around the 
place the bulb is to occupy, where the feeding 
roots will reach it as they grow. Well estab¬ 
lished bulbs may have it worked in over them 
in the spring, but even with these it should not 
be worked deep enough so that it reaches the 
bulbs themselves. 
My own preference is for bone-meal, for 
bulbs as well as for all other flowering plants. 
This supplies in concentrated form the element 
—phosphate—which goes especially into the 
building of flowers; and it is perfectly harm¬ 
less, unless used in too extravagant quantities. 
This should be applied, a level handful to a 
bulb, on the ground above them. Rains will 
leach it down as fast as the bulbs can use it. 
The Size to Buy 
Bearing in mind that bulbous plants make 
and store one season all the flowers of the 
next, you will readily understand that under¬ 
sized bulbs are not “well stored.” In other 
words, they are immature, and consequently 
cannot furnish the maximum number of blos¬ 
soms when next summer comes, no matter what 
you fertilize them with nor how carefully you 
tend them afterward. 
It is usually difficult to persuade those un¬ 
familiar with this characteristic that small 
bulbs—which look just as vigorous and are as 
vigorous, as a matter of fact, as the large sizes 
or “firsts”—?ire sure to be a disappointment 
the first season if not the second. Of course, 
the smallest bulbs that are ever offered will 
grow to maturity in time, if properly treated, 
and will then bloom abundantly; so it is per¬ 
fectly all right to invest in them if you are not 
looking for immediate results. 
The time required for a bulblet to grow up 
and become an independent, well stored bulb 
varies with different varieties, the finest hya¬ 
cinths being cultivated from four to six years 
by the Dutch growers before they are ready 
for the market. These are then at the height 
of their development, and will produce their 
maximum bloom the season after planting. 
The year following this, however, they may 
not blossom at all; for, having reached their 
prime, they turn all their energies the next 
year into making offsets below ground, instead 
of dividing them to make a display above. 
And such a bulb will usually send out a great 
number of tiny bulblets the season following 
its maximum bloom, and itself feed these until 
they are sturdy and strong and it is nothing 
but a dried up husk. These bulblets in turn 
grow to maturity, the strongest requiring per¬ 
haps two years to arrive at the stage of a single 
little flower stalk. From this small beginning 
they go on to their prime, and then in turn 
develop more offsets. 
This is the life cycle of all bulbs. Those 
left permanently in the ground carry on this 
process continually, and there are always 
enough old ones to provide blossoms, while 
the younger generation is developing to take 
up the work in its turn, as the older ones die. 
This is the reason why bulbs naturalized 
or massed in permanent planting should not 
be disturbed any oftener than they show crowd¬ 
ing and demand thinning out. As long as a 
hardy bulb plant does well, leave it alone; 
allow three summers after the initial planting, 
however, to determine whether or not it is 
“doing well.” After this length of time be 
sure something is wrong unless it increases in 
vigor; in the autumn, therefore, dig it up, ex¬ 
amine it, and replant where you think condi¬ 
tions will be more nearly to its liking. 
How to Plant 
Old and established clumps usually need 
lifting and dividing about every fourth year, 
owing to the crowding caused by their mul¬ 
tiplication. In replanting these, plant all the 
sizes that you find in the clump, simply reduc¬ 
ing the number of these and separating them 
enough to give each room enough to grow. 
First size bulbs will give the maximum number 
of flow’ers; “seconds,” about half this. For 
naturalizing, however, it is better to choose the 
latter, and thus secure uninterrupted bloom 
from the first season on. 
All bulbs should be planted about once and 
a half their own depth. This is the safest gen¬ 
eral rule, though it is rather startling to find 
that it brings certain large bulbs quite 15" 
below the ground. This is not too much, how¬ 
ever, for these; so go ahead. All bulbous 
plants like their roots to be cool; and of course 
depth is the only guarantee of coolness—depth 
and shade. Many of the tribe cannot live at 
all if the hot, midsummer sun shines on the 
ground over them, though they like it shining 
on their leaves and flowers. 
It is a wise precaution to dust lily bulbs 
(Continued on page 64) 
A good place for 
naturalizing and other 
informal planting is 
the margin of streams 
or pools where a cer¬ 
tain degree of irregu¬ 
larity prevails 
Poet’s narcissus, ex¬ 
quisitely formed and 
scented, embodies 
much of the hide fina¬ 
ble charm character¬ 
istic of most of the 
spring bidbs 
And there are the al¬ 
ways welcome tulips, 
especially well adapted 
to planting in regular 
beds. Be cautious, 
however, in adopting 
fancy design beds 
