4 
ELLIOTT NURSERY COMPANY, PITTSBURG, PA. 
spring-flowering bulbs on an average with about 
an inch and a half of soil, and lilies are planted 
about six inches deep. Years ago, when 1 used 
to plant bulbs myself and found that the trowel- 
handle soon blistered my hands, I used a tool 
for planting bulbs. It was made by taking a 
piece of brass or wrought-iron pipe two feet 
long and an inch and a half or two inches in 
diameter. One end of this was ground to a sharp 
and cutting edge; on the other end was placed a 
fitting, which, I believe, is called a "cross”; in two 
openings of this cross were placed short pieces of 
pipe for handles; in the pipe was placed a round 
piece of wood, a little smaller than the pipe and a 
few inches longer, and a nail was driven in one 
end of this to keep it from falling out. This tool 
was used by pressing the sharpened end of the pipe 
into the ground the depth desired to plant the bulb; 
it was then removed and carried with it a piece of 
sod with the soil; the bulb was then dropped into 
the hole, the tool placed on top of it and the soil 
pressed back into the hole by pushing the round 
stick. In moist ground (and I always wait until 
we get sufficient rain to make it moist before 
planting), bulbs can be planted very rapidly. If 
my memory serves me I used to plant three or 
four thousand a day with it. The tool cannot be 
used in rough, hard ground. It is extremely 
satisfactory for planting bulbs on the lawn, as it 
leaves no mark whatever in smooth sod. 
Of the great variety of spring-flowering bulbs, 
the daffodils or narcissi are tlie most desirable 
and beautiful; their beautiful forms and coloring 
and graceful habit leave nothing to be desired, as 
they are easily grown and as much at home in the 
grass as dandelions. Of course the delicate, high- 
priced sorts must not be used, but there is no 
lack of cheap sorts that are entirely satisfactory. 
The poet’s narcissus can be bought for less than 
five dollars per thousand. They are charming 
flowers, blooming in May after almost all other 
bulbous flowers are gone, but sometimes they will 
not bloom at all. A few years ago my brother planted ten thousand for cut-flowers and hardly 
SNOWDROPS CLUSTERING AROUND A TREE TRUNK 
TRUMPET NARCISSUS NATURALIZED IN A MEADOW NEAR PITTSBURG 
got a dozen flowers a year. After 
a few years he was dis¬ 
gusted and plowed them 
all under. Much to his 
suiprise, they blocmed 
profusely the following 
spring. My explanation 
is this: Narcissus pocticus 
bulbs do not like a wet 
soil, and the plowing of 
the ground during the 
summer gave the soil a 
chance to dry out and the 
bulbs to ripen. Narcissus 
pocticus will not bloom on 
my ground, which is also 
wet ; neither will Nar¬ 
cissus alba plena odorala, 
but both do well on dry 
ground and are excellent 
for steep stony banks or 
for tlie open woods where 
the ground is dry. Nar¬ 
cissus ]>oelicus ornalus, the 
early variety of the poets’ 
narcissus, increases rap¬ 
idly and blooms profusely 
every s p i i n g on my 
ground, which is exces¬ 
sively wet in some places. 
So do Emperor and Em¬ 
press, Barri conspicuus, 
Golden Spur, Princeps, 
Figaro, Alba Stella, Cy¬ 
nosure, Sir Watkin, 
Orange Phoenix and Bi- 
