The Garden Under Glass

BEAUTIFUL BULBS FOR FORCING 119 reason why the bulbs lift out of the soil when they start to throw out roots. Having set the bulbs in place, put some more soil in and press it down with the fingers, but leave a space between the surface and the rim of the pot for watering. To ensure success we must now piunge the pots in sand orashes. Sifted coal ashes will usually bc available. Itis necessary to cover them. with about six inches. This is done in order to induce them to throw out a plentiful supply of roots before much growth is made at the top. If they are allowed to grow at the top before roots are made, the result will t>6 very poor flowers. All the bulbs mentioned may be subjected to this treatment, and they may remain in the ashes for two months or more. Frequent exanuna-tion after this time will show whether they need removal, as they will do when the growths are rather more than an . inch Ion g. Bulbs of this kind relish a soil made up of loam, leaf-soil, mushroom manure and sand. The chief point of culture is the watering. It is very easy to spoil them by allowing them to become very dry. A few small sticks may be necessary, for some of the hyacinths and certainly the narcissi of all kinds will need support. To keep up a successional supply a few plants may be brought into the warm house each week. Where the con-venience exists, the best plan in this respect is to have some bulbs in a cold frame, some in a cool house and o thers in a warm house. Each week a few are brought into the warm from the cool house ; these are replaced by others from the frame. In this way a regulär succession is kept up without any difficulty. Small deep boxes are useful for the purpose, but for successional batches the large boxes would mean that too many flowers were brought on at the same time.