New-York tribune., 1911-10-01

AT a cost of less than 81 / have flowers
I'm the house without break from CHRIST
mas until Easter" said a flower lover VINO
lives not in the country. but in an apart
ment on the upper West Side.
81 invest 81 % I'm the best bulbs, and the
remainder goes for soil and the few other
essentials IL IS the easiest as well the
cheapest way Of having flowers in your
house all winter. About all one has TO do
when buying the bulbs is to remember that
the quickest and easiest TO bloom before
Christmas are the Roman hyacinth the
paper white narcssus and the Chinese
sacred lily. For blooms after Christmas
the bulbs 10 get are hyacinths. daffodils
and tulips
THE secret Of bulb growing is getting
the best possible root growth before the
tops start to grow. So the sooner you start
your bulbs the longer you can allow the
roots to develop, and consequently the bet
ter flowers you will get. When ] say
better flowers I mean in size and color
not In the number OF the blooms, for all
the skill in the world devoted to the cult
ure Of a bulb will not increase the number
of blossoms If YOU wish 10 be convinced
Of this fact Just take any bulb and cut
IT in two. You will find all the flowers In
miniature wrapped in the heart Of the bulb.
This was about the most valuable lesson
/ have ever learned about growing bulbs
1T was taught me by an old nursery
man after had persisted in getting small
instead OF large bulbs. / said 1 would fer
tize them and so increase both their size
and the number Of their blooms. He took
a bulb and, splitting it open, showed me
how impossible II was. From that day to
this have been getting the finest bulbs
to be had The bigger the bulb the greater
the number of flowers, is a pretty good
rule to work by. This week | shall start
my bulbs for Christmas blooms. | shall
begin with the Chinese sacred lily and
the red Due Van Thol tulip. This is the
only red lowered bulb | have ever been
able to force for Christmas.
Planted at this time. the Chinese sacred
lilies will be I'm good bloom from about De-
cember 20 to the second week in January.
The red tulips will come out day or so
later and continue little longer. Roman
hyacinths may be forced along with these
two, though ! usually reserve mine TO take
the place Of the Chinese lilies I'm January.
To replace the red tulips last winter | hao
the Grand Soleil dor narcissus The double
Roman narCssuscs Fan be brought to bloom
at this time. but they do not last as long
as the Grand Soleil dOr. For my third
series last year / had the Spurius Major
daffodils and the Yellow Prince tulips, with
one pan Of crocuses. This series began To
bloom the first week in March and contn-
ued I'm good condition for about three
weeks The fourth and last series COM
prised tulips. oXalis and fresias. When
their end came it was time to be cleaning
house and putting on the furniture covers
preparatory 10 going away for the sum-
mer.
Next to getting good bulbs the most inn
portant point Is tho treatment after pot
ting. SO far as the potting il concerned.
haven't found anything Of much importance
beyond having a good drainage. | know
there IS a lot OF talk about soils. but so far
as my experience goes soil hasn't very
much 10 do with the blooms Of good bulbs
! grown indoors.