THE SPRING AND FLOWERING BULBS

Evening Star, Issue 23451, 16 December 1939, Page 6

THE SPRING AND FLOWERING BULBS

Spring flowering bulbs in general have been a success except with the tulips, -and in some gardens these beautiful spring flowers had failed to bloom, and the reason for this is not far to seek. First of all, the previous season for ripening off the bulbs was poor, November and December months being very wet, and so the bulbs when lifted were very soft and were stored away in an unripened condition. The second reason for the failure, I am afraid, was caused by lifting up the bulbs immediately after blooming and not allowing the foliage to ripen off in a satisfactory manner. It is a mistake to lift these.bulbs as you would many of the stronger-growing tubers such as daffodils. etc. These latter bulbs can often be lifted and finished off by laying them in sand or light soil in a shady position until the foliage has died down, though the bulblets do not mature as they should. The parent bulb does not feel the check and generally flowers successfully the following season. But in the case of the tulips they must be cultivated well and allowed to remain in the soil until the foliage has entirely died down. In this way the bulblets are not interfered with or checked in growth in any way. This past season I noticed that in any _ bulbs only formed large foliage. This is a sure sign that they were not finished off in a practical manner, ’there not being sufficient food in the bulb to form the flower while resting, and the result the following, season is either a small flower or else a large leaf is formfed only. If a bulb is cut in half it will be found by placing it under a magnifying glass that it contains numerous little cells like honeycomb. In these cells are stored the necessary plant food, which the blub draws on while resting to build lip its flower for the coming season. But if its growing period is interfered with in any way its flowers will be a failure. If cultivation is carried out in a satisfactory manner bulbs will give good results year after year. The writer has been cultivating the same bulbs for nearly 20 years, and they are as true to-day as when they were imported I find sometimes that mistakes are made when planting the bulbs, as care is not exercised in planting them at the right depth. From three to five inches, according to the size of the bulb should be the correct depth. The larger the bulb the deeper to plant, and the smaller the bulb the shallower to plant. Care must be taken not to plant too shallow, as this tends to cause splitting aud also excessive propagating in bulblets.

The striping or the breaking of colours can also be prevented by keeping up the strength of the bulb, for as soon as deterioration of the bulb takes place the character of the flower is altered; also, the bulbs should, if possible, have a change of diet each season.

A few years ago a number of bulbs were analysed to find out what chemicals they contained, as a guide to manures for them, and the following were found:—Soda, 4 per cent.; sulphuric acid, 7 per cent.; magnesia, 4 per cent.; silicia, 3 per cent.; iron oxide, 4 per cent.; lime, 28 per cent. Superphosphate will supply lime, sulphuric acid, iron, and magnesia.