of the bulb. Cut off close to the solid portions. They will start a great deal sooner if you do this, and be much surer to make fine plants. If this is not done quite often the old roots decay and communicate disease to the bulb. Most persons are familiar with this flower from having seen it in cut flower work from the florists, who raise it extensively. Its blossoms are thick and waxy in texture, ivory white in color, and exquisitely fragrant. The flowers are double, and are produced in spikes about a foot in length, on stalks about three feet tall. The best variety is the Pearl, a spike of which is seen in Fig 62.

The Gladiolus

This is the best of all the summer-flowering bulbs, all things considered. It is to the amateur's garden what the Geranium is to his window. It is a flower anybody can grow, and it is lovely enough to satisfy the most exacting. You can have it in the most delicate colors if your taste runs in that direction, and you can have it in colors of extreme brilliancy if such colors are your preference. It is something you can depend on to do well if you give it half a chance. But the better you care for it the better it will do, and it pays to give it liberal treatment.

Of late much attention has been given this flower by the florists, and great improvement has resulted. The size of the flower has been increased, its colors intensified, and new markings and combinations of colors of wonderful beauty have rewarded the skillful hybridizer. It deserves a place in every collection.

It likes a soil that is light, mellow and rich. Any soil in which Corn will grow well suits it. And it likes to be planted in the open ground about the time Corn is planted. That is early enough. If you have bulbs enough to warrant you in doing so, hold back

some for planting about two weeks later. By making successive plantings you can prolong the season for a month or more, thus securing fully two months' display of beauty from this charming flower.

I prefer to plant the bulbs in clumps or masses. In this way a much better effect is secured than by planting singly. Try it once and you will never care to plant bulbs alone, or in rows again.

Something should be given to support the flower stalks when they appear. When planted in clumps, half a dozen bulbs to a clump, three stakes can be set to which a hoop of wire can be fastened. By passing strings back and forth among the stakes, and fastening them to the wire, all the support needed will be given, and the wire and strings used will not be so obtrusive as to be unsightly. This method of support is much preferable to tying the stalks to sticks, as it allows them to have plenty of freedom, thus preventing that stiff effect which always results from tying up

each stalk.

One might suppose, from the great popularity of this flower, that it would be expensive. Such is not the case, however. It can be bought very cheaply. Seedling collections are offered at very low prices, and from them you will obtain many flowers quite as fine as any of the named varieties. Some of the latter cost three, four and five dollars each. This amount of money invested in seedlings will get bulbs enough to fill a large bed. If you want certain colors you will have to buy the named bulbs in order to be sure of getting what you want, but for general purposes the cheaper bulbs are quite as good.

There seems to be no limit to the range and variety of colors. Rose, scarlet, crimson, lilac, violet, cherry, yellow, white-and all these so combined in such a manner as to give you a flower rivaling an Orchid in

superb coloring and delicacy of texture. For there is nothing coarse about the Gladiolus. It has all the delicacy of the Lily combined with the magnificence of color peculiar to the most brilliant and showy tropical plants.

Nothing is finer for cutting for vases. The flowers last for days, and buds develop into blossoms after being cut.

After frost comes take up the bulbs and lay them in the sun till the earth is dry enough to be shaken from them. Then cut off the flower stalk, leaving about six inches of it attached to the bulb. If cut closer the bulb may rot before it becomes dry enough to go into winter quarters. In December put in the cellar if it is a dry one, if not, store in some room free from frost and moisture.

This bulb increases rapidly. If you invest a dollar or two in bulbs this season you will have quite a stock of them in fall, when you come to dig them, and from these, planted next spring, you will obtain all you care to use, and very likely more. If so, it will afford you a great deal of pleasure, doubtless, to share them with your flower loving friends who may not be so fortunate as you are. Fig 63 shows flower spikes of some of the best types.

CHAPTER XLIV

HARDY BORDER PLANTS

Very many persons are fond of flowers who have but little time to devote to their culture. It is a fact that cannot be denied that the cultivation of annuals requires a good deal of hard labor, and that much time must be devoted to the garden if you would have it what it ought to be. These persons would do well to devote their attention to hardy border plants. Once established, these plants are good for years, and they will require less attention each year than any other class of flowers. In spring they should be dug about, to keep the grass from crowding them out. Manure should be worked in about them, and about every other season their roots should be divided. This constitutes pretty much all the care they require. While they do not bloom all through the season as most annuals do, they give a most profuse crop in summer, and many of them are extremely beautiful.

The following are among the best:

Aquilegia-Known as Columbine in some localities; in others as Honeysuckle; very beautiful in form and habit, and equally so in color; some varieties are blue, others yellow, scarlet and white, while some combine these colors in beautiful contrast; some are single, others double; an early bloomer, and very desirable.

Campanula-This is the well-known and everpopular Canterbury Bell; color blue and white; fine.

Carnation-The garden variety of this most beautiful flower is quite equal to the popular greenhouse class; it has large, perfect flowers of most beautiful coloring, and is delightfully fragrant; it is almost as