Flowers for the Schoolroom by Lulu Tarbell Leary

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 22, 1908

Flowers for the Schoolroom

By Lulu Tarbell Leary

LULU TARBELL LEARY

AUTUMN is here! Winter is coming! The children will not be able much longer to gather for you the flowers in which they take so much delight. Nobody need be told that children, everywhere, love flowers. They miss them during the long winter months. In anticipation of the winter season, and with a view to beautifying his schoolroom, no better investment can be made by a teacher than in a well-chosen collection of winter-blooming bulbs.

In buying bulbs, as with everything else, it is true economy to buy the best. All bulbs deteriorate very rapidly when exposed to the action of air, light, and heat. Order bulbs early, as the first customers get the best stock. For flowering at Christmas time, order Roman hyacinths, Chinese sacred lily, and narcissus (paper-white grandiflora or double Roman). These are easily grown, and sure to bloom by the last of December if planted by the middle of October.

Hyacinths, with their extremely simple culture, prove the best investment for the beginner. A four-inch pot serves for a large-sized bulb.

Any good garden soil, with one fourth of coarse sand added, will grow good hyacinths. Add no manure, as it causes the bulb to decay. Be sure to give good drainage, by placing pebbles in the bottom of the pots to the depth of one inch. Fill the pots two thirds with soil, jarring them to settle it, then place a bulb (or bulbs) in each pot, filling around it until only the crown shows above the soil. Press the earth quite firmly around the bulb; but do not force the bulb down, as it packs the soil beneath it.

Now set the pots in a pan of tepid water, and as soon as the moisture begins to show at the surface, take them out and set them in a cool, dark cellar secure from mice and freezing. Leave them undisturbed for six weeks, or until the white roots are seen growing through the drainage hole. Then take them from their dark quarters, and place in a sunless window, until the stems and leaves take on a healthy green color. The temperature of a fireless room suits them best, if it is above freezing. It suits all bulbs best, as their flowers will last much longer, especially if kept in a strong light, but out of sunshine, after they open. During the storing season the roots must not be allowed to dry out, neither must the soil be kept too wet.

If you have not a cellar, that need not prevent you from growing bulbs. A frost-proof closet will do as well, or any place that is cool and dark.

The narcissus ranks next to hyacinths, as satisfactory bulbs for blooming in the house. Poeticus ornatus (poet’s narcissus), pure white with scarlet-margined cup, is best for indoor culture. Paper-white grandiflorus and double Roman (most fragrant) are also sure bloomers. Treat your narcissus precisely like hyacinths.