sufficiently drained to avoid a boggy character in winter.  Plant in October or November, four or five inches deep, and six inches apart.  The roots require no water and no supports, and may all be taken up and stored away in good time for the usual summer display of bedding plants.  For geometric planting it is important to select the varieties with care, but a most interesting border may be made by planting clumps of all the best sorts of the several classes.  The result will be a long-continued and splendid display, beginning with the ‘Van Thols’ (which are as hardy as any), following with the early class in almost endless variety, and finishing with the noble Darwin and May-flowering sections.  The last named include a very large number of extremely handsome flowers, and their lasting beauty is of especial value at a season of the year when spring blooms are over and summer plants have scarcely begun to make a show.

As cut flowers Tulips are worthy of special attention.  With very little care they not only maintain their full beauty in vases for a fortnight, but some of them actually increase in brilliancy of colouring.  The May-flowering classes are perhaps the most appreciated for cutting, because of their great length of stem and the enduring character of the flowers.  They are extremely beautiful in tall vases.

==Vallota purpurea==

This brilliant plant is nearly hardy in the Southern counties, and a cool greenhouse plant where it cannot be grown in the open border.  To produce fine specimens a firm loamy soil is necessary, with abundance of water all the summer, and moderate supplies all the winter.  The bulbs flower more freely when somewhat pot-bound.  Therefore they should not be re-potted too often.  Under these conditions feeding with clear liquid manure is necessary once a week from the time the flower-buds show until they begin to open.  To dry off the bulb may weaken or kill it.  Those who cannot cultivate the Amaryllis will find the Vallota an excellent substitute.

==Violet, dog’s-tooth==—­=see page 327=

==Winter aconite==

The Winter Aconite is the very ‘firstling’ of the year, for it blooms in advance of the Snowdrop, covering the ground with gilt spangles in the bleakest days of February.  Any soil or situation will suit it, and it should be planted in large patches where a winter’s walk in the garden affords pleasure.  It should also be grown in quantity within view from the windows, for the benefit of those who, in the dreary season, cannot get out.  The bulbs may be left in the ground for several years, or they may be taken up and stored after the leaves have perished.

==Zephyranthes Candida==

==Flower of the West Wind==

A dwarf white Crocus-like flower, with foliage resembling the common Rush on a small scale.  Plant in clumps from November to March in borders, and it will commence blooming about the end of July, and continue in flower until frost cuts it down.  Any soil will suit this plant, and it thrives for several years if left undisturbed.