nder the chapter on
the girls' winter work. You can easily see how excellent this style of
flat is from a drainage point of view.

More trouble, in potted bulbs and all kinds of plants, comes from too
little drainage space than from any other one thing. Most boys and girls
think it enough if one little stone or piece of pot is put in the hole
of the flower pot. Not so; there should be from one to two inches of
drainage material in the pot. That seems a great deal, doesn't it? But
it will give not only drainage but air space, too, and this keeps the
plant in good healthy shape. With too little drainage area the earth in
a pot gets clogged and very often sour. A high pot needs more drainage
matter in it than a low one. First use a piece of broken pot to place
over the drainage hole. But put this in such a position that the
drainage hole will be kept open. Then put in two inches of coarse
material like broken pot. It is now a good plan to place over this a
layer of coarse material. This gives a greater opportunity for air. Over
this goes the soil you have already prepared. Place bulbs just below
the surface and have soil one inch below the top of pot. Narcissus and
hyacinths may be planted with their tops out of the soil.

A low pot needs less drainage material. Some pots have sphagnum moss
over the drainage. Instead of this use old sod finely torn up or coarse
soil. See, too, that the bulb comes nearly to the top of the soil. When
indoor bulbs are planted at some distance below the surface of the soil
they have too much work to do to force their way up and out. It takes
too long.

After the girls had finished potting the next step was to make
arrangements for the resting time. Bulbs should stay in the dark and
cold from five to ten weeks. It is difficult to give an exact time as
conditions differ and bulbs too.

Bulbs may take their retirement in a dark cold cellar where there is no
danger from mice. Some attics are suited for this. Eloise put hers in an
old bureau. This bureau was in an unused, cold room. The bulbs were
placed in the drawers which were then closed, but not tightly. Ethel,
Dee and Josephine put theirs in the cellar. Helena, Elizabeth and
Katharine tried another plan. They had a trench dug outdoors two feet
deep and eighteen inches wide. In this they placed their pots and
flats. Then the trench was filled in with dirt and over this a layer of
ashes was put. The pots were given a good watering before th