Bulbs, tubers and corms, or hard bulbs, are storehouses of food for the embryo plant, and serve to nourish it until the roots start. In the Northern States we have many indigenous lilies, arums, but few of them are cultivated, because they are preferred in their native haunts. If cultivation would improve them it would be worth while to transplant them to our gardens, but in many cases it is almost impossible to make them grow at all - much more to make them grow satisfactorily. It is best, therefore, to let native plants and bulbs alone, unless we have a place as nearly as possible like that from which we take them. The native lilies, Canadense and superbum, however, do well in cultivation, and will repay the cultivator.

It would be of no practical use to speak in this essay of spring-flowering bulbs, such as snowdrops, hyacinths, crocuses, tulips and narcissi, as these are, or should be, already in the ground. The subject of bulbs and tubers is a broad one, but this essay will be confined to such bulbs as will be of use in our gardens in Massachusetts. We must take special note of the country where our bulbs are native, and endeavor to imitate the conditions of sun, soil, and climate there. Like bedding plants, many bulbs are benefited by annual change of location in the garden.

Lilies are among the most reliable bulbs after the bloom of the spring flowers is past. be candi-dum (the common white lily) is one of the hardiest, but one of the most particular about the time of planting. This must be done when the bulbs are in a dormant state, about the last of August or first of September. After that time they start again, the leaves remain green throughout the winter, and the bulbs will not bloom if disturbed after they commence growing. L. longiflorum is not as hardy as many of the species, because the bulbs are liable to start in the fall if the weather is warm. It is best to cover early with leaves or light compost, as a hard frost after the bulbs have started almost invariably kills them. They are easily transplanted. L. auratum is quite uncertain, even with the best protection. A few bulbs may be planted every year, and the cost counted as of bedding plants, for they are worth growing if they afford one season's bloom. Some of them will survive the winter and bloom again, but they cannot be depended upon. All the varieties of L. speciosum are hardy. Album proecox is a much finer variety than albumo Rubrum; roseum, punc-tatum, Melpomene, and purpuratum are all desirable. L pardalinum (sometimes called Leopard lily,) is fine and hardy.

L. excelsum is of bright buff color and one of the most beautiful. L. Brownii is rare and costly, and from its peculiar purple outside and the pure white waxen inside presents a striking contrast to longiflorum and others of that class. L. Leichtlinii, L. monadel-phum and L. Parryi are fine yellow varieties. All the varieties of L. Martagon (the Turk's Cap lily) are good. L. Chalcedonicum (Scarlet Turk's Cap) is one of the best. L. tenuifolium, one of the earliest, if not the earliest, has slender stems and foliage and a lovely scarlet flower with reflexed petals. L. pomponianum verum is much like L. tenuifolium, but a little more robust and blooms a little later. There are many inexpensive varieties, like Thunbergianum, umbellatum, and the varieties of tigrinum, which are showy and perfectly hardy. Lilies are easily cultivated, but they will not thrive on low land, unless it is thoroughly drained; water at the roots or wet, heavy soil is fatal. The soil should be light and rich; it must be remembered that it is not the bulb that needs feeding, but the roots beneath.

If annuals or some light bedding plants are planted between the bulbs it will serve to keep the surface cool and moist.

The iris in its many varieties is one of the best garden tubers. They increase rapidly, and all the varieties are hardy. The English, Spanish and German species are all good, but the Iris Kcemp-feri, from Japan, is the best. The iris has a wide range of color, and some of the blooms strikingly resemble some of the varieties of valuable orchids. All of the family are of the easiest culture, only requiring considerable moisture.

Herbaceous paeonies are reliable garden plants, for they are never winter-killed. They are very showy and especially adapted to large gardens, affording a succession of bloom all through the early summer months. P. tenuifolia has small blooms of a clear bright red, not unlike a rose, and finely cut foliage.

Gladioli are by far the most valuable of all the summer-blooming bulbs. They are easy to grow, easy to keep, and exceedingly valuable for cut flowers. If a spike is cut when there is only one flower out, it will keep on blooming at least a week. Gladioli are most effective when planted in groups among low or medium-growing plants. The foliage must be allowed to grow in order to mature the bulb or corm which is forming at the top of the old one, and if grown with other plants the ripening foliage is partially concealed, and is not unsightly, whereas a bed of gladioli with the flowers cut off is anything but attractive. Water is essential to their growth. Whenever the ground becomes dry it must be watered so that the roots beneath the bulb will be thoroughly wet. If one wants a bed for cutting, it is just as satisfactory and very much cheaper to buy a hundred or two of first quality mixed bulbs; but if only a few are wanted, by all means get named varieties : Eugene Scribe and Mary Stuart, pink; Meyerbeer and Phoebus, scarlet; Nestor and Paotole, yellow, with colored markings; Martha Washington, clear lemon color; Beatrix and La France, white or nearly so; Leander and Baroness Burdette-Coutts, mauve; and Africaine, very dark, are some very fine varieties, and none of them are very expensive.

Tuberous-rooted begonias are very valuable in the garden. There are a great many varieties, and here again, unless one wishes for a few, mixed kinds do very well in the border; but if only a few are wanted, get named kinds, for then a variety of color is assured. The singled-flowered stand the rain better than the double, for the former shut closer, and the rain cannot penetrate the blossom. The flowers keep closed in cloudy or rainy weather, so that one can tell pretty certainly whether it is going to rain or not by glancing at a bed. Sometimes they are about half-closed and undecided, but not generally. Mont Blanc is the best white variety. Annie Laing is a very fine kind, with large pale pink flowers, of great substance. Countess of Kingston is a very large, fine scarlet. Robusta perfecta and R. perfecta rosea are very fine varieties. Pearceii has beautifully marked foliage and bright yellow flowers. These flowers need the sun only part of the day. The tubers should be dug late in the autumn, dried in boxes, and stand in a cool place, giving them no water except when they get too dry, and then only so that they shall not wither. If kept too moist they will decay. They need absolute rest when in a dormant state.

They are easily grown from seed, and the seedlings bloom the first year, if the seed is sown early enough.

Gloxinias can be grown very finely in a cold frame, and planted out by plunging the pot. The location should be the same as for tuberous-rooted begonias, and they are easily grown from seed under the same treatment. If they do not bloom the first season the bulb will be of good size and easier to keep over winter. They require to be kept dry while resting. A frame was left unprotected during several heavy rains and the first time it was expected to see the foliage entirely spoiled; but by putting on the sash and shading with newspapers until dry the plants were saved from all injury.

Some of the summer-blooming bulbs are better kept in pots or tubs. There are many places in the garden and about the house where a pot of Vallota purpurea is very ornamental. Amaryllis lutea is a hardy variety, blooming in early autumn when yellow flowers are scarce. A. Hallii is a lovely pink variety, blooming in August. The Zephyranthes in all its varieties of pink and white is desirable. They require no care beyond planting in spring, digging up in autumn, and storing in a dry place. A. Belladonna, major, minor and alba, are all summer-blooming bulbs. They flower in August and September, and require entire rest after they have matured their foliage. Amaryllis Johnsonii will bloom in the ground, and is used by some to bed out in the summer by keeping the bulb dormant through the winter. Ismene calathina is beautiful in the garden, the plant being fine without the flower. Choretis albus and Pancratium calathinum, like all those mentioned in this paragraph, belong to the Amaryllis family, and require the same general treatment.

The tuberose is as easily flowered in the ground as any other bulb, but as it takes about four months to bring it into flowering it must be started either in a hot-bed or a greenhouse; but if you have neither of these, plant the bulbs, after the ground is thoroughly warmed, in a sunny place, and after they have started, give plenty of water. When they are well budded, pot them in rich soil, so that they can be removed to shelter when there is danger of frost Tritonia Uvaria grandiflora (Red-hot Poker) and Hyacinthus candicans are two conspicuous plants which form a fine contrast to each other. Agapanthus umbellatus is one of the few really blue flowers. It does well taken from the pot and planted in the border. Caladium esculentum, Richardia alba maculata (a very ornamental species of Richardia AEthiopica, our common calla) and Amorphophallus Riveri are desirable plants. The Tigridias (Tiger flowers) in the different varieties are all showy. T. grandiflora alba forms a beautiful contrast to T. conchiflora and T. Pavonia. Milla biflora is quite new, and has slender, rush-like foliage, and white tubular star-shaped flowers, on long slender stems.

The dahlia is a very important tuberous-rooted plant; its only drawback is that it requires too much room to grow it; but there are places where such plants are very much needed, and the pompons and single varieties are especially desirable.

[This excellent essay was contributed to the weekly meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society on February 13th. - Ed. G. M.