Some people buy fresh bulbs every year, and pull up the old ones directly they have done flowering. We think that if you are a really-truly gardener, you will not wish to do this. You will want to see some of your bulbs come up year after year, with increasing strength and beauty; and you will want to take up others at the right time, divide them or store them, as the case may be, and replant. But if you do mean to grow your bulbs year after year and increase your own stock, you must remember that for many weeks after the flowering season you have masses of untidy-looking dying leaves. Therefore you must plant as artfully as you can in places where other things will be growing up close by and attracting attention. The leaves of bulbs must not be removed until they are quite dead and come away with a touch, and this does not happen until the summer sun has baked them for a long time. While they are green the bulb is getting strength from them. We shall only tell you about a few varieties that are inexpensive to buy and easy to grow. When you have learned to manage these successfully, you can try some of the many others you will find in catalogues and in gardening books. Our advice to you is to spend your money on one or two kinds every autumn, and not to buy a collection. This applies especially to children who have a corner of a London garden, because the collections always include some bulbs (such as Anemones or the Persian Ranunculus, for instance) that are not quite easy to grow, and would do nothing in the town border. SNOWDROPS (GALANTHUS). If you have any shrubs or trees in your garden, you can plant your Snowdrops near their roots; and if they like the soil and the situation, they will increase quickly. They are very fond of peat, but they will grow well in any healthy soil, and they may be left undisturbed year after year. There are many varieties. One of the largest is Galanthus Elwesi, but it wants a sheltered spot and a light soil. If you plant your Snowdrops in clumps near Crocuses and Winter Aconites, put at least fourteen or fifteen in a clump, and set them rather close together. The bulbs should not touch, but there should not be more than the breadth of your thumb-nail between each. Beginners nearly always set their bulbs too far apart, and then the clumps or rows look stinted. CROCUSES.