only she doesn't use plain water or earth, just bulb fibre."

"What's that?"

"Why, bulbs are such fat creatures that they don't need the outside food
they would get from earth; all they want is plenty of water. This fibre
stuff holds enough water to keep them damp all the time, and it isn't
messy in the house like dirt."

"What are you girls talking about?" asked Dorothy, who came in with
Ethel Brown at this moment.

Both of them were interested in the addition that Della had made to
their knowledge of flowers and gardening.

"Every day I feel myself drawn into more and more gardening," exclaimed
Dorothy. "I've set up a notebook already."

"In January!" laughed Della.

"January seems to be the time to do your thinking and planning; that's
what the people who know tell me."

"It seems to be the time for some action," retorted Della, waving her
hand at the blossoming branches about the room.

"Aren't they wonderful? I always knew you could bring them out quickly
in the house after the buds were started out of doors, but these fellows
didn't seem to be started at all--and look at them!"