PLAN No. 229. MONEY IN WINTER BULBS
In late October or early November every year, a Massachusetts woman buys some plain glass dishes, about five inches wide and two or three inches deep. She then collects pebbles and places them in each dish, and on top of them, so they will not touch each other, she places fine narcissus bulbs, filling in around them with more pebbles, until the dish is quite full. Then adding water enough to fill to the top, she sets the dishes on the cellar floor and leaves them there until they are full of roots. She then brings them into a light, sunny room, and as soon as they are in bloom she takes them to the woman’s exchange, where they sell readily for 50 cents a dish. The cost of the dishes is 5 cents each, and the bulbs, six for 5 cents, so she makes 40 cents on each dish.