Description of Mr. Groom's Tulip Bed. 683 



Art. XIV. Description of Mr. Groom s Tulip Bed. By J. M. 



Florists have found that tulips are liable to injury if ex- 

 posed to frost and rain, especially during the months of Fe- 

 bruary, March, and April. To secure these favourite flowers 

 from such casualties, Mr. Groom, the eminent florist at Wal- 

 worth, near London, has constructed a model of a tulip-bed 

 frame, which not only admits of the perfect protection of the 

 plants, but also very much facilitates the arrangement, plant- 

 ing, and covering of the roots. 



The bed, which, in the first place, is trenched 3 ft. deep, is 

 raised by side and end boards, framed together, to the height 

 of from 12 to .15 in. above the surface of the ground. It is 

 4 ft. wide within, and of any required length. The prepared 

 soil is raised to within 3^ in. of the top. For the purpose of 

 levelling the surface accurately, Mr. Groom uses a thin piece 

 of board called a strike. This is longer than the width of the 

 bed, and has notches near each end 3^ in. deep, which fit 

 on the upper edges of the side boards ; and, on being moved 

 from end to end, lays the surface into the desired form. The 

 lower edge of the strike is not straight but curved, so as to 

 leave the surface of the mould about 2 in. higher in the 

 middle than at the sides. 



When the surface is thus regulated it is ready to receive 

 the roots ; their places are marked with the greatest ease by 

 means of the strike. Seven rows are planted lengthwise of 

 the bed, at the distance of 6 in. from each other and from the 

 sides. Of course the strike is divided into eight spaces. At the 

 marks between the spaces, small staples, one about 2 in. above 

 the other, are driven into the flat side of the strike ; these 

 receive seven small pegs or dibbers, which, when the strike is 

 put down across, mark the places of the bulbs. The distances 

 between the cross rows, viz. 6 in., being marked on the sides, 

 regulate the insertions of the strike. 



From this description it may easily be conceived with what 

 accuracy and expedition the planting is done. The roots being 

 deposited in their places, are now covered with the proper 

 compost ; and the surface is smoothed off with the back of the 

 strike, which, for this purpose, is formed with a curve and 

 shoulders which take in the whole width of the bed and side 

 boards, against which last the shoulders slide while the strike 

 is moved onward to take off the redundant covering, leaving 

 the surface regularly rounded from side to side, 6 in. higher 

 in the middle than at the sides. 



When the season arrives that coverings against frost, &c, 

 are necessary, iron rods, three fourths of an inch in diameter, 



