BULB GROWING AT THE UNITED STATES BULB GARDEN. 



19 



imported. Fifty bulbs of the same variety, from imported and 

 Bellingham stock, respectively, were planted in rows side by side on 

 the same date and continued under the same conditions throughout 

 the experiment. As a rule, the plants from the Bellingham bulbs were 

 freer from disease and flowered from five to seven days earlier than 

 those from imported 

 bulbs. In addition to 

 this, the flowers were 

 on longer stems and 

 were of better color 

 and quality than 

 those from the im- 

 ported bulbs. Figure 

 15 shows three of 

 the varieties that 

 were included in this 

 test. 



FORCING TESTS. 



Figures 19 to 21, 

 inclusive, show some 

 of the results of a 

 forcing test of Bel- 

 lingham - grown and 

 imported tulip bulbs 

 during the season of 

 1912-13 at a green- 

 house of the United 

 States Department of 

 Agriculture, Wa s h- 

 ington, D. G., and at 

 a commercial green- 

 house in the same 

 city. 



The differences be- 

 tween the Belling- 

 ham-grown and im- 

 ported bulbs of sev- 

 eral other varieties 

 included in this sea- 

 son's forcing test are equally as striking as those shown in figure 21. 



In the case of the Keizerskroon variety, the difference in the size 

 of the plants and the time of flowering is not quite so marked as in 

 other varieties. There is, however, a noticeable difference in favor 

 of the Bellingham-grown bulbs both in the height of the plants and 



Fig. 19. — Bulbs of imported and Bellingham-grown tulips. 

 Five bulbs of the Couleur Cardinal variety that were 

 taken from the end row of one of the two flats of im- 

 ported stock (upper figure) and five bulbs of the same 

 variety taken from the end row of one of the two flats 

 of Bellingham-grown stock (lower figure). The two lots 

 of bulbs were planted in the boxes on October 30, 1912, 

 all being treated alike, and taken into the greenhouse on 

 January 25, 1913. The bulbs in both cases were removed 

 from the flats on the following day and photographed on 

 the same plate, side by side. 



