UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



IMf BULLETIN No. 1082 1 



Washington, D. C. 



October 19, 1922 



THE PRODUCTION OF TULIP BULBS. 



By David Griffiths, Horticulturist, Office of Horticultural and Pomological 

 Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



CONTENTS. 



The tulip bulb 2 



Preparation of the soil for tulips 3 



Laying out lands for planting 3 



Planting tulips 4 



Treatment of the beds after planting 10 



Age of flowering bulbs 11 



Blindness 12 



Relation of size of bulb to size of flower 12 



Early maturity affecting the blossoming 



season 13 



Sale of flowers 13 



Removmg the flowers 14 



When tulips are ripe 15 



.Digging tulips 15 



Droppers 17 



The bulb house 18 



Packing tulips for shipment 25 



Preparation of stocks for planting 27 



Implements of tulip-bulb production 28 



The duty of labor 30 



Soils 33 



Enemies of tulips 36 



Why some varieties are cheaper than others. . 38 



Performance records 39 



GOOD TULIPS can be grown in America at a profit. They have 

 already been produced in sufiicient quantities and for a period 

 long enough to command respect. 



The tulips already produced experimentally are as good as the best. 

 They bed, they force, they produce, and they reproduce normally 

 under American conditions. This, coupled with the prospect of a 

 profit in the growing, should beget a new industry in America. This 

 industry, however, it is believed, must develop slowly, for experience 

 is necessary and is as slowly acquired in this as in any other horti- 

 cultural venture. It is also probable that the industry will not be 

 more than supplementary to the existing sources of supply for many 

 years, for it is scarcely probable that it can do more than meet the 

 increment of tulip-bulb consumption which is certain when our 

 economic conditions and transportation facilities again become 

 normal. 



There is, however, no limit to the quantity of bulbs which it is 

 possible to produce in the United States. We have climates that are 

 unexcelled for the production of these stocks. We have regions with 



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