PRODUCTION OF TULIP BULBS. 3 



upon the nature and abundance of the smaller increase, commonly 

 referred to as "the propagation." His planting is composed essen- 

 tially of the bulbs below the largest bulb in the cluster, together 

 with the small bulbs of the previous year's planting which have not 

 grown to merchantable size during the current season. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR TULIPS. 



Tillage for tulips should be thorough and deep. Upon the What- 

 com silt loams of the Bellingham Bay region, where the work has 

 been carried on, the average depth of the soil is not more than 12 to 

 16 inches. Thus far no subsoiling has been done, but the land has 

 been prepared as deeply as possible with an ordinary 14-inch, steel- 

 beam walking plow, 10 inches being probably close to the depth of 

 the best preparation. Greater depth would undoubtedly be desir- 

 able, but good crops can be grown with this character of preparation 

 on land where the drainage is cared for either by contourage, natural 

 slope, or porosity of subsoil. 



The soD. is put in as fine a tilth as possible by the use of harrow, 

 disk, float, and pulverizer packer. An almost indispensable tool is 

 the rolling-disk clod crusher and packer, which has been used very 

 largely on both silt and sandy soils, on the former mainly to pulverize 

 and on the latter to pack the soil so that the edges of the beds will 

 hold when marked out. 



The proper use of tillage and soil-packing machinery exhibits in 

 the highest degree the skill and efficiency of the grower in putting the 

 bulb fields in just the right state of fineness and compactness, not 

 only for the best crop results but also for the best handling in the 

 planting of the crop. 



LAYING OUT LANDS FOR PLANTING. 



It is needless to say that, as in all farming operations, bulb lands 

 should be rectangular in outline wherever it is possible. If lands are 

 heavy and therefore to be bedded up, they have been roughly out- 

 lined by the tillage implements and are ready to have the ends of the 

 beds marked. It is the practice to stretch a line on each side of the 

 )lat, the length of which is governed by the size of the field. The 

 experimental plats were approximately 400 feet long. Along these 

 baut lines a man proceeds with a 12 or 15 foot marker, on which are 

 iesignated 36-inch and 12-inch spaces, alternating. With this he 

 narks out the corners of the beds and drives stakes in each corner. 

 i the sides of the plat are parallel, or, in other words, if the plat is of 

 miform width and the first stakes on each side of the plat are set 

 lirectly opposite each other, the beds are rectangular, and no difii- 

 julty wUl be experienced in the future work provided the measure- 

 nents are accurate. It is well to exercise much care in setting the 



