PRODUCTION OF TULIP BULBS. 5 



placed from these containers. Sometimes, however, those planted 

 14 to the row are also strewn along the bed and placed from there. 

 (PL VI, Fig. 2.) 



Bulb setting, while appearing simple, is a job requiring a great deal 

 of dexterity. Boys commonly succeed better at it than men, and 

 some boys are able to place twice as many bulbs as others. 



With a crew of two men to shovel and rake, it is desirable to employ 

 two to four boys to place the bulbs. However, two capable boys and 

 two men make an ideal planting crew. 



In the mucking,^ as in all else in this work, a regular system is 

 followed. Three shovelfuls across the bed, provided the soil is in 

 good tilth and hangs together well, remove sufficient soil 'to get the 

 required depth. The mucker generally takes a shovelful from the 

 right side, another from the left, and then one from the middle. This 

 method is continued clear across the bed. 



Usually in the soils used in the Bureau of Plant Industry experiments 

 the man who rakes down the beds follows and throws out a small 

 shovelful of earth from each edge of the bed. He works in the 

 partially opened bed and faces in the opposite direction from the 

 regular mucker, doing this work and keeping tally. One of the boys 

 who is planting keeps a record of the number of rows by setting a 

 stake. He calls off the numbers of the rows and of the bulbs planted 

 to the row, which the raker jots down in his planting book each time a 

 change of size is made. This record is simply a skeleton, but with 

 a little computation it gives the total number of bulbs planted and the 

 number of each size. From this record the grower experienced in 

 tulip production in any region may predict with considerable accuracy 

 what can be turned off at the next digging. The row is one of the most 

 useful units of record in bulb culture. Some record of this nature is 

 considered desirable, if not absolutely necessary, not only in experi- 

 mental but in commercial bulb growing also. 



BULBS SET ACCORDING TO SIZE. 



The bulbs are set according to size; the larger the size the fewer the 

 bulbs set in the row, the principal thing being to get as nearly as prac- 

 ticable the same quantity of plant material in equivalent areas. 



The practice adopted in the investigations of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry doubtless could be improved; but it is approximate, fits in 

 fairly well with the facilities for sizing, and varies but little from true 

 accuracy. At present, with the fertility of cover crops on virgin 

 soil, no fewer than 11 bulbs are planted to a 36-inch row. All bulbs 

 larger than 10 centimeters are given this spacing and are set upright. 

 The next size for planting is caught by the 8-centuneter sieve. These 

 bulbs are planted 14 to the row. The bulbs caught in the 7- 



1 The shoveling. 



