PRODUCTIOlSr OF TULIP BULBS. 9 



under tliis system is one of the most intensive of horticultural prac- 

 tices, and there is a decided advantage in thick and exhaustive 

 cropping. The land over the whole bed is fully occupied by the 

 plants, and there is a minimum of vacant area in the paths between 

 the beds, probably not more than 6 or 8 inches of unoccupied soil in 

 the 4 feet needed by the work incident to culture and handling. 



In the production of tulip bulbs, to a greater degree than with the 

 narcissus, gladiolus, and many other bulbous stocks, care in handling 

 the plants is a very important factor. The main advantage of a 

 row system of planting is to allow the use of some implement for 

 keeping down weeds and cultivating, but in tulip culture the use of 

 even a wheel hoe close enough to obviate the necessity of hand 

 weeding is likely to prove detrimental. The leaves are stiff, rigid, 

 in the way of tools, and easily bruised, and mechanical injury of any 

 kind to the growing plant is conducive to the development of the 

 fire-disease organism which, together with the loss incident to a thin 

 planting on heavily fertihzed soil, would at least go a long way 

 toward offsetting the advantage gained in handling the crop on a 

 cultivated-row basis. 



The bed method of planting, if well done, has a decided advantage 

 in that the bulbs are more easily set at a uniform depth. They are 

 planted in a geometrical design, and each can be fomid without sur- 

 face indications when the first row in the bed is located. These are 

 very important considerations in a crop m which uniformity of 

 growth and delicacy of handling are demanded. 



The advantage of row planting with implement cultivation has 

 not yet been made clear. Implements can not well be operated closer 

 than 3 inches to a row of tulips. This necessitates the hand weeding 

 of 3 inches on each side of the row. In beds the rows are 6 inches 

 apart. It appears from this that the hand labor for a given length 

 of row is identical whether the planting is 6 inches or 2 feet apart, 

 and the closer planted bed holds three or four times as many bulbs 

 as the other per unit of area. Some employ a bed 8 to 10 inches 

 wide with about a 16-inch space between. 



With these few observations, the question as to which method is 

 best is left open, with the statement that so far as experience goes 

 the production of tulip bulbs adapts itself to the intensive rather 

 than the extensive method of culture. 



For the present the subject of planting or digging tulips by ma- 

 chinery maybe dismissed. No machinervfor either of these opera- 

 tions has yet been invented. 



WHEN TO PLANT TULIPS. 



The best time to plant tulips is before the middle of September, but 

 through October is all right. The main objects of digging the bulbs 



