COMMERCIAL DUTCH-BULB CULTUEE. 3 



varieties in southern Illinois and Virginia; the culture of Darwin 

 and other tulips in Michigan, northern New York, Ontario, and 

 Virginia, and the admirable hyacinth bulbs often produced in private 

 gardens throughout the region south of New York, under conditions 

 of comparative neglect and a large measure of ignorance of their 

 life history, would seem to prove sufficiently that we have an abundant 

 territory adapted to growing these stocks. 



SOIL ADAPTATION. 



The culture of bulbs is associated in the public mind with sandy 

 soil, and the preponderance of advice as to their handling specifies 

 sandy soils as preferable to any other. Periodical literature espe- 

 cially is full of reference to the so-called " sand-dune bulb fields " of 

 the Netherlands. Abundant evidence is at hand to show that 

 purchasers of bulbs have good success in flowering them on almost 

 any soil which is available, and though this is a very different matter 

 from producing the bulbs with flowers in them it is nevertheless a 

 proof of the wide adaptability of these stocks. 



In the experiments at Bellingham, Wash., thus far, better tulips 

 and better narcissus bulbs have been produced on silty soil than upon 

 the lighter sandy soils. The trials with hyacinths are not decisive ; in- 

 deed, other factors may account for the results. Proper fertility 

 has not always been maintained, and the heavier soils are less ex- 

 hausted by long cropping. While this may be true, the fact stands 

 out prominently that the production of tulip, narcissus, and even 

 hyacinth bulbs of good quality can be accomplished on silt-loam soils 

 underlain by clay at a depth of 16 inches. On the other hand, it 

 should be realized that the ability to produce bulbs at a profit will 

 be the controlling factor, and the expense is much less on light than on 

 heavy soils. 



When all is said, few plants are more widely adaptable and few 

 crops more easily grown than bulbs. The regions in this country are 

 few and small, indeed, where some varieties of each of the three 

 groups are not successful when grown for ornamentation, and the 

 possibility of the production of bulb crops is promising. The flower- 

 ing of the bulbs, as we know, is accomplished in a great variety 

 of media, almost anything, from water to ordinary loam soils, 

 answering the purpose provided the atmospheric conditions are 

 suitable. 



Mechanics probably has more to do with the suitability of sandy 

 soil than any inherent preference of the bulbs for sand rather than 

 for heavier loam. It is possible that it will be cheaper to add heavy 

 applications of fertilizer than to handle the bulbs in heavy soils. 

 On the other hand, many varieties will coat up better on light 



