8 



BULLETIN" 191, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



all rows are therefore 6 inches apart. The only variation occurs in 

 the number of bulbs set in the row. Large bulbs are set 7 to the row ; 

 the second size, 9 to the row; and the third, 11 to the row. (Fig. 3.) 

 These are commonly set upright and one in a place. The fourth size 

 is planted 14 to the row, seven clusters, or hills, of two each, the 

 bulbs being placed close together in any position in which they hap- 

 pen to fall. The fifth size is planted 21 to the row, seven clusters, 

 or hills, of three each, the bulbs lying in any position. The sixth 

 size is j)lanted like the last — five in each of seven clusters or hills. 

 Still smaller sizes are strung along about 50 to a row without any 

 attempt at clustering. In practice, the number of bulbs of the last 

 two sizes is only approximate, no attempt being made to count them. 

 In the case of very large bulbs of hyacinths or of the Emperor nar- 

 cissus, which can not 

 be planted without 

 crowding seven to a 

 6-inch row, a devia- 

 tion is made in the 

 spacing and the 

 bulbs are set on the 

 mark and half way 

 between, making the 

 rows 9 inches apart. 

 Occasionally, smaller 

 sizes of bulbs are 

 strewn broadcast on 

 the bed. This method, 

 while simplifying the 

 planting, makes dig- 

 ging much more difficult, for, instead of following each row across the 

 bed with the digging tool, the operator must turn all the soil in the 

 bed over to a sufficient depth to insure not cutting the bulbs and 

 then must pick them out by hand. 



This slightly modified Dutch method has not been much followed 

 in this country excejpt on the Pacific coast, and there it has recently 

 been abandoned at Eureka, Calif., by Mr. Ward, who is experiment- 

 ing with methods thought to be better adapted to the use of machin- 

 ery. The bulbs there are set 2 inches apart in 2-foot rows. 



In the Virginia bulb region (and a similar practice is followed 

 generally on the northern Atlantic coast) the bulb beds are opened 

 by turning furrows in opposite directions with a 12-inch plow. The 

 dead furrow thus made is worked to a level with a cultivator, making 

 a 15-inch bed, the path between being the same width as the bed. 

 This is said to be similar to the Guemsev method. The bulbs are 



Planting bulbs with a small crew. 



