COMMERCIAL, DUTCH-BTJLB CULTURE. 17 



tulips and hyacinths receive the best care and attention, while nar- 

 cissi take the space that is left. At Bellingham it has been the 

 practice to cure and store these bulbs in an open shed, a purely tem- 

 porary structure, wherein the protection is barely enough to keep 

 off sun and rain. Indeed, at times, owing to lack of space, even 

 tulips have been cured under similar conditions with fairly good 

 success, but after cleaning they have always been stored in a more 

 careful manner. The conditions at Bellingham are possibly rather 

 favorable to such a makeshift treatment. A dirt floor constantly 

 moist and the influence of the near-by coast tend to mitigate the evil 

 effect of too rapid drying. 



Hyacinths are allowed to remain in the windrow but a short time 

 after digging, at most a day, and the small sizes not at all. The 

 larger bulbs are well coated and protected with more or less dirt, 

 so that in our situation they are not injured by a few hours' sun. 

 They may be brushed lightly with a rough broom in the windrow 

 and then put on the bulb -house shelves to dry. Experience shows 

 that they need the airiest position in the bulb house, and on this 

 account they should not here be stored or cured in open sheds with a 

 dirt floor, though in many situations having a drier atmosphere 

 such sheds might be sufficiently dry. As with tulips and narcissi, 

 the aeration of the bulb house must be much more complete during 

 the early stages of storing and curing hyacinths, on account of the 

 large amount of superflous moisture. After two or three weeks in 

 storage less air is necessary, but hyacinths require better aeration 

 during their entire period of dormancy than the other two groups. 

 The hyacinth is not only subject to molds in storage, like the other 

 bulbs, but is prone to succumb much more quickly to storage rots, 

 which are less prevalent when the bulbs are kept dry. 



The temperature of the storage room must necessarily be variable 

 and bear a direct relation to moisture conditions. It is probable 

 that the protection of an ordinarily constructed house properly con- 

 trolled as to ventilation will afford suitable storage conditions in any 

 region where bulbs can be successfully grown. A stuffy, heated condi- 

 tion close to the roof, however, would be detrimental, and the opposite 

 extreme of dampness in a basement, half basement, or lower floor 

 should also be avoided. In short, a bulb storage house requires daily 

 attention. No formula can be given for its handling. The grower 

 must study his conditions and become sufficiently conversant with the 

 subject to know what to do when the conditions in any portion of the 

 house are not what they should be. The latitude in temperature per- 

 missible in storage is indicated by Dutch practices with bulbs that 

 are habitually subjected to artificial heat in order to hasten certain 

 processes which take place during the dormant season. A distinct 



126953°— 19 3 



