28 BULLETIN 797, U. S. DEPAETMEISTT OF AGRICULTURE. 



PACKING BULBS. 



Bulbs in large bulk are prone to sweat and are easily bruised and 

 mashed against the sides of the containers. For these reasons it is 

 necessary to make shipments in some fine packing material that will 

 sift in between the bulbs. Several substances are employed for the 

 purpose, but grain chaff is most commonly used. Buckwheat hulls 

 are preferred to all other materials, and rice chaff is a close second. 

 Wlieat chaff and chopped straw, while usable for a moderate time, 

 are inclined to absorb moisture under moist atmospheric conditions. 

 Sawdust has at times been employed, but has not always proved satis- 

 factory. It is better when old and weathered, especially if free from 

 turpentine and thoroughly dry. Eedwood sawdust would probably 

 be much better than other kinds, but the writers know of no experi- 

 ence with it. In some instances peat and finely broken up sphagnum 

 haA^e been employed. 



Tulip bulbs^ are commonly packed in j)aper bags containing about 

 250 and the requisite quantity of hulls and then are shipped in crates 

 holding 2,000 to 5,000 bulbs. Hyacinths are handled in much the 

 same way as tulips, and so also are many varieties of narcissus, but 

 the commoner, hardier varieties of the latter are more often for- 

 warded in slatted crates holding 2,000 to 5,000 bulbs or more, with no 

 packing materials. Sometimes hyacinths are forwarded in the same 

 way. 



Since 1917 the shipping of bulbs from the Netherlands has been 

 attended with many difficulties, and they have arrived in all sorts of 

 conditions. Probably owing to the difficulty of securing packing ma- 

 terials, but little was used. Hundreds of cases were a complete loss, 

 and the commoner narcissus, which is usually shipped without pack- 

 ing, appeared to suffer about as much as the tulips and hyacinths. 

 Indeed, tulijDS, mostly without packing material, have come through 

 in the past two years in good condition. Much depends upon the 

 position of the cases in the holds of the vessels and the length of time 

 in transit. A large unaerated package is dangerous with any bulbs, 

 since some heating is bound to occur ; consequently, root action starts 

 and very soon decomposition sets in. 



SHIPPING BULBS. 



The experience of the Department of Agriculture in the shipment 

 of the bulbs of both the tulip and narcissus has been uniformly sat- 

 isfactory. The latter have been shipped in citrus crates without 

 packing. Tulips were put up one year in cloth sacks packed with 

 buckwheat hulls, about 250 to the sack, and crated in slatted crates 

 holding about 20 of the sacks. The past season 125,000 tulips were 

 put up loose in buckwheat hulls in tight wooden boxes holding about 



