16 BULLETIlSr 962, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



or after the tops are cut by freezing weather, but before there is 

 danger of the ground freezing to any great extent. All the top 

 growth should be cut off and the bulbs reset about 4 inches deep and 

 mulched, preferably with an inch or two of manure, after the ground 

 freezes a little. In the latitude of Washington, D. C, the digging and 

 resetting can be done most advantageously about the 1st of November, 

 when it is advised that dormant bulbs generally be planted. Handled 

 in this way the seedlings will have a maximum period of development 

 and will still have time to get a firm hold on the soil before winter 

 sets in. 



TREATMENT OF SEEDLINGS AFTER THEY HAVE FLOWERED IN THE GREENHOUSE. 



The disposition made of the bulbs after flowering will depend en- 

 tirely upon circumstances. If the florist sells potted plants, that, 

 of course, is the end of the transaction. He will then produce more 

 seed and raise a new crop of seedlings for each winter's flowering, 

 as described in previous pages. If, as is more likely the case in all 

 middle latitudes, he wishes to work up stocks of vegetatively propa- 

 gated bulbs to be handled like imported stocks, it will be necessary 

 to preserve the bulbs as his potted plants flower. In this case, the 

 flowers can be cut with short stems for formal pieces, or even with 

 a foot of stem cut. The pots should then be kept rather dry and 

 allowed to dry up completel}^ within a month or six weeks. Any 

 time after the 1st of April, or before if the soil can be worked, the 

 bulbs can be planted in the open ground. 



The plants will blossom again in late July. In the fall they will 

 be dug, the largest bulbs taken out for forcing or for sale, and the 

 increase replanted in order to continue the outdoor growing. 



PRODUCTION ON A VEGETATIVE BASIS. 



PLANTING VEGETATIVELY PROPAGATED STOCKS. 



The previous pages deal with seedling stocks up to the time they 

 are ready to be propagated vegetatively, as the Easter lily is usually 

 produced. If these same stocks are to be grown continuously the 

 handling must, of course, be modified. Normally, the lily bulbs will 

 be planted in late autumn; but if the first-year seedlings have been 

 flowered in the greenhouse the bulbs will have to be jolanted out as 

 soon as the ground can be worked in the sj^ring. 



The character of the field planting will probably resolve itself 

 into a bed eventualh'', mainlj^ on account of the advantage of a 

 mulch, which becomes an excessive burden in any but the most in- 

 tensive foiTii of culture. No better method of planting can be 

 recommended than the Dutch bed, in which the planted space is 3 

 feet wide, with a 12-inch to 15-inch path between the beds. The bulbs 

 are planted seven to nine or more to the row across the bed. (Fig. 8.) 



