The Secret of Bulb Culture 



By WILHELM MILLER, Editor of the " Garden Magazine 



VERY year we Americans spend about two million dollars for bulbs, without realizing the 

 one fundamental fact about them that makes for quality. While we can increase the size of the 

 flowers and profoundly affect the depth and purity of their colors by cultural skill, all the time, 

 money and loving care that we bestow upon them will never increase the nnmher of flowers. 



That is all determined when we buy the bulbs. 



To convince ourselves of this, all we have to do is to cut open a bulb and, if we have patience and a good 

 magnifying glass, we can count every blossom which that bulb had the possibility of making. 



The moral is obvious: pay more and get better bulbs. For there is no comparison between the pleasure 



Hyacinm bulb, showing embryo flower buds bulb culture is that charming little mystery wrapped up in the 



heart of every bulb — the number of flowers it intends to show. 



How can one tell a quality bulb ? As a rule, the bigger the bulb, the more the flowers and the higher 

 the price, but — that isn't all ! You want a bulb that is heavy for its size. It is the solid, close-grained bulb 

 that has the hardiness to resist wet and cold; it is the loose, sappy one that falls an easy prey to disease. 



The other secret of bulb culture is to get a wonderful root growth in the fall before the stem begins to 

 shoot up. A cool, dark place will fix that. Bulb culture is really "too easy." Beginners do sometimes fail, 

 but that is usually because they put the bulbs in too heavy soil. Bulbs have one weak point. They are 

 sensitive to stagnant water. Put a little sand under each bulb, if you are in doubt, or, better still, throw out 

 the heavy soil to the depth of two feet, put in a layer of broken bricks or stones for drainage and fill in 

 with good soil. 



And so I say the real secret of bulb culture is to buy the very best bulbs. It costs the Dutchmen more 

 to raise first-class bulbs than ordinary bulbs, and we can never expect to have quality flowers unless we pay 

 a fancy price. The price of bulbs is too cheap in this country. Our standards are too low. The prices of 

 general merchandise have advanced all along the line. (Everybody knows that. We all know that the cost of 

 living is higher.) Bulbs and seeds and plants have not advanced, but they must, because our standards are 

 advancing. The American people want the very best of everything, and they are willing to pay for it if the 

 thing is so much better that every one can see it at a glance. 



one gets out of a bulb that gives us one solitary daffodil and a 

 bulb that produces three to five of these glorious golden trum- 

 pets, each flower of which measures four inches across. 



The kind of crocuses you buy usually produce only 

 two or three flowers. A first -size crocus bulb should meas- 

 ure three inches in circumference and produce four to six 

 flowers. And so it goes. You may lavish daily care for months 

 upon an ordinary hyacinth bulb and you will never have any- 

 thing that you can show with pride to your neighbors. But 

 think of a hyacinth with eighty-three bells! That would be 

 something to exclaim over. You wouldn't have to apologize to 

 your callers for the condition of your flowers. You wouldn't 

 have to "wonder why" they were not better. The "secret" of 



