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4 BULLETIN 1459, U. 5S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The condition and character of the soil in the flats or frames will 
influence very decidedly the ease with which the seedlings may be 
kept in condition to withstand the inroads of the damping-off fungus. 
It should be of such a nature that water passes through it quickly, 
and the general drainage of the frames or flats should be such that 
surplus water will pass through readily and out of reach of the 
plants in a few minutes. 
In either frames or field it is most desirable that an effort be made 
as soon as the plants are up to do everything possible to keep the 
soi! cool, and it should be of such a friable nature that stirring will 
not be necessary. This protection of the soil in the seedling bed is 
best accomplished by a mulch, and this must be of fine material. 
Chopped straw, chaff, well-weathered hardwood sawdust, fined woods 
soil, spent hotbed manure, peat, or even sharp sand over a clay loam 
would be beneficial. 
In such a planting there is little opportunity for stirring the 
ground, and in fact stirring is not necessary or even advisable. 
Weeds must be pulled by hand, and no other form of culture than 
this is necessary. It is advisable to make a second application of 
mulch later in the season when the size of the plants permits. 
Late in the fall of the first season, after the frost has seared most of 
the leaves, it is a good plan to put about 1 inch of soil over the beds. 
Jf the paths are wide enough the soil for the purpose may be taken 
from them, but it is better to haul it from some other place. 
At first consideration it may seem a laborious process to carry the 
seedlings through this first season. Putting in the seed, hand weed- 
ing the beds through the entire season, applying a mulch possibly 
twice during the summer, and then covering the beds with soil in latg 
fall may seem exceedingly burdensome. However, in actual practice 
it is less so than its discussion might indicate. 
The beds used for such work at Arlington Experiment Farm, 
Rosslyn, Va., are 130 feet long. (Pl. 2, A.) In such a bed, 3 feet by 
130 feet, at the rate of seeding recommended, a perfect germination 
would net over 50,000 seedlings. By estimate, based on counts of por- 
tions of rows, an actual crop of 30,000 lily plants has been raised on 
such an area. The work outlined is not excessive when the density 
of the crop is taken into consideration. The area of such a bed plus 
the 18-inch path is only 600 square feet, or about one-seventieth of 
an acre. It is believed that no efficient, effective, or satisfactory 
handling can be much cheaper or needs to be. 
LENGTH OF TIME IN SEED BED 
Where frame seeding is practiced, the use of the seed bed for more 
than one season may not be practicable. Because of the necessity 
of economizing space the planting is very thick, and the plants will 
be too crowded the second year, resulting in poor bulb growth with 
a risk of damping-off of the foliage due to poor aeration. Doubtless 
a larger bulb development will also take place under most of the 
planting specifications given here if transplanting is done after the 
first year’s growth. , 
Under field conditions and in large operations, on the other hand, 
it is possible that economy of time and effort may often favor leaving 
the stocks in the seed bed for two years.. There is no doubt that a 
