AMERICAN BULBS UNDER GLASS 21 
into the crates, which were stacked in a well-aerated place. After 
the bulbs were properly dried out the aeration was reduced. When 
dug before the bases of the leaves and stems were dry the bulbs were 
left in the windrow in the field, covered with the hoed-off tops for 
a day or two, and then handled the same way as the others. A 
grower in North Carolina handled his daffodils successfully last 
season in storage in some old Dutch-bulb crates through the centers 
of which some ventilation had been put to break up the bulb mass. 
These crates were piled in a shed open to the south. 
Another factor which affects the healthfulness and vigor of 
daffodil stocks and one which is at present of somewhat controversial 
nature relates to frequency of digging. In spite of the fact that 
daffodils are rejuvenated by being left several years unclug or even 
in a seminaturalized condition, and a general biennial digging prac- 
tice may be advisable when possible, there are conditions under which 
annual digging may be imperative. There is yet much which must 
be learned by experience and experiment, but it seems probable that 
daffodil stocks will keep better in storage than in our southern shal- 
low soils during the very hot and very wet dormant season from 
mid-June to mid-September. 
The very trying season of 1924^25 in the Northwest affected 
seriously the condition of several daffodil plantings. Some plant- 
ings were killed in large measure, and it will take some time for 
other stocks to recover. Some growers in this region have planted 
too shallow. Deeper planting or a mulch is necessary in occasional 
winters. It is believed that there should be not less than 4 inches 
of soil over the bulbs and in exposed situations more than that. 
Deeper planting on the very light soils of this region is advised. 
Freezing results in dwarfed plants with leaves prematurely yel- 
lowed at the tips, and in discoloration of the bases of the bulbs, 
which gives rise eventually to a rot producing rotten bases, rotten 
scale bases, a ring-diseased appearance, and finally a completely 
rotted bulb. 
Broken tulips appeared in two instances in the forcing tests of 
the winter of 1924—25. The occurrence was rather peculiar in that 
both cases occurred in recently imported stock. No broken forms 
have been found in the hundred or more varieties of the Department 
of Agriculture which have been grown continuously for 15 years or 
more in this country at Bellingham, Wash. 
Recently imported stocks of the cottage tulip Fulgens, grown one 
year at Bellingham after being used for bedding on the Department 
of Agriculture grounds at Washington, D. C, showed 10 per cent of 
broken plants when forced this season. The breaking was not noticed 
on the department grounds nor in the field at Bellingham. The 
stocks of one grower, also recently imported, showed nearly 25 per 
cent broken plants in both Farncombe Sanders and Bartigon. This 
breaking is of great importance to our growers, as the value of tulip 
stocks is tremendously reduced when any considerable percentage 
of the bulbs become broken. When this occurs the varieties can be 
disposed of* as mixed stocks only. Observations seem to indicate 
that the breaking is more likely to take place in the warmer sections 
of the country. It is there also that aphids are most prevalent. 
