6 BULLETIN 1462, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
glance at the stocks should enable one to anticipate and obviate this 
kind of failure. 
One familiar with tulip bulbs can read a great deal of their history 
from the bulbs themselves before potting or planting. There is 
little excuse for mistaking sizes. If the best bulbs in a consignment 
are mostly long necks, it is more than likely that the flowering bulbs 
were reduced by a flower cut, that the number of bulbs sold was al- 
together too great, or that rough handling abraded the mature bulbs. 
DATES OF FLOWERING 
A cursory study of the dates of flowering of the tulips in Table 1 
will show that expectations are sometimes upset owing partly to the 
conditions under which the operations were necessarily carried on, 
but more particularly to the variable conditions under which the 
stocks were produced. The bulk of the material was grown at 
Bellingham, Wash. Some lots were produced at various points be- 
tween Bellingham, Wash., and Virginia. Added to this diversity 
of conditions is a still further variation resulting from the handling 
of the bulbs in storage, further influencing the manner in which 
they behaved when forced. These important factors are so com- 
plicated and their influence so potent that it is scarcely profitable 
to do more than call attention to them here. 
These observations lead naturally to the consideration of these 
influences as affecting the florist business. The forcing of Ameri- 
can-grown stocks is going to be more complicated, owing to the vari- 
able conditions under which they are produced. The florist who has 
proceeded by the calendar in his different operations will be obliged 
to forget to a large extent his dates and depend entirely upon what 
his stocks show they need from week to week. Of course, when the 
characteristics of the stocks produced in a certain locality have be- 
come familiar and production practices are stabilized, dates for 
handling in forcing may be as stable and dependable as for foreign- 
grown bulbs; but should the dealer mix stocks from Puget Sound 
with those from Virginia, for instance, the results from either forc- 
ing or bedding are very likely to be unsatisfactory. This feature 
is not applicable alone to tulips. It applies just as strongly to 
daffodils, hyacinths, and other forcing bulbs. 
MAINTENANCE OF QUALITY IN STOCKS 
The tulip stocks produced under the writer's supervision at Bel- 
lingham, Wash., were also forced in considerable quantities last 
year by another branch of the department. The personnel of this 
branch is well versed in the production of decorative material under 
glass, and its conclusions may be accepted as carrying authoritative 
weight. Its observations are interesting. Briefly stated, its re- 
port shows that the Bellingham, Wash., tulips forced satisfactorily, 
but that the flowers were smaller on the average than those of im- 
ported stocks of the same varieties. 
The writer is satisfied that this criticism of the experimental stocks 
grown under his direct supervision states the fact. This is exactly 
the information that was sought, and the criticism that was expected, 
because for the last five years large tulip bulbs have been disposed 
