PRODUCTION OF TULIP BULBS. 3 
upon the nature and abundance of the smaller increase, commonly 
referred to as "the propagation." His planting is composed essen- 
tially of the bulbs below the largest bulb in the cluster, together 
with the small bulbs of the previous year's planting which have not 
grown to merchantable size during the current season. 
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR TULIPS. 
Tillage for tulips should be thorough and deep. Upon the What- 
com silt loams of the Bellingham Bay region, where the work has 
been carried on, the average depth of the soil is not more than 12 to 
16 inches. Thus far no subsoiling has been done, but the land has 
been prepared as deeply as possible with an ordinary 14-inch, steel- 
beam walking plow, 10 inches being probably close to the depth of 
the best preparation. Greater depth would undoubtedly be desir- 
able, but good crops can be grown with this character of preparation 
on land where the drainage is cared for either by contourage, natural 
slope, or porosity of subsoil. 
The soil is put in as fine a tilth as possible by the use of harrow, 
disk, float, and pulverizer packer. An almost indispensable tool is 
the rolling-disk clod crusher and packer, which has been used Very 
largely on both silt and sandy soils, on the former mainly to pulverize 
and on the latter to pack the soil so that the edges of the beds will 
hold when marked out. 
The proper use of tillage and soil-packing machinery exhibits in 
the highest degree the skill and efficiency of the grower in putting the 
bulb fields in just the right- state of fineness and compactness, not 
only for the best crop results but also for the best handling in the 
planting of the crop. 
LAYING OUT LANDS FOR PLANTING. 
It is needless to say that, as in all farming operations, bulb lands 
should be rectangular in outline wherever it is possible. If lands are 
heavy and therefore to be bedded up, they have been roughly out- 
lined by the tillage implements and are ready to have the ends of the 
beds marked. It is the practice to stretch a line on each side of the 
plat, the length of which is governed by the size of the field. The 
experimental plats were approximately 400 feet long. Along these 
taut lines a man proceeds with a 12 or 15 foot marker, on which are 
designated 36-inch and 12-inch spaces, alternating. With this he 
marks out the corners of the beds and drives stakes in each corner. 
If the sides of the plat are parallel, or, in other words, if the plat is of 
uniform width and the first stakes on each side of the plat are set 
directly opposite each other, the beds are rectangular, and no diffi- 
culty will be experienced in the future work provided the measure- 
ments are accurate. It is well to exercise much care in setting the 
