BULLETIN 1082, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
first stakes, even to laying out the first corners with a square, for 
future operations are facilitated by accuracy in these initial prep- 
arations. 
When the corners of the beds have been marked by stakes, the 
beds are marked off. This is done by first stretching a taut line on 
each side of the bed, guided by the previously driven stakes. Two 
men usually work at this job and open up a number of beds in ad- 
vance of planting. Each man handles one end of the two lines. 
When they have been fastened, one man marks one and the other the 
other side of the bed, being guided by the taut line (see right of PI. 
VI, Fig. 2) . They drive the spade into the ground vertically 2 to 3 
inches and pull the dirt toward the center of the bed with a sort of 
scraping motion. When each has marked his side, they are at oppo- 
site sides of the plat ready to take up the lines and transfer them to 
the next bed and continue the work in this way to the end of the 
plat. 
The width of the plat is the length of the bulb bed. The length of 
the bed is arranged purely as a matter of convenience in handling the 
bulbs in digging and planting. 
PLANTING TULIPS. 
The process of setting the bulbs in the ground is not essentially 
different for a great variety of bulbs. After the beds are marked off 
preparation for planting begins. All the soil to a depth of about 4 
inches is thrown out of the first bed. The bottom is raked to a uni- 
form level and fined with a garden rake.' A roller marker is next run 
over the bed thus prepared. (PL VI, Fig. 1.) As soon as a space of 
4 or 5 feet in the bed has been set with bulbs, the man with the 
shovel begins to open up the second bed by taking out the soil to a 
depth of about 4 inches, as before, and using it to cover the bulbs in 
the first bed; in other words, the soil taken out in opening a bed is 
used to cover the bulbs in the previous bed all the way across the plat. 
With experienced bulb men the marker is unnecessary, for they are 
able to set the bulbs in the required geometrical design without 
guidance. 
HOW THE BULBS ARE SET. 
The method of setting the bulbs varies with the different sizes. 
With tulip bulbs above 9 centimeters in circumference or with those 
sizes which are set upright, it is considered advantageous to strew 
them along the bed from the containers in which they are brought 
to the field. One man on each side of the bed on his knees sets the 
bulbs, usually 9 or 11 to a 3-foot row. When planting small 
sizes, indeed when planting all sizes below about 8 centimeters 
or those not set upright, it is advantageous to have small boxes a 
foot square and about 3 inches deep to hold the bulbs, which are 
