10 BULLETIN 1082, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
each year are to renew the fertility of the soil, to separate the mer- 
chantable bulbs from the others, and to distribute and rearrange the 
remaining bulbs in order to prevent crowding. These things ac- 
complished, the bulbs are better off in the ground than in any stor- 
age that can be given them. 
The practice of the Department of Agriculture has varied. In 
some years planting has not been completed before December, but 
for the past three years the digging has been mainly done in July and 
the planting in August. Early planting is to be preferred. 
On the other hand, the tulip bulb is very adaptable and may be 
planted with a degree of success as late as the ground can be worked. 
Indeed, the bulbs may often be carried over winter in storage, planted 
in early spring, and the stock saved. 
In practice the grower will begin planting as soon as he has finished 
digging and cleaning. The exact time of starting and finishing each 
operation will depend upon the season, the amount of digging to be 
done, the labor available, and other factors that enter into the econ- 
omy of farm operations. 
TREATMENT OF THE BEDS AFTER PLANTING. 
The surface soil of the planted bed is left as it is dropped from the 
shovel until the planting is done. It is soon settled naturally by a 
shower of rain. Late in the season, or as soon as weeds begin to grow, 
cultivation begins and is continued, to kill successive crops of weeds 
and smooth off the surface, until winter sets in and prevents further 
work on the ground. In tulip culture, economy requires a maximum 
of cultivation before the plants appear above ground and a minimum 
afterwards. 
This cultivation in autumn is done in various ways. The most 
expeditious method is with a wheel hoe which is operated with weeder 
knives attached, usually across the beds. Commonly this is the 
only tool used. 
After two or three weeks there need be no hesitancy in walking 
over the beds enough to do this cultivating, but immediately after 
planting the beds should be walked on as little as possible and no 
more than is necessary at any season. 
MULCHING. 
The most approved practice requires clean culture for tulips. 
The one objection to a mulch on tulips is the danger of the spread of 
the fire disease caused by the fungus Botrytis, which may be very 
destructive wherever the conditions are such that both the surface 
of the ground and the plants are continuously wet for days at a 
time. 
