14 BULLETIN 1082, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE . 
Some growers follow the practice of cutting the stems below the 
upper leaf, thus removing a minimum of the feeding surface of the 
plant; but even this interferes with the best production of bulbs. 
It is not good practice in bulb production, and tulip bulbs will 
gradually deteriorate under this treatment. 
The practice may be conducted with less injurious effects with the 
Darwins and some other single late varieties than with other tulips, 
for the reason that when well grown these plants have a foot of stem 
above the top leaf. Cutting above this leaf can be safely indulged in, 
and the flowers will be decorative, provided greens from some other 
source be supplied. 
REMOVING THE FLOWERS. 
In the production of tulip bulbs it is imperative that no flowers be 
allowed to fall to pieces on the beds or any seed vessels allowed to 
mature on the plants. 
The tulip stem is brittle, and a quick, abrupt bending of it between 
the thumb and forefinger will snap it off with certainty. (PI. VIII, 
Fig. 1.) The operation should be performed before the flowers drop 
their petals, and all flowers and portions of flowers should be carried 
out of the bulb fields. 
In regions best adapted to tulip culture the dropping of the petals 
on the foliage and on the surface of the ground during humid weather 
is fraught with danger. When this is allowed to take place, the 
decaying petals if they remain damp all day form the best kind of 
medium for the development of the fungus Botrytis, the cause of the 
fire disease. It is therefore the practice of bulb growers to remove 
all flowers of tulips before the petals begin to fall. 
Preferably two men work together, one on each side of the bed, 
and snap off the flowers with an inch or two of stem, placing them in 
a pail or any convenient container, to be emptied into larger recep- 
tacles or carts in the roadways and later removed from the bulb 
fields. 
In many regions where tulip bulbs can be successfully grown the 
danger from fire injury is reduced to a minimum if the general 
atmospheric conditions are such as to cause the petals to dry up 
rather than to decay on the plants or on the ground. Even under 
these conditions it is necessary to remove the flowers, for the reason 
that practically all tulips produce seed profusely, and when they are 
allowed to do so the production of bulbs is correspondingly reduced. 
The time at which the flowers are removed may vary. It is 
customary to remove them after they have faded and before the 
petals fall. They can just as well be removed in the bud, but there 
is a certain advantage in public appreciation and local enjoyment 
