PRODUCTION OF TULIP BULBS. 
27 
weights, measures, and numbers as it is with potatoes or any other 
similar crop. 
The data in Table 3, worked out in August, 1920, ten days to two 
weeks after the bulbs were cleaned, may be accepted as representative. 
Counts and measurements were made of the bulbs as they had dried 
out for that length of time on the shelves in a bulb house which was 
poorly controlled. 
Table 3. — Relation of weights and measures of tulip bulbs. 
[All bulbs flowered this year except those of Farncombe Sanders.] 
Name of the 
Size of bulbs (cen- 
timeters). 
Bulbs to a bushel. 
Number 
of bulbs 
in a 
pound. 
Remarks. 
variety. 
Planted. 
Dug. 
Number. 
Weight 
(pounds). 
Farncombe Sanders. 
Cardinal's Hat 
Clara Butt 
8+ 
8+ 
8+ 
8+ 
8+ 
8+ 
8+ 
11 to 15 
11 to 13 
10 to 13 
9 to 12 
10 to 12 
a9tol3 
11 to 13 
770 
1,050 
980 
1,295 
1,148 
1,855 
944 
54i 
56J 
56 
56 
561 
56 
56 
14| 
18+ 
20+ 
33| 
16f 
About half of the bulbs were 
long necked. 
Bulbs rather undersized. 
Crimson King 
Stock planted last autumn. 
Do 
Stock undug last year. 
Fairy Queen 
a Mostly 9 to 10 centimeters. 
From Table 3 it will be seen that the weight of a bushel of bulbs 
is quite constant, and 56 pounds has been adopted as the weight of 
a bushel measure slightly rounded. So far as known, no standard 
weight of a bushel of tulip bulbs has been established. The number 
of mature bulbs in a bushel will manifestly vary greatly with the 
variety, as will the variety under different methods of handling and 
the crop of one season with that of another. 
PREPARATION OF STOCKS FOR PLANTING. 
Let us assume that the stocks are all cleaned and returned to the 
shelves. Some work must still be done on them before they are 
ready to plant. The method used in sizing the bulbs will depend 
upon the kind of machinery employed. Except where the opera- 
tions are large and the equipment ample the work is likely to be 
done on a makeshift basis. But if any quantity of bulbs is to be 
sized, the grower can not well get along without about four nesting 
sieves. (PL X, Fig. 3.) This will allow of a separation into five 
sizes. For moderate quantities of bulbs the sieves can be operated 
by hand, but it is decidedly advantageous to construct a shaker, as 
shown in Plate XV, Figure 1. This holds the nest of sieves and may 
make a separation at one operation of about one-third of a bushel 
into five sizes. 
When these separations have been made, each size is placed in a 
different container, labeled, and sent to the field in lots, each lot 
