PRODUCTION OF TULIP BULBS. 33 
Labor summary. — The labor of growing an acre of tulip bulbs is 
summarized in Table 4. To arrive at the total cost the interest on 
the investment must be added and also the cost of preparing ehe 
ground, which will not differ materially from the preparation for 
potatoes or any other similar crop. 
SOILS. 
A soil which will not bake is suitable for the production of tulip 
bulbs. If it is light and friable, it will be much more easily handled. 
If it is lean and sandy, the cost of fertilizer will be heavier, but this 
will probably be compensated by a much lower charge than is re- 
quired for handling a heavy loam. 
FERTILITY OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE. 
That tulip bulbs of good quality can not be produced on infertile 
soil should be recognized as axiomatic. The numerous failures 
experienced by the householder who has endeavored to continue his 
stocks of bulbs year after year are due to a lack of proper soil fer- 
tility more than to any other cause. Tulip stocks of practically all 
varieties "go all to pieces," so to speak, when grown year after year 
on poor soil. 
EXCESSIVE FERTILITY. 
While tulips, like most bulbous stocks, require heavy fertility, it 
is possible to apply too much raw manure for them to give best 
results. An application of manure too near the time of planting, 
' even though it be not excessive in quantity, is also likely to cause 
injury. A heavy application of manure with the removal of some 
other crop previous to planting the bulbs furnishes the ideal condi- 
tion for tulips. 
Excessive stimulation often manifests itself in the tulip by a large 
approximately horizontal gash in the coat across the back of the 
bulb, as well as by excessive size. (PL XI, Fig. 1.) The bulb seems 
to expand at too great a rate for the coat, which is ruptured and 
slightly wrinkled, as well as somewhat thickened over the remainder 
of the bulb. This is very different from the irregular splitting of the 
coats due to too great exposure. Here the split has already occurred 
before the time of digging, and the white, living scales beneath are 
already somewhat discolored by contact with the soil. 
Such conditions are likely to occur to some extent when tulips are 
grown on new, fertile soil, even though it be not heavily fertilized, 
but in the absence of added manures it is not likely to be serious. 
Some varieties are much more susceptible to injury from this 
cause than others. Cardinal's Hat is very susceptible. In 1919 the 
stocks of this tulip at Bellingham, Wash., had not over 5 per cent of 
102949°— 22— Bull. 1082 3 
