6 BULLETIN 1327, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 
In cases where the crop is rotated to a new situation at each 
digging and the soil is friable enough, it will be found decidedly ad- 
vantageous to screen out the bulbs, to insure a thorough and clean job. 
For this work it is desirable to construct a " shaker." This may be 
a rectangular box 6 feet long, 28 inches wide, and 8 inches deep with 
a one-fourth-inch mesh wire bottom. The wire bottom should ter- 
minate 1 foot from one end, and a movable partition should be fitted 
just ahead of the opening thus made. Over the opening is fitted a 
sack from which the bottom has been cut. This box is mounted in a 
stout frame on wires or pivots, so that it can swing through a small 
arc. It is operated by a man at each end. The box is " jerked " in 
such a way as to slide the contents from one end to the other, to re- 
move the soil. When this is done, five or six more " jerks " will de- 
liver the bulbs into the lug box beyond the removed partition. 1 
The bulbs of grape hyacinths when dug in the ordinary way. one 
row at a time, as illustrated in Plate II, Figure, 2, have necessarily 
a great deal of soil attached to them, for they come out in clumps 
literally with masses of bulblets. The loose soil consequently can 
not be shaken off by hand before the bulbs are placed in the con- 
tainers used in digging. It is customary, therefore, if the, big shaker 
mentioned above is not employed, to provide digging boxes, usually 
referred to as screens, to receive the freshly dug bulbs. These screens 
may be 14 by 21 inches and 4 inches deep, having a one-fourth-inch 
mesh wire bottom. They should be constructed of light wood, and 
the ends should be double, with a handhold cut in the outer board. 
When the screen is half filled it is shaken lightly to remove the loose 
soil, after which the bulbs are transferred to the lug boxes or baskets 
for transportation to the storage house. 
IMPORTANCE OF PROPER DRYING OF BULBS IN STORAGE 
In no other group, except possibly the squills, is greater watch- 
fulness necessary than in this one when the bulbs are on the shelves. 
The crux of the whole matter is to place the bulbs in thin layers 
under airy conditions to dry rapidly and thoroughly while in storage 
before being packed for shipment or stored for planting again. 
After the bulbs have dried out well the light must be subdued; 
otherwise they turn green. In regions of higher summer tempera- 
tures and under longer storage periods protection from desiccation 
is necessary, for it is possible to wilt the bulbs too much. In the 
region of Washington, D. C, the bulbs keep well after being thor- 
oughly dried in thin layers in dry cellars or half basements. The 
grower should realize that there is more danger from underdrying 
or slow drying than from overdrying or rapid drying. A little wilt- 
ing is much less injurious than underdrying. The aim should be to 
dry the freshly dug bulbs quite rapidly for the first week or two 
and then reduce the ventilation so that the stocks at the close of the 
storage period will be but slightly wilted. 
*A complete description and an illustration of this machine will be found in U. S. 
Dept. Agr. Uul. 10S2, The Production of Tulip Bulbs. (See pp. lis and 29; also PL IX, 
fig. 2.) 
