THE PRODUCTION OF NARCISSUS BULBS 11 
One may see here piles of Paperwhite Grandiflora bulbs 2 to 3 feet 
deep on shed floors. But here the bulbs come out of dry soil and all 
roots are dead at digging time. 
In the South the bulbs are often spread out under the magnolias 
and live oaks. They take the rain as it comes and are cleaned off at 
some dry period and shipped, planted, or stored in sheds in piles. 
One grower transfers them into bean hampers (conical stave vege- 
table containers) and piles these up where they can be protected 
from sun and rain by canvas or even cross-cord paper. 
The form and arrangement of the bulb house is the same for a 
great variety of bulbs. The stocks can be stored in trays or on solid 
benches made of any tight lumber. They are piled on these 6 to 10 
inches high, depending upon the moisture content, ventilation, and 
somewhat upon the size of the bulbs, larger stock going on deeper 
than the smaller sizes. The expense of housing is indicated by the 
fact that it takes 2,000 to 3,000 feet of shelving to hold the crop from 
an acre farmed intensively. 
CURING 
The term "curing." of daffodil bulbs, as of tulips, is a misnomer. 
The process as referred to generally consists in simply drying the 
bulbs at a comparatively low temperature to such an extent that 
they will not mold or otherwise become injured in the pack. This 
consists simply in drying until the roots are dead and the coats have 
lost their moisture. The bulbs are then safe in moderate masses, 
say 2 feet through, if aeration around the packages is provided. 
The whole process is pureby unnatural and is necessitated b} T the 
artificial commercialized condition of handling. In nature the bulbs 
are subjected to no such conditions. It is well to bear this in mind 
and to remember that the whole process of " curing ? ' and ripening 
is an artificial necessity in order that the bulbs may be handled 
without injury. 
CHANGES IN THE BULBS AS THEY DRY 
When daffodil bulbs are first dug on the heavy soil of the Puget 
Sound region after they have been in two years they are mostly 
dark in color. As they dry for a few hours to a clay or two in the 
windrow the brown to tawny coats become slightly exposed. When 
shaken in the shakers preparatory to being removed to the bulb 
house a great many of the old blackened coats are abraded off and 
the bulbs are much lighter in color. When placed on the shelves, 
therefore, they are much brighter in appearance, but the roots are 
commonly still green; and the snouts, which in many varieties are 
likely to be more or less putrid from the sloughing off of the old 
leaf bases, have not completely dried up. 
When dug, the propagation in the form of slabs on the sides of 
the mother bulbs may be close and quite firmly attached. These, or 
many of them, loosen and spread apart as the bulbs dry on the 
shelves, so that three or four weeks later most of the fresher coats 
are exposed. This exposure and the drying of the coats themselves, 
together with the abrading of the blackened remains of the old outer 
covering, cause the bulbs to present their true marketable appearance 
in various shades of light brown or tawny so characteristic of these 
