20 
BULLETIN 28, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the date of flowering. Flowers from Bellingham-grown bulbs were 
cut on February 16 and from imported bulbs on February 21 and 
22, 1913. The results of the forcing tests of the season of 1912-13 
verify those secured out of doors in 1910 and 1911. 
Fig. 20. — Flats of imported and Bellingham-grown tulips. The two flats on the left 
contain imported bulbs ; the two on the right, bulbs grown at the United States 
Bulb Garden. Both lots are of the Couleur Cardinal variety planted October 30, 
1912, and both received the same treatment. They were brought into the green- 
houses of the Department of Agriculture and photographed on January 25, 1913. 
The bulbs used in these tests were not selected, but were the ordi- 
nary run of what is considered commercial stock. That these tests 
do not absolutely establish the superiority of Bellingham-grown 
tulips oyer imported stock is realized, and other tests will have to 
be made in order to determine beyond question whether or not 
Fig. 21. — Imported and Bellingham-grown tulips in flower. This illustration shows 
the condition of the plants from imported and Bellingham-grown bulbs of the 
Couleur Cardinal variety just 32 days after they were taken into the greenhouse of 
the United States Department of Agriculture. The plants from imported bulbs in 
the two flats on the left range from 3 to 9 inches to the top of the flowers. The 
few flowers that are in bloom are too short stemmed to be of any commercial value. 
The plants from the Bellingham-grown bulbs in the flats on the right range from 
8 to 11 inches to the top of the flowers. Tractically all of the latter plants are 
in full bloom, and 90 per cent of them are of commercial value. 
American-grown tulips and narcissuses when forced or growing out 
of doors will produce better and healthier plants and yield earlier 
and larger flowers on longer and stronger steins than the same 
varieties grown in the Netherlands. 
