COMMERCIAL DUTCH-BULB CULTURE. 35 
Columbia a planting of 400 bulbs was heavily mulched, and this 
mulch was left on in the spring. Still no fire disease was discovered 
on the plants and no evidence of the organism noted except in the 
case of skinned bulbs, upon which a few of the black sclerotia, which 
carry the organism over the dormant season, were found. This was 
the report in spite of the fact that a test was made with over 100 
bulbs in bad condition on account of being skinned and bruised. 
These bulbs were produced at Bellingham and showed considerable 
fire disease. 
DISEASES OF HYACINTHS. 
The hyacinth is troubled with enemies more than the other two 
groups. The most serious trouble thus far has been the yellows, or 
" new disease," which has been investigated by Wakker x and by 
Smith. 2 This is detected in the bulb by a softening when far ad- 
vanced. If a bit of the nose of the bulb is cut off, the diseased con- 
dition can be detected by the yellow discoloration appearing in rings, 
segments of rings, or dots. It is a common practice with bulb grow- 
ers to " nose " all bulbs planted, in order to detect this disease. Our 
experience, however, shows that this practice leads to very serious 
complications unless done with extreme care, so that we are now de- 
cidedly of the opinion that it may be a wiser plan to cull carefully 
without " nosing " and depend on taking out diseased plants during 
the growing season. At that time the disease can be detected by 
the water-soaked appearance of the plant and in advanced stages 
by the wilting down of the leaves. Great care should be exercised 
to cull out plants in the incipient stages of the disease in order to 
prevent the spread of infection. The Dutch grower uses for the re- 
moval of diseased plants a strong galvanized-iron tube 6 inches in 
diameter and 2 feet long, like a giant cookie cutter. This is inserted 
in the ground and a plug of earth, including the diseased bulb, is 
removed and destroyed. This " snotkoker " we have not thus far 
been able to use, on account of the greater density of our soils. 
Stock as free as possible from this disease should be secured for 
propagation. It is not impossible, however, to clean up slightly in- 
fected stocks, provided the effort is intelligent and persistent. This 
cleaning has actually been accomplished upon our grounds by the 
process of culling and selection previously mentioned. Every step 
in the process of hyacinth culture should be carefully guarded, in 
order to prevent the spread of this disease. 
1 Wakker, J. H. Contributions a la pathologie vegetale. In Arch. Neerland. Sci. Exact, 
et Nat. t. 23, p. 18-20. 1889. 
2 Smith, Erwin F. Wakker's hyacinth germ. U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Veg. Phys. and 
Path., Bui. 26, 45 pages, 6 fig., 1 col. pi. 1901. 
