30 BULLETIX 797, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICTJXTURE. 
succeeding admirably when handled in this way. The bulbs are set 
with a dibble, trowel, or mattock. Usually, if time permits, it is bet- 
ter to remove the sod and give the ground a good digging, and, if 
naturally poor, fertilizer deeply incorporated is added. Regarding 
fertility it may be said that good garden soil is well adapted to the 
narcissus, but one will commonly succeed better in lean soil than 
with one loaded up with manures. Under the latter condition bulbs 
are likely to decay, even though the manure may be what is com- 
monly termed " well rotted." We in this country have not yet ac- 
quired the habit of spading our ground two spades deep, as they do 
in foreign countries, thus putting our manure 3 to 6 inches below 
the bulbs. This kind of treatment on lean soil would furnish ideal 
conditions for the longevity of narcissus bulbs. 
Xarcissus beds and borders will usually improve if left alone until 
about the third or fourth year and then will deteriorate gradually. 
In grass where they have greater competition with other vegetation 
the multiplication is not so rapid and the crowding of the progeny is 
longer deferred, and if the variety is well adapted to this treatment 
it does not occur at all. Crowding can also be delayed by planting 
bulbs of the smallest size that will flower. The commercial bulbs 
of the second size are very suitable, but under no condition should 
double-nosed bulbs be bought if intended for permanent plantings. 
The narcissus in grassy places must be left undisturbed each year 
until the foliage begins to turn color well in the first half of June, 
then mowing can take place. The grass will have headed out by 
this time, and it will be necessary to go over it with a sharp scythe 
before the mower will do good work. 
Better success usually will be had with tulips and hyacinths if 
they are lifted each year at the time the foliage matures. If sec- 
ond or third sized bulbs are planted, however, they will give good re- 
sults the second year and will be satisfactory even the third year, 
while occasionally they are reported as successful even longer than 
that. Usually, however, tulips and hyacinths should be lifted each 
year. "With the tulips, as with lilies and crocuses, there is the added 
danger from mice, which are very fond of the bulbs and destroy 
quantities of them when left semipermanently. There is much less 
danger from this source when the ground is thoroughly dug, thus 
destroying the runways of the mice in the autumn, and the bulbs are 
dug again in June. 
In formal beds it is usually necessary to remove the bulb crop 
after flowering, in order that other bedding plants may be inserted. 
Commonly the bulbs are rooted out and thrown away, but this prac- 
tice is simply another wasteful American habit that should be dis- 
continued. The bulbs should be carefully lifted with as little injury 
as possible to roots and leaves and heeled in in some good situation, 
