COMMERCIAL DUTCH-BULB CULTURE. 
accomplished when the dirt is taken out in opening the second bed, 
the surface being left rough as the dirt falls from the shovel and 
smoothed off late in the season. The bottom of the second bed is then 
prepared for setting the bulbs, and the process is repeated with suc- 
cessive beds until the entire plat is planted. To facilitate the work 
the corners of the beds are marked permanently by stakes at the time 
they are laid off and these stakes serve as guides. 
In laying off the ground careful attention is given to configuration, 
so that the drainage may be as nearly perfect as possible. Com- 
monly the plats are marked off by the previous plowing, the back 
furrow being thrown into the middle of the land, thus draining 
into the dead furrow between the plats or lands. Where the subsoil 
is sandy, allowing the ready percolation of moisture, drainage 
ditches between the 
plats are not neces- 
sary, but in heavier 
soils it is imperative 
to make them. Even 
in sandy soils it is 
better that ample 
drainage be provided, 
because if the surface 
of the soil freezes 
there may be a time 
when water will be 
pocketed for a few 
days, to the injury of 
the bulbs. 
The bulb bed in the 
Netherlands is laid off 
a meter wide and of 
any convenient 
length — the width of the plat or land — preferably about 33 feet 
(10 meters). The plats are separated by walks 4 to 8 or 10 feet 
wide, which include the drainage ditches, In some instances 
narrow and wide walks alternate. Between the beds paths 12 to 16 
inches wide are left. The rows run across the beds and are there- 
fore a meter (39.37 inches) long. Our marker was made to lay off 
rows 6 inches apart. This marker is the same in principle as that 
used by the onion growers of southern Texas, being made of slats 
set in the periphery of an 18-inch cylinder 3 feet in length (fig. 2). 
This handmade machine marks the row and the boundaries and 
center of the bed and is operated in the depression, which has pre- 
viously been raked to a level. One marker does all the work, and 
Fig. 2. — Marking a bed with a homemade marker. The 
machine marks> the rows, the outside, and the middle of 
the bed. 
