6 BULLETIN 797, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
tion hi the relation of different sizes, owing to seasonal variation, 
and, further, by the fact that merchantable bulbs are turned off 
more closely some seasons than others. In the above case an average, 
which means but little, would be 8,400 for the area specified. It is 
on this account that the row and the bed are such prominent units 
of bulb measurement in the Netherlands. They do not contain the 
same number of bulbs, but an effort is made to occupy the ground 
uniiormly, and there is consequently about an equivalent quantity of 
plant material on any given area. 
PLANTING. 
Long experience and practice have brought the art of planting, as 
well as other Dutch-bulb operations, to an exact formula. In this 
country the ground is thoroughly prepared with a plow, disk, and 
harrow, but in the Netherlands mainly with a spade and rake. It is 
well to run a float or 
----- 
Fig. 
1. — A field of the Sir Watkin narcissus, 
mental planting at Bellingham, Wash., 1918. 
Experi- 
roller over the field as 
a final preparation, in 
order to smooth the 
surface and compact 
the soil a little. 
The land is first laid 
out into plats accu- 
rately measured and 
squared with the aid 
of a taut line. These 
plats are then subdi- 
vided into beds by 
means of lines 
stretched on each side 
of the 3-foot bed, 1 leaving, with us, a 15-inch path between. (Fig. 1.) 
At the same time a permanent peg or stake is set at each corner of the 
bed. These stakes remain throughout the season. The bed is then 
marked off with a common spade by shoving it into the ground along 
the line to a depth of 5 or 6 inches and pulling the dirt into the center 
of the bed by a scraping motion. The soil is then, Avith a shovel, 
thrown out of the first bed in the plat to a depth of about 4 inches. 
Next, the bottom of the bed is smoothed with a garden rake, and a 
marker is run through, which defines the boundaries, rows, and the 
center of the planted bed. After this, the bulbs are set out, usually 
by two men on their knees on either side of the bed. The covering is 
1 While the beds are laid off 3 feet wide and are spoken of as 3-foot beds, bulbs are set on 
the 3-foot line on either side. The bed, therefore, really occupies about 39 inches, since 
the plants on the edsres project H inches on either side, thus making the bed a meter wide, 
the same as the conventional Dutch planting. 
