1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
687 
FLOWERS FOR SNOWTIME. 
Dutch Bulbs for American Growers. 
SOIL SUGGESTIONS.—Under the general title of 
Dutch bulbs, we include tulips, hyacinths, and Nar¬ 
cissus, as well as some of the smaller bulbs. They 
have been grown for a long time by Dutch bulb 
farmers, whose closely-tilled plots, intersected by 
canals, are a study in intensive farming. Of late 
years, efforts have been made to grow these bulbs for 
market in the United States, suitable conditions of 
soil and climate being found in portions of the South, 
Southwest, and Pacific Coast. There seems no doubt 
that these bulbs may be grown in this country, quite 
as well as abroad; apparently the only difficulty will 
be in obtaining sufficiently intelligent cheap labor. 
It is now quite time to plant the bulbs for Winter 
flowering; for Spring blooming outside, they may go 
underground any time before hard frost. The soil 
needed is the same for all—good loam mixed with 
well-rotted manure. Fresh, pasty manure must not 
be used. The pot must have drainage material in the 
bottom—broken pots, rough stones, or lumps of char¬ 
coal—for though these plants need moisture, there 
must be no chance for the soil to become sour and 
soggy. 
ROMAN AND DUTCH HYACINTHS—Every one 
likes hyacinths, and they are very easily forced. 
First to bloom are the small varieties known as 
Romans. They come from Italy and the south of 
France. In potting these, we would just cover the 
bulbs with earth, putting three of them in a five-inch 
pot. We wish the bulbs to make root growth before 
aspiring to leaves, so, after watering well, we would 
put the pots down cellar in a cool place, with two or 
three inches of earth or litter over the top. The 
florists, who plant their forcing bulbs in shallow 
boxes, place them out of 
doors, some boards being 
laid on the ground, put 
a scattering of straw or 
buckwheat hulls over the 
top, and then finish with 
a layer of earth. The 
hulls or straw are put on 
the top so that the soil 
covering may be removed 
without trouble. When 
the earthen crust be¬ 
comes frozen, litter or 
manure is thrown over 
the whole. Freezing does 
not hurt the roots, and 
they are then brought in 
as needed, for forcing in 
the greenhouse. This is 
rather troublesome for 
amateurs, and of course, 
bulbs in pots could not be 
so exposed, because the 
freezing would burst the pots, causing endless trouble. 
VARIETIES.—The Dutch hyacinths should have 
half of the bulb left above ground, and each bulb 
needs a five-inch pot to itself. Single hyacinths are 
best for forcing, though a few of the doubles may be 
used. Among good single sorts are Grandeur a Mer- 
veille, La Grandesse, Mme. Van der Hoop, Paix de 
l’Europe, white; Macaulay, Fabiola, Gertrude, Amy, 
pink or red; Charles Dickens, King of the Blues, 
Marie, Baron Von Tuyll, blue; Heroine, Ida, La Pluie 
d’Or, yellow. Double varieties suitable for forcing are 
Bouquet Tendre and Grootvorst, rose; Blocksberg and 
Pasquin, blue; Jaune Supreme, pale yellow; Prince of 
Waterloo, Florence Nightingale, white. 
GROWING IN WATER—Hyacinths are very easily 
grown in water. When so treated, they should be put 
in a cool, dark closet until they have made a good 
growth of roots. The water should be changed be¬ 
fore it becomes foul; a bit of charcoal is a valuable 
aid in keeping it sweet. The following varieties are 
recommended for growing in this way: Lord Wel¬ 
lington, double blush; Blocksberg; Goethe, double 
yellow; Prince of Waterloo; Charles Dickens, Hero¬ 
ine; Voltaire, single white; Baron Von Tuyll. 
TULIPS.—Tulips will be later in blooming than the 
hyacinths, the best varieties coming in about Feb¬ 
ruary and March. The little Due Van Thol varieties 
—crimson, scarlet, rose, white and yellow—are very 
early and very dwarf, and though we like them out¬ 
side, we would rather have larger sorts for forcing. 
They will bloom indoors, by Christmas. Put two or 
three tulip bulbs in a pot, and just cover them with 
earth, but no more. Put awa?' in the dark like the hya¬ 
cinths. All the singles are good, and the earliest 
doubles. Good single varieties are Artus, scarlet; 
Belle Alliance, bright crimson; Canary Bird, Yellow 
Prince and Chrysolora, yellow; Rose Gris-de-lin, rose 
and white; Keizer Kroon, red and yellow; La Reine, 
rosy white; Coleur Ponceau, red and white; Ver¬ 
milion Brillante, vivid scarlet; Due d’Orange, yellow 
and orange. Doubles suitable for forcing are Rex 
Rubrorum, scarlet; Duke of York, rose, white edged; 
Gloria Solis, red and yellow; La Candeur, white. 
NARCISSUS IN SOIL AND WATER.—Every one 
now knows the Chinese Sacred lily, which makes 
such a pretty show when supported by small pebbles 
in a bowl of water. This is a Polyanthus Narcissus, 
and it may be grown in soil, if desired. It should be 
kept in the dark until abundant roots are formed, 
and grown cool until the flowers show, when it may 
come into a warmer room. This treatment will give 
strong foliage and fine flowers. The Polyanthus Nar¬ 
cissus known as Paper-white, is an early bloomer 
with fine large flowers. The bulbs should be just 
covered with earth, three in a five-inch pot. Treat 
like other bulbs, and bring up to the light in Novem¬ 
ber, but they must never be frozen. Poet’s Narcissus 
and double daffodils may be treated just like tulips 
and hyacinths. They will not stand extra heat, and 
must not be hurried into bloom. 
SMALLER BULBS.—Snowdrops, Siberian squills 
and Crocuses are pretty bulbous plants, and are very 
easily forced, but they are better potted about the 
middle of September. Last Winter, however, we had 
a dozen purple Crocus bulbs which were not potted 
until the middle of October; they gave us a pot full of 
bloom in February, and made a very satisfactory 15- 
cents’ worth. Crocuses, snowdrops, tulips and hya¬ 
cinths are readily grown in damp moss, and seeds¬ 
men sell for this purpose receptacles of pottery, 
pierced with holes, through which the bulbs grow, on 
the same principle as plants in a strawberry barrel. 
Our first recollection of bulbous plants is an oval 
basket of pottery, in which yellow and white Crocuses 
were grown in this fashion. The delicate green and 
white snowdrops are very pretty when grown in this 
fashion. One of the finest snowdrops is Galanthus 
Elwesii, which has a larger bloom than the common 
type. 
WOOL WASTE FOR CORN. 
New Attachment to a Cultivator. 
There has always been some controversy as to the 
manurial value of wool waste. This waste often 
shows a very high analysis, and evidently contains a 
good deal of plant food. The general opinion seems 
to be, however, that this plant food is quite unavail¬ 
able, being locked up in such forms that the plant 
cannot make use of it. It has been tried for bedding 
and as an absorbent, but it seems to stick to the 
cattle, giving them a dirty and ragged appearance, 
while when used in the manure pile, it breaks down 
slowly, and is not quickly available. Every now and 
then, however, we hear from those who speak highly 
of wool waste, and who are usually unable to explain 
why the substance gave good results. 
The pictures shown at Fig. 256 were taken on the 
farm of J. W. Anderson, of Blackwood, N. J. He ap¬ 
plied six tons of wool waste to about four acres of 
corn. The wool waste cost, delivered at the depot, 
$3.20 per ton. It was broadcasted and plowed under 
like manure; the whole field received equal culture, 
yet, as shown in the photograph, corn where the wool 
waste was applied was considerably ahead of the 
other. The soil was light and sandy, and the past 
season has been dry and not favorable. We are not 
prepared to explain why the wool waste apparently 
gave such good results. From our own experience, we 
should judge that the mechanical effect was greater 
than any direct manurial effect. Possibly it helped 
the soil in retaining moisture. 
The field was cultivated with an Iron Age two-horse 
cultivator, which is seen at work in the picture. We 
would call attention to a new device which this year 
appears on the Iron Age. In place of the ordinary 
cultivator teeth, this machine has a set of disks ap¬ 
plied to it, and as will be seen, they raise a little 
ridge around the corn, not enough to hill it up high, 
but to give the row just the elevation which many 
farmers prefer. Mr. Anderson, like many other farm¬ 
ers, wants his corn ridged or hilled at the last culti¬ 
vation. Level work is done as long as possible, but 
when the corn is finally laid by, the hilling is thought 
to be an advantage. The disks work in the place of 
the cultivator teeth, and will do this better than al¬ 
most any other attachment. 
“EDUCATING THE COW.” 
A few weeks ago the Kansas Agricultural College 
issued a news item on Educating the Cow. It was 
brightly written, and told how scrub cows were 
bought last year, and put through a course of experi¬ 
menting with improved feeding. When the cows came 
to the College, they had been fed almost entirely on 
wild grass, corn stalks and corn. The object was to 
learn the effect of changing to a balanced ration. The 
cows had to be “educated,” that is, they were taught 
to like bran, cotton-seed meal, linseed and other 
grains that were necessary, in order to supply the 
needed protein. It took some time to teach these 
cows to eat the new food, but they finally learned to 
do so, and gave a remarkable increase in their milk 
and butter. 
The papers all over the country have picked this 
matter up, and some of them have printed articles on 
what they call, “Higher Education for the Cow.” 
They say that, in Kansas, people are sending their 
cows to college, that the cows are making milk from 
their brains, and, in a general effort to be funny, these 
papers are broadcasting a great truth that ought to 
come home to all the people. These cows went to 
college, and their education was forced upon them. 
It was a sort of compul¬ 
sory education, for they 
were tied up by the neck, 
and forced to eat the 
food that was new to 
them, or go without. As 
usually happens in such 
cases, this forced educa¬ 
tion went down hard at 
first, but, in the end, it 
proved to be a blessing, 
for it gave an increased 
profit to the owners of 
the cows, and was satis¬ 
factory from every point 
of view. 
Thousands of farmers 
throughout the country 
are giving their cows a 
course of education in 
this very thing, and the 
cows are responding no¬ 
bly. They are turning 
out better and cleaner milk, and more of it. The time 
has now come when the dwellers in town and city, 
who make so much fun about this higher education 
for the cow, might well go to school to that gentle 
animal. They want to understand that the cows of 
the present day are turning out a fine quality of milk. 
The thickheads in the town do not seem to know that 
milk is a food rather than a luxury, and they do not 
seem to realize that, during the last 10 years, this food 
has been wonderfully improved in quality and cleanli¬ 
ness, and now ranks with meat and eggs as an eco¬ 
nomical and strong ration. Let them go to the cow 
and learn wisdom! Let them learn enough to know 
that milk is no longer to be doled out by the tea¬ 
spoonful, but to be consumed by the quart for the 
making of good blood, and bone, and muscle! Go to 
the cow, thou thickhead, and be wise! 
Almost every year some one in the South speaks of a 
frost-proof sugar cane. Scientists are evidently at work 
seeking- to produce a variety of cane that will withstand 
severe cold. Such a variety is now reported from South 
Africa, but while this cane is really nearly frost-proof, it 
is so tough and hard, and has such a low per cent of 
sugax-, that it will hardly pay to cultivate it. That is, 
probably, what we will get as a result of such efforts. 
YVe shall gain in vigor and hardiness at the expense of 
quality. 
Handling Raspberries.—J. T. Thompson, the Colum¬ 
bian raspberry man, knows that its appearance is against 
this fine variety, and his hobby is to make it look neat. 
He tries to pick over the whole field every day, thus get¬ 
ting a better color. The pickers sort the fruit into two 
grades in the field, and inspectors follow and watch 
pickers and baskets to see that this grading is honestly 
done. A variety like the Columbian must be handled gent¬ 
ly and quickly—it pays to do it. When sorting in the 
packing house, the berries are not touched with the hand, 
but brushed into the baskets with a feather or wing. 
Lightning and Grapes.— Last month, the daily papers 
contained a story from St. Joseph, Mich., which startled 
many grape growers. It was said that a large vineyard 
of grapes was struck by lightning, which leaped along 
entire rows, and instead of ruining the fruit, caused it 
to ripen immediately. Here is a chance for some one 
to tell a great story, and the opportunity will certainly 
improve. Investigation fails to discover any basis of 
truth in this story. It must be put down as a fake, pure 
and simple. There are possibilities in the use of elec¬ 
tricity in controlling plant life, and perhaps some day 
our scientific men will master them. It is not likely, 
however, to come through a stroke of lightning. 
THE EFFECT OF WOOL WASTE ON A CORN CROP. Fig. 256. 
