58 
TOPPING AND STAKING 
Topping’ is the removal of that portion of the spike 
containing the florets, usually done as soon as the first 
floret comes into bloom sufficiently to show that it is 
coming true. 
If we expect to get the largest possible number of 
bulblets, every leaf must be left on the plant. Hence 
with the possible exception of a few of the very tall 
growing varieties, it is impossible to cut the spike suf¬ 
ficiently long for florists’ use and at the same time 
not lose in bulbs and bulblets. 
Letting the spike remain on the plant and bloom 
out even to the tip does not seem to do much, if any, 
injury, if the seed pods are all kept picked off as fast 
as the florets fade. Last season we had a couple of 
large bulbs of Mrs. Leon Douglas which made approx¬ 
imately 100 florets per bulb. When dug, we found that 
these two bulbs together made over 940 bulblets. So 
it would seem that not much injury was done to them 
by letting them bloom. On the other hand we have 
often noticed that where spikes are cut for florists’ use 
the resulting bulbs are apt to be flat and the bulblets 
few in number. Hence we conclude that it is one thing 
to grow for cut flowers and quite another to grow for 
quick propagation. 
Quite a number of our bulblets make spikes con¬ 
taining from 15 to 20 florets the first season and I 
know just how hard it is not to cut these for cut flow¬ 
ers, especially where the variety is a very beautiful one. 
But if it is a high priced variety, we must remember 
that the few cents to be received for the cut flower will 
not in any way offset the dollars to be lost by the de¬ 
crease in number and quality of bulblets. 
