October 1, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
7 ?0 
The Bulb Rooms at Reading. 
The large warehouses: of Messrs. Sutton and Sons, Reading, 
have often engaged our attention,, particularly during the seed 
season, whether that be the testing of seeds, the packing o<r 
dispatching of them. At present, the seed rooms offer a very 
busy scene while the various bulbs are being packed to meet 
the demands of Messrs. Sutton’s numerous customers:. The 
accompanying illustration will show at a glance better than 
words how these bulbs are arranged upon shelves round the 
sides of the extensive room in which the packers are busy 
making out the various orders. Two large stores are devoted 
to bulbs, and during the height of the season some of the other 
rooms, usually occupied with flower seeds-, are pressed into 
service in the autumn while the flower-seed season is still 
quiet. 
The. bulb season may be said to commence with the annual 
visit of Mr. M. IT. F. Sutton to Holland in spring, when, the 
bulbs are in their full glory. This journey is necessary to 
enable the intending purchaser to- see- not only the best bulbs, 
but the best stocks of the same, so that if this journey is the 
initial stage of the operations, it is by no means the least im¬ 
portant duty. Those who visit the bulb grounds are able not 
only to be first served, but to secure the pick of the bulbs 
at disposal. 
When the large cases of bulbs from Holland arrive at Read¬ 
ing the visitor may witness one of the busiest scenes in the 
establishment,. The immense number of cases necessitates a. 
relatively large number of workers to open them and transfer 
their contents to the various shelves, bins and counters pre¬ 
pared for their reception. All of these have then to be cleaned 
or otherwise put in trim and correctly labelled so that there 
may be no delay in the execution of orders when the season 
for despatching them has commenced. All this previous- pre 
paratio-n prevents a chaotic confusion when the proper time 
arrives. There is nothing new in all this preparation, as it 
applies to other departments of the firm, and at whatever 
season one may pay a visit, of inspection, everything is carried 
out with the utmost regularity and order, because everything 
is in its proper place and can be- found when wanted. 
The: bulb rooms, like the seed rooms, have been constructed 
for the purpose for which they are devoted, and consequently 
nothing has been left undone that ought to have been done, 
while on the other hand everything has been made subservient 
to and conducive to the welfare of the bulbs. The primary aim 
in- the- preservation of bulbs is to have- them stored in a per¬ 
fectly co-ol and diy atmosphere, so as to prevent- any attempt 
at growth while they are thus kept in store. When so pre¬ 
served, the original and pristine vigour of the bulbs is ensured, 
and this accounts for their growing away vigorously when 
finally potted up for forcing or consigned to the ground in 
the open garden. 
Exterminating Club Mosses. —The American Botanist com¬ 
plains of the great destruction of the ground Pine or Club Moss 
(Lycopodium), which is cut annually in the United States. 
Every year at Christmas the trade in greens increases, including 
the ground Pine, of which more than 200 tons are gathered 
annually in Wisconsin alone. Other States also, no doubt, 
supply some of this enormous demand for winter greens. Now 
the complaint is growing that the collectors are simply exter¬ 
minating the plants, which they pull up by the roots. Fresh 
plants, it is stated, seldom arise from spores so that in the 
course of fifteen or twenty years, it is considered that the ground 
Pine^ industry will come to an end, owing to the fact that the 
plants have been exterminated. 
