2 l6 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1911 
1 he favored L’lmmaculee is now 
surpassed by Joost van Vondel 
For best blooms of Keizerkroon pick 
out the large bulbs 
go round. A first-class 
bulb should be compara¬ 
tively heavy and quite 
solid, without a sign of 
being soft or flabby. A 
firm pinching of the bulb, 
both at the base and just 
below the top, will give evi¬ 
dence of any soft spot, 
while the selection of a 
firm, heavy bulb of aver¬ 
age size as a standard, and 
judging others by balanc¬ 
ing them in the hand, will 
give an idea what the bulb 
should be. A clean, close 
skin in the case of tulips is 
desirable, though m any 
sorts among the late tulips 
form a very thin and deli¬ 
cate skin which easily comes 
loose. If the skin of a tulip 
comes off, it will not injure 
the bulb appreciably unless 
it is to be out of the ground some time; the 
skin protection is then a great help in pre¬ 
venting the bulb from drying. 
Size is by no means a criterion, for many 
varieties never make a large bulb, and very 
often an extra large bulb is a sign of old 
age and an approaching breaking up. 
With a discreet knowledge of varieties, the 
size of a bulb will help a good deal in de¬ 
termining its quality. It is useless to ask 
for large bulbs of a variety that does not 
run to size; on the other hand, under-sized 
bulbs of a sort which should be large 
means that one is paying for first size or 
“top root” bulbs and getting only second 
sized ones. For instance, among hya¬ 
cinths the blue Grand Maitre piakes a very 
large bulb, while Roi des Beiges, a hand¬ 
some red, is naturally small. Crimson 
King, Thomas Moore and La Reine are 
tulips with small bulbs; Cottage Maid, 
Keizerkroon and Belle Alliance are exam¬ 
ples of sorts with large bulbs. In the nar¬ 
cissi, the trumpet sorts give large bulbs as 
a rule, while the Poeticus type and most of 
Big hyacinth bulbs sometimes produce spikes 
which are green at the top 
the Barrii and Leedsii class 
are small. With the daffo¬ 
dils a rather particular 
knowledge of characteris¬ 
tic size is of great value in 
purchasing superior bulbs, 
for the diversity among 
varieties in the matter of 
size is rather marked, and 
whether a bulb throws one 
flower or three good blooms 
is frequently an important 
matter when the bulbs are 
used for forcing. Even 
large bulbs of narcissus 
Emperor will often give no 
more than one flower, and 
this tendency of different 
varieties to give few or 
many flowers ought to be 
considered before the deal¬ 
er is blackguarded for fur¬ 
nishing poor bulbs. 
For formal bedding, sec¬ 
ond size bulbs of hyacinths are as satis¬ 
factory as the larger ones, provided they 
are planted a little closer, and where 
large quantities are used the cost may be 
reduced in this fashion. The spikes may 
be a little thinner, but a splendid display 
of color will be afforded just the same. 
Big hyacinth bulbs are somewhat in¬ 
clined to come green at the top of the 
spike, probably because the truss is too 
heavy to develop fully. 
Tt is usually easy enough to determine 
whether a bulb is sound or not. Tulips 
are sometimes prone to a dry rot which 
makes brittle, empty cases of the bulbs. 
A firm pinching pressure will cause such 
a bulb to collapse between the fingers, 
but this difficulty is seldom encountered 
among newyly imported bulbs. I have 
noted it more often among bulbs kept a 
second year, and the single early tulip 
Proserpine seems most susceptible to it. 
Occasionally hyacinths give signs of 
decay due to disease, but the growers 
(Continued on page 272) 
Tulips must go into the ground at about the time the leaves of the deciduous trees begin to fall. Early planting often causes loss from spring frost 
