6 
FLYING CLOUD FARMS INC. 
amount of fertilizer you used in the bottom of the trenches; if dry animal manure, put right 
in among them, but if commercial fertilizer, put it along the sides four or five inches away 
from the plants and work it into the ground. 
Watering will depend entirely on the rainfall, heat, and type of soil you are using but 
when you do water use enough to do a good job. Three quarters of an inch of water at 
least for big bulbs; just set a low straight sided tin can among them before you start watering 
and then you can tell how much you are getting on. Three quarters of an inch you will 
find is a lot but it pays, especially from just as the spikes come out of the sheath until 
they bloom. 
Stirring of the soil is a great factor. Hoeing, scratching, cultivating, brooming, or any¬ 
thing you call it should be done often. We use lawn brooms in the planted rows on our 
light soil and cultivators in the rows. We plan to get over the piece every fourth or fifth 
day but if it has been very dry once a week is enough. If it rains, or we irrigate, we try to 
do it the following day as soon as it dries out. 
I believe if you treat all your bulbs before planting by soaking eight to twelve hours in 
a solution of bichloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) one ounce to seven gallons of warm 
water (preferable to keep the solution in a fairly warm place early in the season) any thrip 
trouble you may be threatened with is on the way out. Use only wooden, glass, or crockery 
containers as a chemical action, weakening the solution, will take place in an iron or galvanized 
one. I would do it to any bulbs I planted no matter where they came from or whether they 
had been treated with naphthalene flakes, gas, or low temperatures all of which kill all thrip. 
The soaking is too cheap a form of insurance to run the risk. You can do no harm to the 
bulbs with this treatment except to delay blooming about ten days. If you are in a climate 
where the winter temperatures go low enough for the ground to stay frozen a few days, I am 
convinced that when this soaking procedure is followed your only chance of infestation is 
from some other planting that has not been properly treated and the thrips may come a 
half mile or more with a strong prevailing wind in a short time. It would seem a wise move 
to play safe and spray them when about six inches high even if one does not see any signs of 
thrip for they are hard to see at this stage, just a few present at this time will make enough 
later on to do serious damage. The old formula still seems to be popular; it is two table- 
spoonsful of arsenate of lead, two pounds sugar (the cheapest kind you can buy) and three 
gallons of water. In the sections where the weather is often hot and the humidity high 
during the growing season, growers have had some trouble with burning of the foliage with 
this arsenate of lead spray although it does not burn nearly as easily as Paris Green. A com¬ 
paratively new tartar emetic spray has been used very successfully in Florida the past season 
and I suggest it be used in place of the arsenate spray. The formula is; tartar emetic four 
pounds, brown sugar sixteen pounds to 100 gallons of water; for home gardens use 3 gallons 
of water, two ounces (four and a half teaspoonsful) of tartar emetic and a half pound of 
brown sugar. Tartar emetic is a standard drug also known as antimony or potassium Tartrate 
U. S. P. Brown sugar is usually cheaper but any sugar is equally effective. I think If one 
keeps all open spikes cut close there will be little damage. The thrip go to blooming spikes 
so if these are cut and removed from the field any thrip present on the spikes, where most 
of them will be, would go out on these spikes. Any tops broken off or worthless spikes 
should also be kept cleaned up and removed from the field and destroyed as you then remove 
any thrip that may be present on these spikes. 
When they start to bloom it is wise to cut them as soon as a bloom or two open and 
put them in water inside where they will continue to open better and safer than in the field. 
If desired for showing and the show is nearby, cut the spikes as above and hold in as cool a 
place as available until the day of the show. If you must ship or carry the blooms some 
distance we suggest you pack them flat in boxes. 
Now the fun is over and the work of digging, curing, and cleaning is at hand. Dig the 
bulbs about four to six weeks after blooming or as soon as they show signs of turning brown 
a bit. Cut the tops off close to the bulb and spread out in low boxes to dry, preferably 
where the air can move around them. It will depend on the size of the bulbs and the drying 
