The Arizona sentinel., 1888-11-17
BULBOUS PLANTS.
Who're Most of Them Come From and
How They Are Grown.

Where Most of Them Come From and
How They Are Grown.
1t was beautiful morning. Tho
sky of spotless deep blue and the soft
breeze which blew through the trees
shook the leaves and motioned them
into strains of sweet, dreamy music.
On each side of the road the country
looked like two immense crazy quilts,
whose patches were represented by
large fields of hyacinths in a hundred
different varieties of color and size, as
well as tulips and narcissus. The
sight was grand, as we'll as novel, for
any one who had never been in this
part of the world. Arrived at Sessen-
helm, was Immediately guided into
the field, where the growth and the
methods of propagation were explained
to me. "Our soil here" / was told,
lis especially adapted for the cultiva-
ton of bulbs, because it has all the
properties which are necessary for tho
plants to grow. The soil, as you see,
ia very sandy, and we believe that this
part of Holland was formerly-perhaps
several thousand years ago-the bed of
the sea. But the soil varies, and it is
not at all rare to see hyacinths growing
in one place when in the field adjoin-
ing they would not grow at all.
''In September the bulbs are put in
to the soil, and in December they are
covered up with layer of hay. Thus
they remain until February, when the
hay covering is removed again. Then
the plant comes out in bloom; they are
allowed to be in blossom until July,
when the flowers and stems are cut off,
as grass is mown in the meadow"
When my informant came to this
part of his explanation said:
''And what do you do with the bios
SONS: do you sell them?"
mo, not at all. We let the flowers
lie on the field to rot, and use them as
manureT
''When do you take the bulbs out of
the ground?" L said.
Immediately after the blossoms are
cut of. We gather them out of the
ground, and we take them to the dry
house. After they have been there we
examine them and place them on
shelves. Come with me and l will
show you. Here we are. Those that
are in condition to be shipped we
place over here on this shelf, while
those that are too young to be used for
propagation are gathered and stored
over here"
'sHow old has the bulb to be before
it is shipped for sale?"
-Four years the ordinary hyacinth,
but the narcissus and tulip only three
years"
''Do you ever use artificial methods
in the propagation of bulbs, or is it all
left to nature?"
''Some bulbs do not require the aid
of art. but others do. There are two
ways of artificial propagation. One is
called cutting and the other holing. If
wecut bulb we make several missions
crosswise over the top of the bulb be-
fore we put them in the ground, and it
is in these incisions the new bulbs are
formed. 'Holing' bulb means to
separate the top part entirely, allow
ing the new bulb to form in this hol-
low"
SIS the expectation of bulbs to Amer
lea very large?" asked my informant.
Eyes, and constantly on the increase.
Not many years ago there were about
five bulb-growers in Harlem who sent
their goods directly to America. and our
firm was one of the first to commence
it, but now nearly all of them trade in
the States. The cultivation of bulb
plants appears to be very much fancied
in America, especially tulips, and my
experience has taught me that the eX-
portation of tulips becomes larger every
year. The consequence has been that
they have gone up in price very consid-
erably, and to-day the tulip is the dear
est of all bulb plants. -HolLand Cor.
IfJtsbur1b DisDdtch.