Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-11-11
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Bulb Culture.
An Interesting Chapter by the BOSTON
Public Gardener.

An Interesting Chapter by the Boston
Public Gardener.
VIM. Doogue, who has made an unusual
success of the management of the Boston
public gardens, and whose spring bulb dis
play is always one of the notable sights of
the city, has recently written an article on
the proper cultivation of Towering bulbs.
which many readers will be glad to see and
preserve. He first describes the proper
preparation of the soil:
The first and most essential thing in this
connection is the proper preparation of the
soil in which the bulbs are to be grown
the latter being of course of good size and
sound This is done by first trenching or
subsoiling the beds to depth of from %
to three feet, so as to insure perfect drain
age. In doing this work we make it a rule
to throw out the devitalized earth at the
bottom, which has become sodden or sour.
and replace it with the loan taken from
the surface. On this we add a sufficient
amount of loan or virgin soil, with as
much fibre in it as possble-such loan as
constitutes the top soil of rich meadow.
Mr.. Doogue tells how good-loam one of the
most essential things for success in garden.
ing-can be known, and says that when
taken in the hand and squeezed it will re-
tain the impression of the fingers and palm,
and if allowed to fall will break to pieces or
can be crumbled easily between the fingers.
After the loan is added in sufficient
quantity, Mr.. DOogue continues, we procure
decomposed COW manure, some four or five
years old, such as is used for potting pur-
poses, which we mix with about one-fourth
its volume of sharp sand. OF this compost
we use an amount equal to about five
inches in depth, which we spread upon the
bed and fork it in, just deep enough so
that the young roots of the bulbs can reach
it when they strike out for nutriment
When the bed is thus prepared we smooth
it off, and then lay it out for planting by
drawing parallel lines along and across it
at intervals of seven inches. and where the
lines cross or intersect we plant, which
leaves space of seven inches between the
plants. In planting we use dibble It
inches in diameter, through which pin is
driven, four inches above its point, which
acts as gage of the depth to which it is
to penetrate the ground. The workman
carries with him some bank sand, and after
making the hole with the dibble, puts in a
then Selling the bulb between thumb and
forefnger, drops it into the hole, and
throws in another pinch of sand on top of
it. When the bed is planted, the holes are
filled up to the surface by the operation of
smoothing it over with the back of the
rake This gives the bulbs covering of
from three to 81 inches, when the work of
planting is complete. The bed is covered
with dry leaves or other material when
frost sets in, and is thus laid away for the
winter.
Mr.. Doogue recommends the planting of
bulbs as early as possible in the fall, so
that they may make strong and well-estab-
lished roots before the heavy frosts set in.
When planted late, he says, they have no
opportunity to make roots, and when the
growth of the plant begins in the spring,
for want of good roots it eXhausts the bulbs
by drawing nutriment from them. After
the Towering of the bulbs in the spring the
| first operation is to cut off the stem con-
tanning the seed vessels This will throw
the strength of the plant into the root or
bulb, instead of expanding it in perfecting
| the seed. The bulbs are taken out of the
ground from the middle to the last of May.
The tops are left on. We employ wooden
boxes eight feet long, three feet wide and
six inches deep, for use in maturing the
plants. In the bottom of these boxes we
place thin layer of sand, and then put in
to them the plants as they are taken from
the ground. They are placed with the tops
sloping in one direction, and are not filled
on top of each other. We do not expose
them to the sun, but remove them at once
to the maturing-house, which is a cool and
dry apartment fitted with racks extending
from floor to ceiling, into which the boXe:
are placed and allowed to remain undis
turbed until the bulbs are again removed
for planting Then the young ones are
separated from the mature bulbs, anC
planted out in the same way as onion sets
are placed, and after one years growth are
ready to take their place in the Towering
ranks. The bulbs should be handled a:
little as possible, and their natural cover
ing should be preserved upon them.