The Washington herald., 1913-12-07
dutch BULBS grown IN u S.
AUGUR PROFIT in new field

narcissus. and which heretofore has bar.
fed every effort to produce It CONNER
ciaIly in this country-can be successful
ly grown in the Puget Sound region. I'M
ported bulbs OF this variety. unfortunate
ly. do not produce satisfactory blooms
after the first season.
In the eighteenth century hyacinths
were so highly priced that as much as
s, 900 was occasionally paid for a single
bulb. Even today they are held in very
high esteem both in America and abroad.
They are propagated artiflcially by
"bulblets." which are obtained by
"scooping'' or scoring mature or So
called mother bulbs
The former Of these two processes con-
sists in scooping out the base Of the
| mother bulb SO as to expose the lower
part of the scales. This destroys the
growing-point and the fower-bud, and
all the strength Of the bulb, which other
wise would have gone to produce plant
| and flowers, is used up In the produc-
tion of a number of baby bulbs.
] After scooping. the mother bulbs are
laid in trays and exposed to the sun for
| a day. to dry the fresh-cut surfaces. The
| trays are then placed in a well-ventilated
| propagating house, where the scales soon
separate somewhat and produce young
bulblets, for planting three months later,
! in the fall
1
| ing two or four deep cuts across the
base of the bulbs This kills the flower
and the growing point, and the result Is
the production OF baby bulbs. just as IN
| scooping. But the young bulblets are
larger and stronger. They are treated In
the same way, and planted later.
The scooped and scored mother bulbs,
with baby bulbs attached. are planted IN
beds a few inches apart. and covered
4
| mulch of straw or grass is added for win
ter protection. At harvest time, In the
following summer. the mother bulbs Will
have practically disappeared and in place
| OF them, clustered close together. will be
found little colonies Of baby bulbs. The
latter, when taken out OF the ground, are
dried in the bulb house and sorted
/ The scooping Of mother bulbs hitherto
has always been done by hand; but the
| experts of the Department Of Agricul-
| ture have recently perfected q power ma
chine for doing this work. II is only one
| of many improvements which are certain
to be made through the adoption OF
/ American ingenuity to the development
4 OF the business OF growing Dutch
bulbs in the United States.
i Bermuda Supplies Easter Lilies.
i For the annual Easter lily crop We
have been hitherto dependent upon Ber-
muda, about 100000 OF the bulbs being
imported yearly from that small group
OF volcanic islands. The government
Plant Bureau thinks that II would be
well worth while to grow them in this
country, and. with this idea. IT has been
making experiments recently in various
1 parts Of the United States
| There is another reason for trying to
L grow them here, which is that the i'm
ported bulbs are commonly unsatisfac-
tory. The plants produced from them
are liable to be diseased TO such an ex-
tent that from 50 to IS per cent are IN
salabIe This condition manifests itself
in spotted leaves, dwarfed growth. and
deformed flowers.
So serious has the trouble become that
many florists at the present time would
/ gladly abandon the cultivation of the
Easter lily. were II not that their pa
i irons demand the flower in its season
and insist upon having It Hence the
| problem of growing the bulbs within our
own borders, and OF producing healthy
plants and flowers from them, Is Of no
small Importance. The Plant Bureau Is
confident that Il will be solved.
! In fact, il has already been solved TO
some extent through experimental work
by government experts Attempts to
grow the bulbs In the Carolinas were
unsuccessful. both climate and soil be-
ing unsuitable: but at Key West con-
ditions were found to be ideal, closely
approaching those of Bermuda; and In
parts of California, especially in the hot
valleys of the interior, the plants thrive
II excellently. They do well near Sacra-
mento, and likewise in the foothills not
far from Los Angeles.
4 There is money in growing Easter lily
bulbs as may be judged from the fact
that single acre of land will yield about
l20,C00 of them, representing value OF
$1,000 to 5000 One florist in California
who planted the Seeding lilies cleared in
the first season $50 for flowers from n
space forty-five by twenty-five feet One
may grow the seedlings either for flow
ers or for bulbs. The latter has been done
very successfully In the vicinity Of Santa
Ana, Cal, where soil and climate are
evidently favorable.
To Depend on Homegrown.
It appears that when the pubs are
grown from seeds. the plants afterwards
raised from the bulbs are nearly always
perfectly healthy. Hence the prospect is
that florists in this country will come TO
depend more and more upon the home
grown article. Results have already been
SO encouraging to commercial growers
on the Pacific Coast that several Of them
are now engaged In the propagation OF
Easter lily seedlings on large scale
There seems. indeed. to be no reason
why in future we should continue to de-
pend upon Bermuda for our supplies of
bulbs Of this highly-esteemed and beauti-
full plant We can grow them just as wei
at home, and have healthy Easter lilies.
At Yuma, Ark, for example, bulbs can
be grown that viii produce quite as early
flowers as those from Bermuda. Furthsr-
more, the Plant Bureau has obtained. BY
lcrossing. some new. and superior varie-
ties, which promise to prove OF high COM
mercial value.
A century ago the Easter lily was q
common dooryard plant in the Bermudas
1t was brought thither originally from
Japan. No sooner was II planted there
than II exhibited a phenomenal growth
and the gentle climate encouraged il tc
blossom very early. Later on, a single
accidental bulb-what the gardeners cal
| a "sport'-turned up to start an I'M
proved variety, which was more prolific
and an earlier bloomer than its progeni-
tors. From this bulb has been derived
the strain of lilies which furnishes ths
precious winter flowers.
Yield of $4,000 an Acre.
The early worm had its original hom,
In the Bermudas, which is especially th'
place of production for things that have
come out of the grounds ahead of time
notably the early onion and the ambi
tious young potato. The lily plants ar,
set out, like the onions, in beds abou
four feet wide. and weeded with fingel
and thumb. Tillable land brings sucl
a high rent that every inch Of grounC