Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-12
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Hence the satisfaction of tulips is I'M
enolng, provided one has the good sense
to renew the paintings occasionally
1t is true that you hear stories from
your friends OF now they have not pur-
chased a tulip bulb in 40 years, how
they even do not transplant them at
all, how the flowers increase in size and
number year by year.
The curious fact is that ones own
experience does not bear out these tall
tales. One hesitates to call ones friends
liar, or several liars, but really that is
what they are when they insist on telling
now they have gotten more wonderful
results than Uncle Sam.
II dear old Uncle Sam, with all his
dollars throws away fine big bulbs which.
to the lay eye look perfect, and plants
fresh ones all the time, there must be
something in it.
And there is, of course. Old bulbs
may do very WELL in fact, astoundingly
well, considering the inimical factors and
the oyercrowding with which they have
to contend. Seldom, however, can they
equal in splendor the first blooms of
fresh new bulbs. 1t must be understood
that this phrase, -fresh, new bulbs" only
means bulbs which have reached the
peak of their productivity. There are
various trade names for such bulbs, but
even the amateur gardener knows them
when he sees them. If bulb, by COM
pariSon with others one has seen, strikes
the observer as being larger, better,
cleaner and more plump, then the
chances are that he is about to plant
some pretty fine tulip bulbs, indeed.
This is the sort that gives the home
gardener an inward glow of satisfaction,
one which makes up for all the cold, dis
agreeable work of planting them
1t is not generally realized, perhaps,
that the point of 40 degrees Fahrenheit
on the thermometer is one of the very
coolest.
This is a curious thing how a tenn
perature which does not read very low,
as temperatures go, nevertheless can
be one of the most eminently disagree
able the average skin can encounter.
1t is fact that homes are harder to
heat, explain it as you will, when the
outside temperature stands at 40 degrees,
than when the outdoor thermometer
reads 20 degrees.
The majority of bulb paintings in
the Fall, in preparation for the glory
of next Spring, take place at a tempera-
ture of around 40 degrees.
The hands get raw and red. the eyes
water, but the bulbs must go into the
ground. So many inches down. just So
nice fiat place for the bulb to rest, so
that there will be no air beneath it.
A bit of sand in the bottom. if possible
but it is not necessary, then a careful
filling in with finely crumbled earth
and the whole pressed down firmly, but
not too firmly.
And there repoSes a tulip bulb. one
Of Natures finest jobs, maSterWork of
the Creator, all its beauty wrapped up
Snugly within the outer scales, ready TO
rest until the very first touches of
slightly warmer weather. before other
things know it, in the Spring that is to
come.
A tulip bulb is nothing now, its beauty
lies in the future, hence it is the flower
of hope, whose fruition shall thrill us as
few other flowers do. Is it not right,
then, that its colors shall be the clearest
the truest of all the lovely Spring flowers?