is quite necessary, as it is difficult to cure a great
many in a short time, especially in unfavorable weather.

The smallest stock should be taken up first, for several reasons: First,
the small bulbs grown from seed or from bulblets do not all ripen at the
same time, and if digging is deferred until after some of them have
matured, these drop from their stems in handling, and keep one picking
them up, which is a great hindrance. If taken up in time, they can be
pulled off from the green stalks in handfuls. Second, when the little
bulbs mature they change color from white to brown, and if any drop it
is not so easy to find them in the brown soil. They may be taken up when
no larger than apple seeds, cured, and kept till spring with perfect
success. Third, the small bulbs are easily dried and, if taken up early,
they may be cured and packed away for the winter, entirely out of the
way of the larger stock. It is quite an advantage to have part of the
stock disposed of early. Fourth, it is slow, puttering work to take up
small bulbs running from one hundred to three hundred to the foot of
row, and it should be done before cold weather. My rule is to take up
seedlings first, then the stock grown from the bulblets, then the next
size larger, and so on, leaving the largest to the last. This stock is
heavy, and men can keep warm handling it, even in quite cool weather,
such as we are likely to have late in the season.

For convenience in taking up small stock, we use a low seat made like a
small sled with wide runners which do not sink into the ground. A burlap
sack is folded several thicknesses and tacked on the top for a cushion.
This seat, a spading fork, a garden trowel, and a half-bushel basket
lined with cloth to keep the bulblets from passing through, are the
appliances needed for the work. The row is first loosened, or slightly
pried up with the fork. Then the man occupying the seat, with the row in
front of him, thrusts his trowel under a few inches of it, and with the
other hand grasps the tops and lifts the bunch up, giving it a slight
shake. He then holds it over the basket, and pulls the bulbs off from
the tops, dropping them into the basket. When it is nearly filled, the
contents are sifted through a number five sieve (five meshes to the
inch), which allows the earth to pass out. A second sifting through a
number three sieve separates the bulblets from the bulbs. The latter are
then spread out an inch or two de