Florists to establish a uniform standard of division, and
this will doubtless be accomplished in time. At present the most common
arrangement of numbers and sizes seems to be about as follows:

First size (No. 1) 1-1/2 inches in diameter and up.

Second size (No. 2) 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

Third size (No. 3) 3/4-1 inch in diameter.

Fourth size (No. 4) 1/2-3/4 inch in diameter.

Fifth size (No. 5) all below 1/2 inch.

Numbers one, two, and three are considered regular blooming sizes, and
are bought and sold by seedsmen. Number four bulbs will nearly all
bloom, but they are seldom offered for sale, except to the trade. Number
fives are not supposed to bloom at all, but a few of them will do so.
There is a great difference in varieties in this respect, some blooming
much smaller than others.

Bulbs may be approximately graded by screening them through sieves with
meshes of proper sizes, from an inch and a half down to half an inch,
and this is the most speedy way of doing the work. The necessary
correcting can be done by hand when counting them out for sale or
preparing them for planting.

Crates.

Some allusions to these have been made in the foregoing pages, and it
may be well to preface the subject of keeping the bulbs over winter by
describing the receptacles in which they are stored.

I have used crates of two sizes. The larger ones are three feet by four,
and four inches deep, with bottoms of lath running lengthwise and placed
a quarter of an inch apart. Strips of 1x2-inch stuff are nailed across
the corners, on both top and bottom, exactly opposite each other, so
that they will come together and keep the crates apart for ventilation
when piled one above another. The upper strips also serve as handles by
which to lift the crates. They should be far enough from the corners so
that bulbs can run out between when emptying the crates, and yet not so
far as to make it difficult to take bulbs out from under them with a
shovel. The ends of these corner pieces should be sawed beveling, so as
not to project and be in the way. There is also a 2x2-inch strip nailed
across the middle of the crate on the under side, to support the lath.

The smaller crates are half the size of the others, two feet by three,
and four inches deep. The bottoms are tight, and three-eighths of an
inch thick. The corner pieces are two inches wide and one inch thick. No
strips are needed across the middle unde