496 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



to equalise the growth. When a number are lifted and turned round 

 every year, the stock can be kept equal in size ; and they have such 

 masses of fibre at their roots, that abundance of fine fruit is certain, 

 provided the trees are well nourished during their growing and fruit- 

 ing season. If scale or any other pest have taken quarters on the 

 trees, let them be washed well with soft soap-water heated to 120°. 



M. T. 



HERBACEOUS BULBS. 



It will be necessary to explain what we mean by herbaceous bulbs. 

 Of course, all bulbs are herbaceous, none are shrubby or woody : 

 all are more or less annual in their parts ; at least, the same actual 

 bulb does not flower a second time. Looking at the subject closely, it 

 is difficult to define what a bulb really is. It is easy to realise that a 

 ripe Tulip or Hyacinth is a bulb ; so is an Onion or Snowdrop ; and a 

 ripe Crocus or Gladiolus may also be pronounced a bulb without chal- 

 lenge. A little further and we get to bulbs of Cyclamens, Gloxinias, 

 Begonias, Turnips, Potatoes, and many other things : then we begin to 

 change our nomenclature, and call them corms, tubers, &c. After all, 

 they are all pretty much of the same character — big buds with a por- 

 tion of stem attached. The buds on the stem of the Tiger Lily become 

 bulbs when placed underground ; and the swollen buds on the Potato 

 haulm become tubers or underground stems, with buds on them, when 

 placed in the ground. The bulb of the Hyacinth differs only from that 

 of the Agapanthus in that it is deciduous, while the other is evergreen, 

 just as the Onion differs from the Leek. Avoiding going further into 

 this maze of distinction without difference, we will explain simply that 

 by herbaceous bulbs we mean for the present all bulbs, whether ever- 

 green or otherwise, of a liliaceous character, which remain, or ought to 

 remain, in the soil all the year round, as distinguished from the ordi- 

 nary Dutch bulbs with which most people are familiar. One would 

 imagine that flowering bulbs were confined to Hyacinths, Tulips, and 

 Crocuses, judging from the rush there is after those for spring-flower- 

 ing ; just as summer flowers have to the popular mind become associ- 

 ated with Geraniums, forgetting or being ignorant of the fact that 

 there are very many beautiful bulbous plants which flower in com- 

 pany with the Hyacinth, and others which flower when the Hyacinth 

 is asleep. Indeed there is no time of the year, except, perhaps, three 

 of the winter months, in which some of these liliaceous bulbs may not 

 be found in flower ; and it is really marvellous, in visiting both public 

 and private gardens, to remark the absence of these old-fashioned 

 bulbs. The discovery of Lilium auratum seemed to arouse the public 

 mind to the fact that there was such a thing as a family of 

 Lilies in the world, and so collectors have rummaged up varieties from 



