INTRODUCTION 



The cultivation of all kinds of plants having bulbs, corms, tubers, 

 or rhizomes is now so extended that a volume devoted entirely to 

 this important phase of Horticulture may be looked upon almost 

 as a necessity. Coming as these plants do from all parts of the 

 world, it requires no little skill on the part of the gardener — 

 professional as well as amateur — to succeed in their cultivation. 

 The inclusion of tuberous and rhizomatous plants in this volume 

 makes it more comprehensive than if it were confined to bulbous 

 plants proper, all of which belong to one of the two great groups 

 of flowering plants known as Monocotyledons. As almost any 

 plant with a swollen root-stock or thickish creeping roots is called 

 " bulbous " in popular parlance, plants with such peculiarities have 

 been considered in the present work. In this way about fifty 

 different natural orders of flowering plants alone have been 

 included ; and these fifty orders include over four hundred 

 different genera, and some three thousand different species and 

 varieties. It will thus be seen that even in this age of specialities, 

 the bulbous and tuberous-rooted plants form quite a respectable, if 

 not indeed an extensive group by themselves. 



Considering these plants from a geographical point of view, 

 it will be noticed by a reference to their native countries that they 

 not only come from every part of the globe — from the tropical, 

 subtropical, and temperate regions — but also from the highest 

 altitudes and the lowest plains. In such a range of bulbous vegeta- 

 tion, many temperatures, climatic differences, and soil variations 

 naturally exist. The gardener therefore has to make himself more 

 or less acquainted with the peculiar requirements of any particular 

 plant, if he wishes to achieve anything like success. He must 

 recognise that a plant from the tropics is not necessarily a subject 

 to be grown in a hothouse or a greenhouse, unless it comes from 

 the plains, or is found only at low elevations. Many mistakes 



