324 



PROPAGATION OF PLANTS, 



usual one of dividing the roots for perpetuating grasses with variegated 

 foliage. 



Irtdacece (Iris Family). A moderately large order of monocotyle- 

 donous perennial herbs, the stems and leaves rising from somewhat 

 fleshy root stocks, bulbs or tubers. Flowers showy, and of many forms 

 and colors, in terminal spikes, corymbs, or loose panicles. This family 

 is extensively represented in gardens by such genera as Crocus, Gladio- 

 lus, Iris, Ixia, PardantJius and Tiyridia. All are readily propagated by 

 seeds, but this mode is rarely practised except for the purpose of pro- 

 ducing new varieties. The seeds should be sown in boxes or small pots, 

 using light, friable soil ; the plants are then placed in frames or kept in 

 a greenhouse until the plants are large enough to be safely set out in 



the open ground. Tender species 

 must, of course, be protected in win- 

 ter, either by lifting the plants and 

 storing them in a cellar, in pits, or 

 in some similar place where they 

 will not be frozen. The different 

 species of Crocus usually multiply 

 very rapidly by the natural increase 

 of the bulbs or conns. The Gladio- 

 luses multiply less rapidly, as a new 

 bulb is only formed at the base of 

 each stem, or set of leaves arising 

 from the buds or eyes on the old or 

 parent bulb, and while there may be 

 many of these buds on its surface, the 

 larger proportion remain dormant, 

 two or three of the strongest push- 

 ing into growth. In addition to the 

 buds on the upper surface of a Gla- 

 diolus bulb, there are usually pro- 

 duced a large number of bulbils at- 

 tached to the base of the old bulb, as 



shown in figure 109. These small bulbs or " spawn," as they are some- 

 times called, are extensively employed in propagating choice varieties. 

 They should be carefully removed from the old bulbs when the latter 

 are taken up in the fall, and stored in pure sand, and kept where they 

 will not become so dry as to shrivel, nor so moist as to cause them to 

 decay. In spring they should be sown in shallow trenches, and in a very 

 light but rich soil. With good care they will produce bulbs from a half 

 inch to an inch in diameter the first season. But there are some of the 

 cultivated varieties which do not produce the small bulbils in any con- 

 siderable number, and in some seasons none at all ; consequently, the 

 propagator must devise some other mode for rapidly increasing his stock. 

 There are several ways of forcing the latent buds of the old bulbs, 

 and each new sprout will eventually produce a new bulb at its base. 



Fig. 109. GLADIOLUS BULB 

 WITH BULBILS ATTACHED. 



