82 Commercial Gardening 



and when severed from the parent may be regarded almost as estab- 

 lished plants. Such plants as Chrysanthemums, Plurns, Black Currants, 

 Raspberries, Blackberries, Loganberries, produce suckers freely, and may 

 be propagated by them. In the case of Apples, Plums, Peaches, Necta- 

 rines, Roses, &c., any suckers arising are, of course, from the wild stocks, 

 and are detached as early as possible, unless they are required later on 

 to form stocks themselves. 



Offsets. Most true bulbous plants, like Tulips, Daffodils and Narcissi, 

 Hyacinths, Liliums, Snowdrops, &c., produce offsets from the parent bulbs. 

 When the offsets are detached and replanted they produce flowering 

 plants the following season, or a season or two afterwards. If some 

 bulbous plants e.g. Daffodils and Snowdrops are left undisturbed for 

 years they increase rapidly and produce numerous bulbs. Nerines, Vallotas, 

 Hippeastrums, Crinums, Pancratiums, &c., also develop numerous offsets 

 from the base of the older bulbs. 



Corms as produced by Gladioli, Montbretias, Crocuses, Colchicums, are 

 known as "solid" bulbs as they have no coats as in Tulips and Daffodils 

 or thick scaly leaves as in Liliums. They produce numerous offsets, but 

 the old corm always shrivels up or vanishes while the new ones are 

 forming on top. In such corms as those of the florists' Gladioli (Brenchley- 

 ensis. Childsi, Lemoinei, and Nanceianus) numerous seed-like outgrowths 

 are also to be seen. These are known as " spawn " and will produce new 

 plants in a year or two if sown like seeds in nice gritty soil. 



In the case of tuberous plants like the Arum Lily, Jerusalem Arti- 

 choke, the Potato, the Dahlia, &c., large numbers of tubers or tuberous 

 roots are produced, each one of which will give rise to one or more plants. 

 The tubers of the Artichoke and Potato, for example, if cut into pieces 

 each containing an " eye " or bud, will produce several plants. The tuberous 

 roots of the Dahlia and the herbaceous Pseony, however, must have a piece 

 of the old stem attached, as no shoots are produced by the roots themselves. 

 The tubers of Begonias, Cyclamen, and Gloxinias may be cut into pieces 

 each with an eye or sprout. 



Underground sterns or rhizomes, as met with in the German, Florentine, 

 and other Irises, Solomon's Seal, Mint, &c., are utilized for increasing the 

 stock, each portion having a bud being capable of forming a new plant. 



Bulbils. Many bulbous plants like Lilium bulbiferum and others 

 produce seedlike bodies known as "bulbils" in the axils of the aerial 

 leaves. These bulbils are capable of producing plants if sown in suitable 

 soil and grown on for a year or two. (See fig. 24, p. 39.) 



In some Ferns, e.g. Asplenium bulbiferum, A. biforme, Woodwardia 

 radicans, little plants also called " bulbils " appear on the fronds, and 

 from these large numbers of plants may be raised quickly without having 

 recourse to sowing spores. These bulbils may be regarded in the light of 

 aerial offsets. (See fig. 46, p. 59.) 



Division of the RootstOCk. A very large number of herbaceous 

 perennials, both hardy and tender, are more readily increased by splitting 



