TUBERS. 



522 



TULIPS. 



produced from offsets cut from them, but 

 wholly from seed. 



Tubers, Propagation by Eyes 

 in. 



It is found that, except in the case 

 of annuals as plants are called which 

 are raised from seed, which grow, 

 produce their seeds, and ripen their 

 fruit in one year much time is lost 

 by following this mode of propagation ; 

 it is also found that the seed does not 

 always produce the same identical plant ; 

 above all, it is found that none of the 

 double-flowering, and few of the herbaceous- 

 flowering plants, with which our gardens 

 are furnished, ripen their seeds in our 

 climate. The observation of this led to 

 other methods of multiplying ; for, besides 

 the roots properly so called, which attach 

 themselves to the soil, and draw from it 

 the principal nourishment of the plant, it is 

 found that each branch conceals under its 

 outward covering a bundle of fibre or tissue, 

 which, under favourable circumstances, de- 

 velops roots, and becomes the basis of an 

 independent plant, identical with that from 

 which it sprang. Many plants have also a 

 crown with buds or eyes, each capable of 

 propagating its species. Every plant with 

 roots of this description may be divided 

 into as many portions as there are eyes, 

 taking care that a few fibres are attached to 

 the root, and each will become an indepen- 

 dent plant. The potato, and all the bulbous 

 and tuberous plants, are familiar examples 

 of this principle of propagation ; so are the 

 dahlia and paeony, which grow better when 

 the set is confined to a piece of the tuber 

 with one eye attached than when planted 

 whole. So conspicuous is this in the 

 potato, that, where it is planted whole, ajl 

 the eyes except one, or at most two, are 

 scooped out with a sharp knife ; and the 

 only argument on which this mode of 

 planting is adopted at all is that it supplies 



the young plant with more of its natural 

 pabulum while it is rooting, and thus in- 

 creases the vigour of the young plant. 



Tu'lips (nat. ord. Lilia'cea). 



Blooms of Seedlings. There is a pecu- 

 liarity belonging to tulips which, apparently, 

 does not belong to any other flower. The 

 seedlings, in their first bloom generally 

 produce flowers without any stripes or 



TULIPA GESNERIANA SINGLE VARIETY. 



markings, all the upright portions of the 

 petal being self-coloured, flowering for 

 years without any such variegations, when 

 they are called breeders. After some years 

 they break out into stripes : if these are 

 liked, they are named ; but they have 

 multiplied in the breeder state, and may 

 have been distributed in all directions, each 

 person possessed of one which has broken 

 using the privilege of naming it ; hence 

 many, with different synonyms, are one 

 and the same thing. It is another pecu- 



