LECT. IV.] THE ROOT. BULBS. 185 



to the centre of the old bulb is, usually,, the real 

 flower bulb for the next season ; for, although, ow- 

 ing to a few of the outer layers only decaying, the 

 old bulb appears still to yield the flower, yet, this 

 actually springs every year from a new bulb formed 

 within the old one. Young leaf bulbs are also 

 protruded exteriorly from the base of the old bulb ; 

 and these appear to be really the production of the 

 bulb itself ; for the Dutch cut their bulbs trans- 

 versely, after they have attained a certain size ; 

 and plant the lower half, in order to multiply the 

 number of the lateral bulbs ; whilst the flower 

 bulb, as has been already stated, is evidently the 

 result of the combined functions of the plant and 

 the bulb. 



No experiments, at least that I know of, have 

 been made, to ascertain whether a layer of any of 

 the concentric laminated bulbs, when separated 

 from its caudex and planted, will produce young 

 bulbs, as is the case with the scales of the squa- 

 rnous bulbs ; but I am of opinion that if an en- 

 layers, and the divided bundles of longitudinal vessels, a. 

 the lower portion of the flower stem ; b. the bulb which will 

 flower next year, gradually expanding the old bulb by its 

 growth ; c. the roots attached to the caudex, which are hid by 

 the position of the superincumbent parts. Fig. 7. another 

 bulb of the garden Hyacinth in which four young lateral leaf 

 bulbs d. are seen seated on the caudex, to show the manner 

 in which these lateral offsets generally occur. 



