588 



BUFFALO BERRY 



BULB 



even stand when set in their permanent place. Seed- 

 lings are better rooted. Seedlings are easily raised from 

 seed washed free from the pulp in the fall and stratified 

 for winter, keeping in sand in a box buried just beneath 

 the surface in a well-drained spot in the garden. There 

 should be holes in the box for free drainage and the 



glanting should be done very early in the spring. In 

 ulletin No. 88, June, 1904, of the South Dakota Experi- 

 ment Station, Plate 19 shows a field of 7,500 buffalo 

 berry plants of the first generation under cultivation. 

 These plants were raised from seed gathered along the 

 Missouri River of South Dakota, where buffalo berries 

 are especially abundant. However, under cultivation the 

 plant does not respond, as regards early bearing, as 

 quickly as its near relative the Siberian sandthorn (Hip- 

 ppphae rhamnaides). It was found that the buffalo ber- 

 ries can be worked on the Russian form of oleaster 

 (Elxagnus angustifolia) . The fault of the buffalo berry 

 is its small-sized fruit and the difficulty of gathering it, 

 owing to its numerous thorns, but it has been and is an 

 abundant source of pleasant fruit to thousands of set- 

 tlers in the newer regions of the West. The fruit varies 

 greatly in size and degree of acidity, affording oppor- 

 tunity for selection work in its native home along the 

 Missouri River and tributaries. fj. E. HANSEN. 



BUGBANE: Cimicifuga. 



BULB, BULBS. A bulb is a thickened, fleshy, and 

 commonly subterranean bud, usually emitting roots 

 from its under side. The office of the bulb is to carry 

 the plant over an unpropitious season, as over winter 

 or a dry period. 



True bulbs are either tunicated, formed in rings or lay- 

 ers, like those of hyacinths and onions (Fig. 681), orscaly, 

 like those of some liliums (Fig. 682) ; but as popularly 

 understood and in commer- 

 cial parlance, the term bulbs 

 applies to a large class of 

 flowering and ornamental 

 bulbous-like plants in their 

 dormant condition, during 

 which period they are col- 

 lected, dug, stored, shipped, 

 sold and planted, like so 

 many potatoes. This class 

 includes, in addition to the 

 true bulbs, many that are 

 botanically known as conns, 

 which are solid, as crocus and 

 gladiolus (Fig. 683); tubers 

 which are succulent and have 

 the buds or eyes near the 

 surface, as the dahlia and 

 potato (Fig. 684); rhizomes, 

 fleshy, creeping underground 

 stems like certain iris, ginger, 

 and many wild plants (Fig. 

 685); pips, the flowering 

 crowns of lily-of-the-valley; 

 and certain other dormant 

 fasciculated fleshy roots like 

 those of peonies, ranunculus, 

 and the like. A variety of 

 bulbs is shown in Fig. 686. 

 The true or feeding roots 

 grow generally from the base 

 of the bulb, the stems, flowers 

 and foliage from the crown 

 of the bulb, or the eyes. There is an exception to this 

 in certain lilies, which throw out roots above the bulb 

 also (Fig. 687). The bulb is a storehouse for the 

 plant, wherein is formed, after flowering, new stems, 

 leaves and flowers. In fact, the bulb contains a new 

 plant, which is protected and sustained within the 

 bulb by the reserve food and energy collected therein 



681. Onion bulbs. 



during one season for the plant's successor. After the 

 flowering period, the plant above the bulb and the roots 

 beneath it ripen off and die away. The bulb is then in a 

 dormant condition. It is during this state of rest, lasting 

 approximately from three to six months, that bulbs 

 are taken out of the ground and transported easily and 

 safely from continent to continent, if required; after 

 which the incipient roots, stems, foliage and flowers 

 may develop with as much luxuriance and perfection as 

 if the bulb had remained in its original environment. 



Bulbous flowering plants (bulbs) are very popular 

 with flower-loving people. There is a particular charm 

 and interest in growing them. As a rule, they produce 

 flowers of remarkable beauty, unsurpassed by any 

 other class of plants, and many of them are deliriously 

 fragrant. They comprise an endless variety in habit, 

 form, size and color, are adaptable for many purposes, 

 and many of them flower equally well under either 

 garden or house culture. Soon after their beauty fades 

 they die away, or may be removed; and in the inter- 

 val, their places may be occupied by other seasonable 

 flowering plants. Not the least among the merits of 

 bulbs is their ease of culture, and the great certainty 

 and perfection with which their flowers are produced, 

 under suitable conditions. 



Among bulbous plants are many that are sufficiently 

 hardy to withstand the severity of our northern winters. 

 The kinds that are suitable are nearly all dormant in 

 the fall, which is the proper time for planting them, and 

 they will flower the coming season. In March or earlier, 

 spring is ushered in with the blooming of snowdrops, 

 chionodoxas, anemones, scillas, crocus, winter aconites, 

 bulbocodiums and so on, followed in April with brilliant 

 hyacinths, tulips, narcissus and hosts of others. In 

 April appear the unapproachable late tulips, poet's 

 daffodils, dicentras and the like, followed in succession 

 until frost, notably with peonies, irises, hemerocallis, 

 lilies, montbretias, tritomas and others. 



Gardeners usually think of bulbs as divided into two 

 classes, hardy and tender, or those that stand freez- 

 ing and those that do not. There is a class from South 

 Africa known as Cape bulbs, which usually bloom in the 

 fall. There are now so many improved hybrids and 

 breeds that are crowding out the types, that the term 

 "Cape bulb" has lost its significance in this country. In 

 the present article, bulbs are treated under the follow- 

 ing general heads: Hardy spring bulbs for design bed- 

 ding; hardy bulbs in the herbaceous garden, mixed 

 flower-border or lawn; subsequent treatment of out- 

 door bulbs; summer- and autumn-flowering tender 

 bulbs for spring planting; bulbs for flowering in the 

 house and greenhouse; the forcing of bulbs; other in- 

 door methods; subsequent treatment of forced bulbs; 

 keeping dormant bulbs, tubers, and the like; propaga- 

 tion of bulbous plants; hints on buying and selecting 

 bulbs; catalogue of bulbs. 



Hardy spring-flowering bulbs for design bedding. 



The only bulbs adapted to geometrical beds are 

 Dutch hyacinths and tulips. It is not best to use both 

 in the same bed for really fine effects. For display bed- 

 ding in parks, public squares, and like places, only 

 solid bright contrasting colors as a rule are used, since 

 brilliancy of coloring is advisable when the taste of 

 large crowds must be considered. This limits the 

 selection in hyacinths to dark crimson, rose-red, pink, 

 purple, blue, lavender, white and yellow (the latter is 

 seldom satisfactory), and in tulips to dark blood-red, 

 scarlet, rose, blush-pink, yellow, white, and a bluish 

 claret, which last is seldom used. On private grounds 

 many beautiful effects can be obtained by the use of 

 the softer colors, particularly in beds that are situated 

 in partial shade. In ordering the bulbs for this style of 

 bedding, it is important to select kinds that bloom at 

 the same time and arc of uniform height; and in the 

 case of hyacinths to choose varieties with a strong stem, 



