594 



BULB 



BULB 



an inch in diameter, while other bulbs, such as those of 

 Caladium esculentum, certain arums and crinums, 

 attain great size, frequently weighing several pounds 

 each. Such solid bulbs as those of tulips, hyacinths 

 and narcissi, will remain out of the ground solid and 

 plump, in a suitable place, for three or four months. The 

 larger the bulb the longer it will keep, as a rule. Large 

 crinum bulbs have been kept for fifteen months. Still, 

 it is always better to plant the bulbs as soon as possible, 

 for, although they keep, they do not improve, and their 

 tendency is always toward drying out and loss of vi- 

 tality. 



Never keep bulbs packed air-tight. They are liable 

 to generate heat or sweat, mold or rot, or to start. 

 When solid bulbs are to be kept dormant for any length 

 of time, they should be stored away from bright light in 

 baskets, shallow boxes or slatted trays, protected from 

 rats or mice, in a room or cellar in which there is a cir- 

 culation of fresh air and the temperature is as cool 

 as possible. Forty degrees is the desideratum for all 

 excepting tender bulbs. Scale-like bulbs, as liliums, soon 

 dry put and shrivel, if exposed to the air for any length 

 of time; therefore, they are best kept in open boxes 

 packed with some substance that will retain a slight and 

 even moisture, such as sphagnum moss, rotted leaf- 

 mold, coconut fiber refuse, or moist sand, but they must 

 be kept cold to check any efforts to start. Fleshy roots, 

 like those of peonies, and so on, should be treated like 

 the lily bulbs. When a cold-storage room, with an aver- 

 age temperature of 36 to 40, is available, it is the 

 safest place to carry over hardy bulbs and roots for 

 spring planting. 



Lily-of-the-valley pips are carried in cold storage 

 rooms of about 28 to 30. The pips and packing 

 freeze solid; and here they are kept for months until 

 wanted for forcing. When they are removed, they 

 must be thawed out gradually and as soon as possible, 

 by plunging in cold water, before they are subjected to 

 any heat; otherwise, they are likely to rot. For this 

 reason, "cold-storage pips cannot be safely shipped any 



distance in warm weather, 

 this often being the cause 

 of the country florists' dis- 

 appointment in results. 



Tender dormant bulbs, 

 as begonias, gloxinias, 

 amaryllis, pancratiums, 

 tigridias, tuberoses, must 

 be kept in a warm, dry 

 atmosphere, not below 

 50. The cause of tube- 

 roses not flowering is often 

 that the bulbs have been 

 kept below 40, which 

 destroys the flower germ, 

 although the foliage grows just as vigorously. Tender 

 tubers, such as dahlias and cannas, should be stored 

 in dry sand in a warm, dry cellar or under the green- 

 house bench. 



Propagation of bulbous plants. 



Bulbous plants increase usually in either of two 

 natural ways from division or from seed. Increase by 

 division, with true bulbs and conns, is due, in the first 

 place, to the tendency these plants have after reaching 

 a certain age to break up into a number of smaller parts, 

 each part making a new start for itself and developing 

 with time into a bulb of flowering size. In addition to 

 this breaking up, all bulbs, even those of young growth, 

 form tiny bulbels or offsets, throughout their time of 

 maturing. These bulbels appear in many ways, some 

 forming outside of the protecting skin of the mother 

 bulb, as in the case of the tulip and hyacinth, others 

 developing about the base of a newly-formed corm like 

 the gladiolus. In this connection it is proper to note that 

 the formation of bulbs during the growing season varies 



688. Bulb with a cushion of sand 

 beneath it to prevent decay. 



in that some kinds form an entirely new bulb, as the 

 tulip and gladiolus, and others merely add new tissues to 

 the old bulb and increase in size, as the narcissus and 

 hyacinth. As a rule, small bulbs obtained by this pro- 

 cess of breaking up do not have the vigor of those from 

 offsets; the younger a bulb is, the greater vigor it always 

 has, although the flower may not show its true size. 



Whereas bulbs secured by division always come true, 

 that is, the flowers resemble that of the parent bulb| 

 allowing for the occasional variation due to "sporting"- 

 propagation by seed is likely to give new varieties, dif- 

 fering in character from the original. Certain ki 

 bulbs, such as the scilla, chionodoxa, or freesia, ran he 

 propagated by seed and come true, unless cross-fc T 

 Bulbs grown from seed take longer to mature t i 

 those from offsets, and for commercial purposes Un- 

 seed method is seldom employed except when iln 

 raising of novelties is an object. 



Of the other so-called bulbous plants which are under 

 consideration here, the tuberous kinds increase natu- 

 rally by the development of new eyes which grow into 

 young plants as the old tuber decays, while the rhizoma- 

 tous sorts form new plants through the elongation and 

 branching of the running underground stems accom- 

 panied by the dying back of the older parts. Artificial 

 propagation of these kinds is an easier affair than with 

 true bulbs, as the separation of the new growth is readily 

 effected by division with a knife, or even with the 

 rougher use of a spade. Such tubers as potatoes, bego- 

 nias and gloxinias can be cut into small parts wherever 

 an eye has started, and these planted out sep: 

 grow into new plants. With certain kinds it is a 

 frequent practice to dust over the tubers where the cut 

 has been made with sulfur or soot to prevent decay. 

 Caution must be used in following this method, as too 

 frequent division of this sort results in weakening the 

 vigor of the stock to be grown. Several tubers, such as 

 the dahlia and begonia, can be propagated either by 

 stem or leaf cuttings taken from the young growth. 



Artificial propagation of the hyacinth by cutting the 

 old bulb is the method employed in Holland, while 

 many liliums are increased by loosening the outer bulb 

 scales and inserting them in sand after the manner of 

 cuttings. Certain bulbs like the tulip, as grown in Hol- 

 land, are subjected to heat after lifting, to ripen the 

 burbs more thoroughly. Bulbs to be used for propaga- 

 ting are given a higher temperature, which arrests the 

 flowering and tends to increase the breaking up of the 

 mother bulbs. For special methods of propagating, 

 the reader should consult the articles on the various 

 bulbs throughout this Cyclopedia. 



The cultural treatment for the young bulbs is in gen- 

 eral the same as that prescribed for the older, larger 

 ones. The offsets need not, of course, be planted so far 

 apart, the very smallest being simply scattered in drills 

 as peas or beans are sown. At first the soil should be 

 somewhat lighter than later on, and must always be kept 

 free from weeds and well cultivated. The young bulbs 

 should be planted early, and when annual lifting is 

 practised they should be the first to come out of the 

 ground. 



From an economic point of view it is doubtful 

 whether the so-called Dutch bulbs can be successfully 

 propagated and grown in America. The ext rein- 

 cost of labor, and the rapid increase of stocks in the st;il 

 and climate of Holland, together with the faet that the 

 secret of ripening the bulbs to perfection is known 

 thoroughly only by the Dutch, makes it improbable 

 that bulbs can be grown as well, or with a reasonable 

 profit, here in America. 



Hints on buying and selecting bulbs. 



As already said, bulbs can develop only the flowers 

 which were formed within them before they were ri- 

 pened. A bulb may be poor because not full-grown or t< 

 young, or because grown in impoverished soil or under 



