PROPAGATION BY BUDS LAYERAGE 75 



only two to half a dozen bulblets are reproduced 

 each year. These ordinarily require one to three or four 

 years to attain salable size. For rapid propagation the 

 bulbs are handled as described by Fred De Meulder in 

 the Florists' Exchange, condensed as follows : 



115. Hyacinth propagation Nature has an easy method of in- 

 creasing tulips, narcissus, crocus and other bulbous plants. These 

 bulbs, dividing into several parts, multiply themselves without the 

 aid of human skill. Not so the hyacinth, which if left to its own 

 devices, multiplies in such a way that each succeeding generation of 

 young bulbs is more dwarfed than the former, making it impossible 

 to get anything like fair specimens. 



It was observed that the hyacinth generally forms bulblets where 

 the old bulbs have been injured. This useful hint has led to pur- 

 posely wounding the bulbs. Repeated experiments have developed 

 two distinct methods; "scooping" and "notching." In the first (Fig. 

 69) the hard base of the bulb is cut away, leaving the bottom scooped 

 out; every section or layer of the bulb is thus cut through. In the 

 second method the cutting is done transversely to a depth which the 

 cultivator has learned from experience to estimate. 



Each treatment has advantages and drawbacks. Bulbs scooped 

 leave three times the number of bulblets and of much greater vitality, 

 as appears from the preference shown them in the selection of ma- 

 terial for forcing. Those notched give less returns, but in a much 

 shorter time, producing flowering bulbs in three to four years, while 

 the others require four to five. More skill is required in scooping 

 than in notching, though a casual observer might say that both are 

 delicate operations. Perhaps the cultivator bases his estimate of the 

 skill needed on the comparative value and number of bulblets en- 

 dangered, so that operation would be the more critical which is to 

 bring about the better and more numerous bulblets. If gouged 

 out too much, wounding the bulb to the extent of seriously weak- 

 ening it, a limited amount of enfeebled young bulbs is the result; 

 if scooped not enough, the remaining solid matter at the base ef- 

 fectually impedes or even frustrates the formation of bulblets. 



The second method seems to entail as much risk to the mother 

 bulb and her offspring. Transverse cutting looks simple enough ; 

 and so it is. But long experience and careful attention have taught 

 the workmen just how deeply to cut. Here again there is danger 

 of seriously damaging the bulb. Cut too deeply, and the whole 

 bulb is lost; not deeply enough, a very limited and dwarfish prog- 

 eny. Planters differ in their use of the two methods; dividing the 

 annual stock equally between the two is common. 



Both classes of bulbs undergo practically the same treatment in 

 the "nurse-room," a place in the bulb house reserved for them and 

 kept at a high temperature. Here they remain until after a 

 fortnight or so about one hundred bulblets in the case of scooped 



