PROPAGATION BY BUDS LAYERAGE 77 



The bulbs now begin to enlarge and are left to grow during 

 April and May. About the middle of May, with fair, warm 

 weather, the leaves turn yellow, a sign that the bulbs are matured 

 and can be taken out. 



When the bulbs are dug, the new bulblets are the size of acorns; 

 and the mother bulb has almost entirely disappeared, having served 

 as food for her numerous progeny. These are taken to the 

 warehouses and placed on lath frames to dry, merely a matter of 

 plenty of air and ordinary summer temperature. This is also 

 the case with the old bulbs of the "notched" class. The opinion 

 prevalent in some quarters that it is necessary to apply absor- 

 bent material to all bulbs after treatment experience has proved to 

 be without foundation. Only in the case of "scooped" bulbs is it 

 found necessary to apply an absorbent. 



Cleaning the bulbs, a process always attended with danger of 

 damage, is deferred until fall when an injury will be speedily 

 healed by the earth in which the bulbs are soon after placed. Set 

 in the ground again in October, the new bulbs bear leaves the fol- 

 lowing spring. The second year those of the notched class flower, 

 while the others need still another season. The flowering bulbs 

 ready for shipment are carefully sorted, packed with chaff in 

 large paper bags or in boxes according to the quantity. 



The propagation of some species of tulips must be left entirely 

 to nature; no scientific cutting of the bulb can be done. Left 

 to itself this plant yields three or four bulblets only one or two of 

 which survive and mature. The process of growing the young 

 bulbs is simple. The bulblets appear attached to the mother bulb 

 after the blooming period, the old bulb being "eaten up." The fol- 

 lowing spring the little ones are removed, cleaned and re-planted, 

 the bulblet thus having taken two years to mature. 



116. Corms (Fig. 63) usually produce one to three new 

 ones above the old ones, which shrivel and die. Between 

 the old and the new several little ones called "spawn" 

 are formed. These may be separated and grown a year 

 or two to form large corms. Besides the central bud, 

 from which the flower stem is usually produced, a corm 

 often bears, near its apex, several little buds, which may 

 be artificially made to form new corms (or cormels) by 

 cutting through the substance of the bulb around them. 

 After the original corm has borne its flower stem and 

 leaves, it gradually shrivels and dies and a new corm 

 forms around the base of the stem above the old corm. 



117. Care of bulbs and corms. From the garden stand- 

 point bulbs and corms are of two classes : a, spring bloom- 

 ing, b, summer blooming. The former, all hardy, are 



