CORMS AND CORMELS. 31 



way as bulbels, and like them, they reproduce the variety 

 upon which they grow. They will develop into full- 

 grown bulbs in from one to three years, according to the 

 species. 



A corrn is a bulb-like organ which is solid throughout. 

 Familiar examples occur in the gladiolus and crocus. Cor- 

 mous plants are multiplied in essentially the same manner 

 as bulbous species. As a rule, a new corm (or sometimes 

 two or more) is produced each year above the old one, and 

 this commonly bears flowers the following season. This 

 renewal is well shown in the gladiolus, Fig. 25. The illus- 

 tration shows a gladiolus bottom, half size, when taken up 

 in November. At the base are seen the withered remains 

 of the corm which was planted in the spring, and above it 

 the new corm, which will furnish bloom the following sea- 

 son. A number of cormels or " spawn" have also ap- 

 peared about the base of the new corm. These may be 

 planted out in a border or bed, and will produce mature 

 bulbs in one or two seasons. The larger ones, under 

 good treatment, will often produce bulbs an inch in diam- 

 eter the first season. Some growers keep the cormels 

 a year and a half before planting them out (that is, until 

 the second spring), as they are thought to vegetate more 

 evenly under such treatment ; in this case they should be 

 placed in sand to prevent too great drying out. 



Adventitious cormels may be produced by various 

 methods of wounding the mother corm, and this practice 

 of exciting them is often necessary, as some varieties do 

 not produce cormels freely. Each bud on the top or side 

 of the corm may be made to produce a separate corm by 

 cutting a deep ring around it, so as to partly divide it. Or 

 the corm may be directly cut into as many separate pieces 

 as there are buds or eyes, after the manner of cutting pota- 

 toes, but these pieces are usually handled in flats, where 

 temperature and moisture can be controlled. Almost any 

 injury to such vigorous corms as those of the gladiolus and 

 crocus will result in the production of cormels. if care is 



