AND THEIE CULTUEE. 13 



In planting, care should be taken not to destroy or injure the thick 

 fleshy roots attached to the base of the bulbs ; for, although the bulbs 

 undergo a resting period and comparative dryness in winter, these 

 fleshy roots retain their vitality, and are the great assistance of 

 strength in spring. Under and over the bulbs strew a little sharp sand, 

 and, after covering them about three inches, mulch the beds with two 

 inches of half-decayed manure. In these beds they should remain 

 throughout the summer, and in October or February any bulbs 

 required for other purposes may be lifted." 



Lilies are also increased by means of bulblets produced about the 

 base of the large bulbs, and also about the neck of the stems. 

 These should be removed in potting, and treated in precisely the 

 same manner as seedlings, only they will be one, and in some cases 

 two years' growth in advance of seedlings. The scales of bulbs, if 

 well formed and uninjured, taken off separately and inserted into a 

 pan of sandy peat, also become the progenitors of young bulbs. 



It is well known that chips or scales detached from the bulbs by 

 accident or otherwise, will, if planted out in a warm corner, form 

 little bulbs at their base or side. We met with a curious instance of 

 this one season. We had unpacked about one hundred cases of 

 Auratum, and accumulated about three cartloads of dried soil in which 

 they had been packed ; this was spread over the surface and dug in, 

 and Potatoes planted. In digging these, when ripe, we came upon 

 innumerable tiny bulbs, most of which had been formed by chips, 

 which being either small or covered with dirt, had escaped our notice. 

 It has even been recommended to detach the scales at the base, and 

 plant them for reproduction of bulbs. Again, when a bulb has been 

 cut or has been diseased, and the scales damaged, or when it breaks 

 up naturally, a number of bulblets form about the base and sides, 

 especially where there is any wounded scale, as if formed by exudation. 

 We have counted over a hundred bulbs taken from a single parent, 

 but this bulb was in the act of breaking up. 



By breaking up we mean this : when a bulb, either from damage 

 in coming over, or disease, or injury of any kind, is unable to make 

 its new annual growth (which is the flowering bulb of the next 

 season), the old scales seem to separate and get wider apart perhaps 

 some die away from between the others, or portions die, and in the 

 interstices the little bulbs are seen, in most cases attached to the 

 wounded, cut, or damaged part of the scale. In this state the bulb., 

 for flowering purposes, is worthless, and may be set apart either to- 

 form small bulbs, or possibly to make new growth the next season, 

 and become again a flowering bulb ; old scales may be known by 

 their dirty discoloured look, young growth by its light-coloured fresh 

 appearance. Importation seems to paralyse the growth of bulbs, and 

 imported bulbs are generally later in starting than home-grown bulbs, 

 by at least the duration of the journey. Similarly, when bulbs have- 



