AND THEIR CULTURE. 193 



11. " The origin of a Lily bulb is a germ or seed-bud.* Nature causes 

 Ihis to grow or vegetate the first year, to bloom the second year, and then it 

 dies, leaves, stem, scales, and roots, all perish. Such is the short span of the 

 existence of a Lily bulb. If a bulb that has flowered is taken up, say late 

 in the autumn, and cut in two, vertically, it will be seen that it has, 

 within itself, three distinct generations, that is, a portion of the parent 

 Imlbrf which has flowered, the whole of a new bulb, which Nature destined 

 to flower the following year, and a germ or seed-bud, which was intended 

 to grow up a full-sized bulb, and flower in the next year but one. At this 

 time, the autumn, the seed will be so minute, as not to be perceptible 

 without the aid of a magnifying glass, but, if a similar bulb be taken up in 

 January next, and dissected, the seed-bud will then be perceptible to the 

 naked eye, as it will be about the size of a canary seed, and will, if the 

 scales are picked off carefully, be found in the axil between the inmost 

 fleshy scale and the base of the new flower stem. In Februar}^ it will be 

 -six or eight times larger, and will continue to grow, until, in the next 

 ^autumn, it will be found to be as large as the new bulb was, at the same 

 time in the previous year. By a very simple experiment, it may thus be 

 proved that the old bulb of this year, after having flowered, and after 

 having all the sap absorbed from its scales for the nourishment of the new 

 bulb, decays and dies. In like manner, its successor, the new bulb, flowers 

 the next year, decays and dies. And so on, one generation following the 

 other, year after year, all having emanated from germs or seed-buds. 

 'Then, how can it be said with truth, that " the bulb, which has flowered, 

 (has ever flowered before ?" Or with what truth can it be said that "the bulb, 

 that has flowered one year, will ever flower again ? " I cut open a bulb last 

 month (January, 1877) ; it is now considerably decayed by exposure, but 

 still may be seen the seed-bud at the base between the scales, and a portion 

 of the new flower stem. I have also a portion of a bulb I took up only 

 two days ago (February) : it is a very fine fresh specimen, as I was 

 careful in picking off the scales. At the base of the flower stem, which 

 was destined to flower this year, may be seen the seed-bud, eight or ten 

 times larger than in the preceding specimen, showing the comparatively 

 large increase in growth which it has made in only one month. This 

 seed- bud was destined to become a fall grown bulb, and flower in IS 78. 



12. "The plan that I adopted in order to trace the progress of the seed 

 bud as it grew up into a fully formed bulb was this. In October, 1873, I 

 lifted some fifty thoroughly matured bulbs, .and replanted them in a piece 

 of spare ground. In January, I commenced by taking up two or three, 

 cutting the bulbs vertically in two, and otherwise dissecting them for the 



* For my objection to the term seed-bud, see page 187. 



t Dunedin has here put a too limited meaning to the use of the. word " bulb." Lily 

 growers, and the public generally, in common parlance, when speaking of Lilies, or other 

 bulbs, flowering year after year, include in the term "bulb " both old and new growths, 

 :roots. stem, if any, sometimes flower, in fact, the whole plant. It may not be strictly 

 accurate, but it is the case. Dunedin, however, frequently restricts the meaning of the 

 word " bulb " to scales only, excluding roots, stem, and rhizome. 



I have, therefore, italicised the word "bulb " wherever, it seems to me, it is used in a 

 .restricted sense, and, if my readers will, in their own minds, there substitute the word 

 '"growth" for "bulb," I think Dunedin's meaning will be made more clear. 



