154 BULBS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



the pan on the staging in a warm house, and see that 

 the soil is kept uniformly moist. In a month or so em- 

 bryo tubers will form at the cut portions of the ribs, and 

 later a bud will develop and produce leaves. When this 

 takes place separate the young tubers from the leaves and 

 plant them in pots. The other method is to cut off the 

 upper half of the leaf, and then to insert the stalk end of 

 the lower half a few inches apart in pots or pans of sandy 

 soil. Leaves thus treated will also form tubers at the 

 base of the leaf-stalk, which will in due course give birth 

 to a tiny plant. 



CHAPTEE II. 



PESTS AND DISEASES. 



BULBOUS and tuberous-rooted plants, like other classes of 

 the vegetable kingdom, are not immune from the attacks 

 of numerous insect, animal, and fungoid enemies. Thanks, 

 however, to modern scientific investigation, and a better 

 knowledge of the life-history of all, or nearly all, plant 

 pests and diseases, it is possible to cope with them more 

 effectually than in the past. Experience has shown that, 

 where proper cultural conditions are observed, and pre- 

 ventive measures adopted, plants may be rendered im- 

 mune from attack. Once allow any pest to secure a foot- 

 hold on bulb, tuber, or leaf, considerable difficulty is ex- 

 perienced in eradicating it, and there still remains the fact 

 of the injury resulting from the attack, which may, or may 

 not, be of a serious nature, crippling the future growth of 



