WHAT ARE BULBS? 23 



best learned by experience ; but an attempt will be made to 

 give the rules for each case, under its appropriate head, in 

 the following pages. 



Some hardy bulbs do better if taken from the ground as 

 soon as they have matured their growth, and wrapped in 

 dry paper, and thus kept until the season for replanting : 

 this, indeed, is the general practice abroad with " Holland 

 bulbs." Others, again, do far better if left in the ground 

 undisturbed for years. Bulbs grown in water (if desirable 

 to preserve them) should be planted in soil as soon as the 

 bloom fades ; as, otherwise, the store of nourishment is 

 exhausted, no new nutriment is laid up, and the bulb 

 consequently perishes, or does not bloom again for years. 

 We have said that the old bulb is consumed each year, and 

 a new bulb formed. This is done in many ways. Some- 

 times it is formed in the centre of the bulb, as in the 

 hyacinth ; sometimes it appears on the side, as in the tulip ; 

 sometimes on top, as in the crocus and gladiolus ; and 

 sometimes on the bottom, as in the bulbous iris. 



Thus the crocus grows out of the ground each year, the iris 

 buries itself, and the tulips move away from their original 

 position. Many fleshy root-stalks also move ; the new bud 

 being produced beyond the old one, and sometimes several 



