Bulbs and Suckers 



the same way. Take a whole head of garlic. 

 Outside we shall find, to begin with, white 

 dry coverings. Remove these and under- 

 neath we shall find large shoots, which are 

 easily separated from each other. Then 

 there are more white coverings, followed 

 by more shoots, so that the whole head 

 is a bundle of intercalated shoots and 

 coverings. 



These coverings are the dried remains of 

 former leaves, white in their underground 

 portion, still in existence, and green in their 

 aerial part which is now lacking. Shoots 

 were formed in the axil of these leaves, 

 following the general rule ; only as they were 

 intended to develop independently they have 

 stored food in the substance of their scales, 

 which is the cause of their unusual size. If 

 we split one of them lengthways we shall find 

 beneath the tough sheath an enormous fleshy 

 mass, forming almost the whole of the shoot. 

 This is the store of food. With such a pro- 

 vision the shoot is quite independent. In- 

 deed, for propagating garlic gardeners do 

 not make use of the seed, which would be a 

 lengthy process. They make use of the 

 shoots, planting separately the suckers of 

 which the heads are composed. Each of 



8 9 



