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tected on the outside by a few dry scaly leaves, while at 

 their centre will be found the foliage leaves and flowers 

 of the next season. But between these we find another 

 set of leaves which do not occur in the buds of a tree, 

 namely, thick storage leaves of a fleshy nature. It is the 

 possession of this internal supply of food material which 

 enables these specialised bulbs to produce their leaves and 

 flowers in the next season, though separated from the 

 parent plant which formed these bulbs, while in the case 

 of the tree the winter buds expand in spring by making 

 use of the food material stored in the branch to which they 

 belong. 



What is the nature of the parent plant on which the 

 bulbs are borne as lateral buds ? Take up a tulip plant 

 after it has flowered and you will find at the base of the 

 upright stem bearing the leaves the storage scales which 

 have made the growth of the stem and leaves possible, 

 and at the base of one or more of these scales will be seen 

 small buds, w r hich are beginning to swell owing to the 

 organic material manufactured by the leaves, passing 

 down to them. This observation will teach us that it is 

 important, if we wish to save our own bulbs for planting, 

 to leave the old bulbs in the ground for some time after 

 flowering and not to cut off the foliage leaves but to pre- 

 serve them as long as they are fresh and green and capable 

 of manufacturing food material. This is the time, too, to 

 give the plant further food in the form of top dressing 

 or occasional supplies of manure water. It is also im- 

 portant to cut away the dead flowers, so that the food 

 material is not expended in the ripening of the seed vessel. 



Another point of importance in bulb growing is to 

 secure the proper ripening of the bulb. In nature bulbs 

 after losing their leaves pass through a resting stage, 

 during which they are kept dry by the vegetation cover- 

 ing the soil in which they grow, whether they occur in 

 woodlands or meadows. In our gardens where the ground 

 above them is usually uncovered, water percolates down 

 to them, and if they are not very deeply buried slugs, too, 

 may attack them. It is therefore often advisable in the 

 case of damp soils, to take up the bulbs when the leaves 

 are dying away, and to allow the bulbs to dry in the sun, 

 storing them afterwards in a dry place until the time for 

 planting arrives. 



Conns are very like bulbs and may often be mistaken 



