GROWTH OF PLANTS INDEPENDENTLY OF SEEDS 67 



being much older, has probably reached the level best suited to 



the plant, whilst the one with the long, slender dropper, being 



much younger, was still seeking the right depth. 



The price that used to be paid for Tulip bulbs strikes us now 



as incredible. The chief trade in the sixteenth 



century was carried on by the Netherlands, and 



it is said that as much as 500 or more would 



be given for an individual bulb. The bulbs of 



the Double Hyacinths when first produced at 



the beginning of the eighteenth century fetched 



100. The rivalry that sometimes existed be- 

 tween bulb-growers is well shown by Dumas in 



his pathetic story La Tulipe Noire. 



(iv.) By tubers. A tuber (Latin turner e, to 



swell) is a swollen underground stem. A Jeru- 

 salem Artichoke should be 

 examined first, as it is then 

 easier to understand the 

 structure of the Potato. 

 The leaves in the Artichoke 

 are long, scaly outgrowths; 

 in the axil of the leaf will 

 be seen a bud. Then the 

 Potato should be ex- 

 amined. It, too, is a 

 much swollen structure, 

 bearing very small scale- 

 leaves with buds in the 

 axils. These are called 

 " eyes" in both the Arti- 

 choke and Potato ; in the 

 latter there are from two 



to six buds in each " eye/' but they do not usually all develop. 



As these underground structures in both plants bear leaves and 



buds, they are underground stems, not roots, for stems alone bear 



leaves, or structures answering to leaves. As a rule, stems alone 



may be said to bear buds, although there are one or two instances 



of a root bearing a bud. 



d 



FIG. 38. Dropper of old 

 Tulip, d, dropper. 



FIG. 39. Dropper of 

 young Tulip, d, 

 dropper ; , swell- 

 ing at tip. 



