10 BULLETIN" 962, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICTJLTUEE. 



account of the very large root system they can not be put low enough 

 in pots of smaller size. There will be a goodly percentage of 

 them, however, which can go into 4-inch and 5-inch pots. Whenever 

 this is possible they should go into these small pots and be shifted to 

 6-inch pots when the smaller sizes are filled with roots. 



LOSS OF LEAFAGE IN REPOTTING FROM THE FIELD. 



It frequently happens that a goodly percentage of the bulbs, 

 especially those which consist of the smallest number of basal 

 leaves, lose all their leafage before they are placed in pots. No 



Fig. 5. — Digging Easter lily seedlings in October, 1920. The seed was sown on No- 

 vember 1, 1919. The plants are to be potted for winter flowering. Those which 

 have not already flowered will be potted with the tops on and will not wilt. 



change in handling is necessitated by this loss, these bulbs being 

 potted and treated precisely like the others. 



A most remarkable thing is the subsequent loss of leafage by the 

 plants as they grow in the greenhouse. Those plants which are in 

 the form of rosettes when repotted will in a few weeks be seen to lose 

 their lower leaves gradually, so that by Christmas there will be but 

 little of the field leafage left. Of course, the leaves in this case are 

 from bulb scales. The loss never simulates wilting or any other 

 apparently unhealthy condition, but looks simply like a gradual 

 ripening process. 



This loss of leafage is by no means confined to the scale leaves. The 

 same loss takes place in the stem leaves of those plants which were 



