28 



SEPARATION AND DIVISION. 



31. Cut hyacinth bulb 



the mother bulbs are taken up, and they are usually planted 

 in essentially the same manner as the bulbs themselves, 

 although it is desirable to place them, at least for the first 

 year, in a bed or border where they may receive careful 

 attention: Or, if they are especially 

 small and delicate, they may be 

 planted in pots or flats and be treated 

 about the same as single-eye cuttings. 

 In some lilies, the bulbels are allowed 

 to remain attached, and the whole 

 mass is planted in the fall in close 

 drills. Sometimes the larger lily 

 bulbels may produce flowers the fol- 

 lowing (or first) season, but they usu- 

 ally require the whole of the second 

 season in which to complete their 

 growth. The second fall they are 

 ready to be permanently planted. Bulbels of some plants 

 require even a longer time in which to mature into bulbs. 

 Bulbels are often produced by an injury to the bulb. 

 Growth of stem and leaves is more or less checked and the 

 energy is directed to the formation 

 of minute buds, or bulbs, in the 

 same manner as adventitious buds 

 form upon a wounded stem. Ad- 

 vantage is taken of this fact to 

 multiply some bulbous plants, and 

 in the case of the hyacinths, at 

 least, the mutilation of bulbs for 

 this purpose is practiced to a com- 

 mercial extent. Hyacinth bulbs 

 are cut in two, or are slashed in 

 various ways. The favorite method 

 is to make two or three deep transverse cuts into the base 

 of the bulb (Fig. 21). The strongest bulbs should be 

 chosen, and the operation is performed in spring or early 

 summer, when the bulb is taken up. The bulbs are some- 



22, Hollowed hyacinth 

 bulb (xj^). 



