ADVENTITIOUS BULBELS. 



29 



times hollowed out from the under side for half or more 



of their depth. This operation is sometimes performed 



later in the season than the other, and precaution should 



be exercised that the bulbs do not become too moist, else 



they will rot. Hollowed bulbs should be well dried before 



being planted. Both methods of preparing hyacinth bulbs 



are shown in Figs. 21 and 22, which are adapted from the 



Gardener's Chronicle. Fig. 23 shows a portion of the base 



of a cross-cut bulb, with the adventitious 



bulbels. The mutilated bulbs are stored 



during summer, and are planted in fall 



or spring. The wounded bulbs produce 



very little foliage, but at the end of the 



first season the bulbels will have formed. 



The bulbels are then -separated and 



planted by themselves in prepared beds. 



Several years are required for the bulbels 



to mature into flowering bulbs. Some of 



the strongest ones may produce flowering 



bulbs in three years, but some of them, 



especially those obtained from the hollowed bulbs, will not 



mature short of six years. This method of propagating 



hyacinths is confined almost entirely to Holland. 



The scales of bulbs are often employed to multiply 

 scarce varieties. From ten to thirty of the thicker scales 

 may be removed from the outside of the bulb without seri- 

 ous injury to it. These are treated in the same manner 

 as single-eye cuttings. They are usually han- 

 dled in flats or propagating - frames, and are 

 pressed perpendicularly into a light and loose 

 soil — half sharp sand and half leaf mold — for 

 nearly or quite their entire length, or they may 

 be scattered in damp moss. Keep the soil sim- 

 ply moist, and for hardy and half-hardy species 

 keep the temperature rather low — from 45° to 

 . 60° Slight bottom heat may sometimes be 

 scale (xi). given to advantage. In from three to ten weeks 



Cross-cut bulb 



