THE BULB BOOK 



thoroughly ripe, and separate themselves from the parent plant 

 and are blown about and carried away by the wind until they 

 settle down in some sheltered crevice — there to grow and bring 

 forth new plants in due course. In cultivation when it is con- 

 sidered worth while, any bulbils may be sown in spring as if they 

 were seeds, covering them with about twice or three times their 

 own depth of soil. When taken from bulbous plants, they reach 

 the flowering stage much quicker than seeds, but not nearly so 

 quickly as offsets. 



DIVISION OP THE ROOT-STOCK. — This is a simple and rapid 

 method of increasing many kinds of tuberous and rhizomatous 

 plants, as well as many fibrous-rooted herbaceous perennials. Such 

 plants as Aconite, Pseony, Doronicum, Arum Lily, Caladium, and 

 many others, produce numerous offsets or young growths from 

 the parent root-stock, and these may be detached just before growth 

 recommences, or when the plants are lifted or disturbed in autumn 

 or spring, or other dormant period. Each detached portion 

 so long as it has at least one bud attached wiU develop into a 

 plant by itself in due course, treating it in the same way as 

 recommended for the parent or established plant. Even with 

 tufted plants hke the Agapanthus, Hemerocallis, Schizostylis. and 

 others, if the main shoots are separated carefully so that each has 

 a supply of roots, there will be no difficulty in establishing the 

 separated portions. In the case of the German, Florentine, and 

 other Irises, and in Solomon's Seal, the rhizomes may be so hard 

 and thick that it may be necessary to cut them through with a 

 strong, sharp knife, although as a rule they are easily enough 

 broken.. In dealing with such plants as Aspidistras, it is better to 

 sever the rhizomes with a sharp knife, each. portion haviiig a bud 

 or two attached. With Lilies of the Valley the rhizomes are easily 

 separated, but it wiU be noticed that the thicker and fatter the 

 buds are the more likelihood there is of having flowering shoots 

 (see p. 149). 



CUTTINGS. — With bulbous plants proper, i.e., those belonging 

 to the Monocotyledonous group, there is no opportunity of raising 

 them from cuttings, neither can they be budded or grafted, as their 

 stems possess no cambiuni layer like the Dicotyledons. Such 

 tuberous-rooted plants, however, as Dahlia, 'Begonia, and Gloxinia 

 are readily raised from cuttings of the young stems, or by means of 

 the leaves, as described under each of those genera. Indeed, so far 

 as this volume is concerned, these are about the only plants which 



22 



