.300 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GAEDENING. 



«r an Asparagus-shoot, the nature of which latter is 

 obvious. It is, in fact, a terminal hud, such as 

 before descrihed, hut one in which the central por- 

 tion is enormously thickened, which ceases to grow 

 -at the tip (definite), but which is capable of lateral 

 growth by development of shoots from the " eyes," 

 -as maj- be seen when "sets" or so-called " seed- 



of propagating it. From the above-ground portion 

 of the stem of the Strawberry issues a long slender 

 branch, which terminates in a bud, in which true 

 leaves are directly developed, and which becomes in 

 time detached from the parent plant and serves to 

 propagate it. In aU essentials the resemblance is 

 close ; the difference is associated with the circum- 



Fig. 30.— A Potato-plant. 



"••potatoes " commence their growth (Fig. 30 ; see also 

 Fig. 10, p. 24). Its essentially bud-like character is 

 shown by the occasional formation of small tubers in 

 the axils of the leaves. Any one who will compare 

 a Strawberry "runner " with a Potato will see how 

 close the c&rrespondence reaUy is. From the under- 

 ground portion of the stem or haulm of the Potato 

 slender branches are thrown out, which terminate 

 in tuberous buds (Fig. 10), that do not directly de- 

 velop true leaves, but become separated from the 

 iparent plant in course of time, and serve as a means 



stance that in the one case the growth takes place 

 below-ground, where the leaves could not work if 

 they were produced; in the other the growth is 

 above-ground, and the leaves can efiect their purpose 

 so completely that the food stored up in the offset of 

 the Strawberry is actually largely obtained by its 

 own leaves, and not conveyed thitter from other 

 sources. 



Practical Inferences The life-history of the 



Potato, as here sketched in outline, illustrates the 



