32 SEPARATION AND DIVISION. 



taken that tlie corms do not become so cold and wet as 

 to cause them to rot. 



2. DIVISION. 



The word division is commonly applied to that phase of 

 separati(jn in which the parts are cut or broken into pieces, 

 in distinction to propagation by means of parts which 

 naturally separate at the close of the season ; but no hard 

 and fast line can be drawn between the two operations. 

 Whilst separation is mostly concerned with bulb-like and 

 corm-like organs, division operates mostly upon tubers and 

 rootstocks. 



A fiiher is a prominently thickened portion of a root or 

 stem, and it is usually subterranean. The potato, sweet 

 potato and dahlia furnish good examples. Tnberiferous 

 plants are multiplied by planting these tubers whole, or in 

 many cases the tubers may be cut into small portions, as 

 described in Chapter I\^, in the descriptions of cuttings. 

 In hardv species, the tubers may be allowed to remain in 

 the ground during winter, but they are generally dug in 

 the fall and stored in a dr>' and cold place, but where they 

 win not freeze. 



An offset is a crown or rosette of leaves, usually borne 

 ne.xt the surface of the ground, and which in time detaches 

 itself and forms an independent plant. The best examples 

 occur in the house-leeks, plants which are more familiarly 

 known as "hen and chickens" and "man and wife." 

 These oft'sets take root readily, and in propagating there 

 is no other care necessary than to remo\'e and plant them. 



A croiuii is a detachable portion of a rootstock bearing 

 roots and a prominent l.)ud. Rhizomes or rootstocks mul- 

 tiply individuals and extend the distribution of the species 

 by means of a progressive movement of the crowns. The 

 rootstock grows during summer, and at the end of the sea- 

 son each branch develops a strong terminal bud, which 

 usually produces a flowering stem the following season. 

 The rootstock gradually dies away at its old extremity, 



