136 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 



systems, owing in part to their connection with the parent 

 plants, and they show a tendency to produce new suckers. 

 The red raspberry is propagated entirely by suckers. 



103. Plants formed by Portions which become de- 

 tached from Parent Plant. — Some plants which are ac- 

 customed to long periods of inactivity, for example, 

 those in arid regions, or in wet countries subject to 

 overflow, lose their power to produce seed and form 

 biMs instead. A bulb is in reality a very short under- 

 ground stem, having leaves closely crowded about it, 

 which are filled with nutriment to feed the young plant 

 when it begins to grow. 



EXERCISE 38 



Object. — To learn how to care for bulbs and how plants 

 are developed from them. 



Procedure. — Secure from some seed house or local 

 merchant a dozen or more of each of the following kinds 

 of bulbs : paper white narcissus, tulip, Roman hyacinth 

 and crocus; also procure a few bulbs of the Chinese 

 sacred lily. Secure two boxes about two feet long, one 

 foot wide and four inches deep. 



Cover the bottom of one of the boxes with one inch of 

 rich, fine soil. Over this put one half inch of fine sand. 

 Press the bulbs of the Roman hyacinth slightly into the 

 sand about two inches apart. Add more fine soil to the 

 box until the bulbs are completely covered. Set it 

 aside in some convenient part of the room where it 

 does not get direct sunHght, and see that the soil does 

 not dry out. 



Place the bulbs of the narcissus in the other box in the 

 same manner. Instead, however, of keeping the box in 

 the room, place it outside in some cool, well-drained and 



