Ciu 



J y,«B 



: varie- 



Chap. XI. 



BY SUCKERS, TUBERS, AND BULBS. 



385 



old Forty-fold potato, which is a purple variety, was observed™ to become 

 white; this eye was cut out and planted separately, and the kind has since 

 been largely propagated. Kemp's Potato is properly white, but a plant in 

 Lancashire produced two tubers which were red, and two which were 

 white ; the red kind was propagated in the usual manner by eyes, and 

 kept true to its new colour, and, being found a more productive variety, 

 soon became widely known under the name of Taylor's Forty-fold J° The 

 Old Forty-fold potato, as already stated, is a purple variety ; but a plant 

 long cultivated on the same ground produced, not as in the case above 

 given a single white eye, but a whole white tuber, which has since been 

 propagated and keeps true/ 1 Several cases have been recorded of large 

 portions of whole rows of potatoes slightly changing their character. 72 



Dahlias propagated by tubers under the hot climate of St. Domingo vary 

 much; Sir E. Schomburgk gives the case of the " Butterfly variety," which 

 the second year produced on the same plant " double and single flowers ; 

 " here white petals edged with maroon; thereof a uniform deep maroon." 73 

 Mr. Bree also mentions a plant " which bore two different kinds of self- 

 " coloured flowers, as well as a third kind which partook of both colours 

 " beautifully intermixed." 74 Another case is described of a dahlia with 

 purple flowers which bore a white flower streaked with purple. 75 



Considering how long and extensively many Bulbous plants have been 

 cultivated, and how numerous are the varieties produced from seed, these 

 plants have not varied so much by offsets, — that is, by the production of new 

 bulbs,— as might have been expected. With the Hyacinth a case has been 

 recorded of a blue variety which for three successive years gave offsets 

 which produced white flowers with a red centre. 76 Another hyacinth has 

 been described 77 as bearing on the same truss a perfectly pink and a per- 

 fectly blue flower. 



Mr. John Scott informs me that in 1862 Imatophyllum miniatum, in 

 the Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh, threw up a sucker which differed 

 from the normal form, in the leaves being two-ranked instead of four- 

 ranked. The leaves were also smaller, with the upper surface raised 

 instead of being channelled. 



In the propagation of Tulips, seedlings are raised, called selfs or breeders, 

 which " consist of one plain colour on a white or yellow bottom. These, 



being cultivated on a dry and rather poor soil, become broken or variegated 

 ' and produce new varieties. The time that elapses before they break 



varies from one to twenty years or more, and sometimes this change 



never takes place." 78 The various broken or variegated colours which 

 give value to all tulips are due to bud-variation; for although the 



69 ' Gard. Chron.,' 1857, p. 662. 



70 Ibid., 1841, p. 814. 



71 Ibid., 1857, p. 613. 



_ 72 Ibid., 1857, p. 679. See also Phil- 

 lips, 'Hist, of Vegetables,' vol. ii. p. 91, 

 for^ other and similar accounts. 



73 « Journal of Proc. Linn. Soc.,' vol. 

 ii. Botany, p. 132. 



74 Loudon's ' Gard. Mag.,' vol. viii., 

 VOL. I. 



1832, p, 94. 



75 'Gard. Chron.,' 1850, p. 536; and 

 1842, p. 729. 



76 'Des Jacinthes,' &c, Amsterdam, 

 1768, p. 122. 



77 'Gard. Chron.,' 1845, p. 212. 



78 Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening,' 

 p. 1024. 



2 C 



