948 



THE BOOK OF GARDENING> 



Under this heading may be classed bulbils, tubers, offsets, 

 suckers, runners, and division of plants or rootstock. 



Offsets. — A large proportion of plants are propagated by 

 division of their underground parts — rhizomes, tubers, bulbs, &c. 

 Bulbous plants mostly produce close to their roots, and attached 

 to them, a certain number of offsets, which, when taken off, 

 are used for propagation. "Bulbs" like those of Crocuses, 

 Gladiolus, Szc, are called " corms," and they also produce 

 a number of offsets. An offset is a small shoot capable of 

 taking root after separation from the parent plant or bulb. 

 When the parent plants have reached their resting period, and 

 they have lost all their leaves, then the bulbs may be taken 

 up, and division may be effected ; all must then remain 

 at rest until planting time. The small offsets, or corms, are 

 planted at the same time as the parent plants, but they require 

 a lighter soil and perfect drainage to prevent stagnation. This 

 kind of propagation is very widely applied to the majority of 

 our bulbous plants — Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocuses, Hsemanthuses, 

 and Gladioli. Bulbous Caladiums are also propagated in a 

 similar manner. . 



Bulbils. — A certain class of plants produce bulbils, which 

 are in many instances used for propagation. Such is the case 

 with Dioscorea Japojiica, a few kinds of Lilium, (Sec, and 

 in prolific Ferns, such as Aspleniums, bulbils are found on the 

 fronds. They may easily be removed, and planted in pans or 

 boxes in a light soil, when they will soon develop into a 

 new plant, if given suitable conditions. These remarks also apply 

 to Remusatia vivipara, Mandirola, &c. 



Tubers and Tubercules are underground succulent stems, 

 possessing a multitude of buds, or eyes, from which, in 

 many cases, new plants and tubers are obtained. Nearly all 

 tuberous plants have a certain period of rest, which is more or 

 less pronounced, and it is during the resting period that propaga- 

 tion is most successful. A tuber may be cut into as many 

 pieces as there are eyes, or buds, on it, but care must be taken 

 to have at least one growing eye on each part. Potatoes illus- 

 trate this very well. 



Divisions of tubers must be planted and started in boxes in a 

 light soil and in a moderate temperature. Dioscorea is chiefly 

 propagated by division of the tubers, performed while the plants 

 are at rest, for the stems of tuberous plants are all annual, and 

 it is only when these have perished that the tubers ripen. The 

 tubers are planted when the growing period is again approaching 

 — in open ground if potatoes, in pots or pans if exotics, which 

 must be kept under glass, so as to approximate as far as 

 possible to their native climates, and when growing they must 

 be treated as fully established plants. 



