TREATMENT OF TROPICAL BULBS, SEEDS, ETC. 57 



stock are lifted by the point of the knife or an ivory at- 

 tachment to the budding-knife, the bud inserted and 

 pushed down as in fig. 24 ; the portion of bark attached 

 to the bud that projects above the horizontal cut in the 

 stock is cut off/ and the tie applied. This is usually bast 

 matting, though cotton wick or other soft material will 

 do. The engraving, fig. 25, shows where to place the 

 tie, but when of bast it quite covers the wound and ex- 

 cludes water and prevents drying. In two or three weeks 

 after the bud has been inserted, it will be safe to remove 

 the tying, and if the operation has been performed on a 

 Eose in June, it will often make a considerable growth the 

 same season, but it usually lies dormant until the next 

 spring. All shoots upon the stock below the bud must 

 be rubbed off, and when the bud that has been inserted 

 starts to grow, the stem above it must also be cut back 

 just above, so that the inserted bud which now becomes 

 the plant, may get the full benefit of the root. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



TREATMENT OF TROPICAL BULBS, SEEDS, ETC. 



Any information that can be given in an article short 

 enough to be suitable for amateurs on a subject so ex- 

 tended as this must be confined to a few well known and 

 leading plants most valued for general cultivation. First 

 may be placed the Tuberose, which in most northern 

 states must be artificially forwarded to bloom in perfec- 

 tion in the open air. The seasons are too short for the 

 full development of the flowers in fall unless the bulbs 

 are so forwarded. All that it is necessary to do is to 

 place the dry bulbs in soil in pots or in boxes about May 



