218 
geously executed ; and as this is hereafter obtained we hope to 
convey it to the readers of tlie Botanic Garden. 
202 Bulbs Propagated by Leaves. When writing the obser- 
vations on the last article, regarding the re-production of plants, 
Mr. Herbert’s success in propagating bulbs from leaves presented 
itself, as one not amongst the least interesting of that class of 
natural phenomena. Reproduction, by bulbs, we have occa- 
sionally noticed in the Botanic Garden, (See Nos. 21, 53), and 
their growth from a leaf is the less surprising when the true na- 
ture of the bulb is considered. Mr. Herbert says, in the Gar- 
dener’s Chronicle, v. 1, 381. “ In the year 1809 1 first tried to 
raise bulbs of a Cape Oj-nithogalum by setting a cutting of a 
leaf. The leaf was cut off just below the surface of the earth in 
an early stage of its growth, before the flower-stalk had begun 
to rise ; and it was set in the earth near the edge of the pot in 
which the mother plant was growing, and so left to its fate. 
The leaf continued quite fresh, and on examination (when the 
bulb was flowering,) a number of young bulbs and radical 
fibres were found adhering to it. They appeared to have been 
formed by the return of the sap which had nourished the leaf. 
Thereupon two or three more leaves were taken off and placed 
in like situations, but they turned yellow and died without pro- 
ducing any bulbs. It appeared to me then, and it was confirmed 
by subsequent experience, that in order to obtain a satisfiictory 
result, the leaf must be taken off while the plant is advancing 
in its growth. I found it easy thus to multiply some bulbs that 
did not willingly produce offsets. I afterwards tried, without 
cutting the leaf off, to make an oblique incision in it under 
ground, and in some cases just above ground ; attempting, in 
fact, to raise bulbs by layering the leaf. This attempt was also 
successful, and some young bulbs were formed on the edge of 
the cut above ground, as well as below. I tried cuttings of the 
stem of some species of Lilium, and obtained bulbs at the axil 
of the leaf, as well as from the scales of the bulb ; and that prac- 
tice has been since much resorted to by gardeners, though I be- 
lieve it originated with me. I raised a great number of bulbs 
of the little plant which has been successively called Massonia, 
Scilla, and Hyacinthus corymbosus, by setting a pot full of its 
leaves, and |)lacing a l)ell-glass over them for a short time. A 
bulb was obtained with equal facility from a leaf of a rare 
