12 
Before making this discovery we had supposed that 
the sprout just grew up out of the bulb in some way 
and just kept pushing on up out of it until the plant 
was formed. But that is not so. The gladiolus bulb is 
a conn or solid bulb and is not composed of layers of 
thick leaves like daffodils, onions, etc. A careful exam¬ 
ination shows that the sprout does not come pushing up 
out of the old bulb, but it is a growth, or increase, in the 
size of the eye which itself is the new plant. The leaves 
push up out of the sprout but the base of the sprout 
remains fixed. So in planting bulbs, the eyes, which 
are the little new plants, are the things of importance 
to be considered. 
If planted deep, or if sprouted in the dark, the sprout 
will be long and white and slender, mostly top, and very 
small at the base. If the bulb is peeled and every bit of 
peeling taken from around the eye, then placed in the 
sunlight and sprouted there, the resulting eye will be 
very stubby and green and strong, and the first and 
greatest growth will be an enlargement of the base of 
the sprout. It will assume the appearance of a small 
bulb set on top of the old bulb, which in reality it is. 
Now in the rapid propagation of the new varieties 
we are not especially concerned with the making of 
large tops. But we do want new bulbs of the largest 
size and the greatest possible number of bulblets. 
Hence right in the beginning we should train up the new 
plant in the way in which we want it to go. We should 
cause it to begin at once the making of its new bulb 
and bulbiets. 
This is also the secret of why shallow planting pro¬ 
duces so many more bulblets than can be had with deep 
