THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 27, 1858. 
261 
its base with the withered roots (Fig. 1, a). Between it and 
the fresh bulb a thin, dry, brown skin (b) is found, which is 
cipal bulb (Fig. 2, h), the back of whose outer leaf is next to 
the flower-stem. In a vertical section through all the parts 
frequently lacerated both at its base and at the upper margin, of the bulb we see that the young roots (Fig. 2, i) are formed 
This is clothed with long shining hairs on its inner surface, on the same side as that on which the young bulb is seated, 
especially at the base, where it is connected with that of the 
dry peduncle. 
At the base of the new bulb, on the side which is turned 
away from the old flower-stem, the first rudiments of the 
roots appear, in the shape of little swellings disposed in a 
semicircle, whose open side is towards the stem. In most 
species of Allium the roots form a circle on the bulb. 
The fresh bulb is commonly formed of four (Fig. 2, c), or 
more rarely of five, fleshy sheaths, w T ith a rather narrow 
orifice. They are disposed spirally, the innermost being the 
shortest. In the axil of the inmost sheath which incloses the 
base of the flower-stem (g) is situated the minute new prin- 
Fig. 3. 
Tulipa Gesneri ma. 
Fig. 1. Bulb at the end of au- 
tumn. 
a. old peduncle. 
b. dry brown skin. 
Fig. 2. Section of ripe bulb. 
a. old peduncle. 
b. dry skin. 
c. c. sheaths of which the 
bulb is composed, 
g. base of flower-stem. 
h. new principal bud,which 
produces the bulb of the 
following year. 
i. roots still enclosed. 
Fig. 
3. Young bulb in spring ; all 
the coats, c c, in Fig. 2 
having been removed. 
c. roots. 
g. flower-stem. 
h. new bulb. 
and that this is on the side of the fresh flower-stem which is 
turned away from the dried peduncle (a) of the former year. 
Therefore, as in Gagea lutea , each successive plant is behind 
that of the previous season. The evolution of the roots is so 
far peculiar, that the part of the base of the axis, between the 
dry sheath (b) which is clothed on the inner side with hairs, 
and the first fresh sheath protrudes under the place where the 
young bulb is seated, and that on the inner side of this portion 
of the axis the numerous roots burst out without perforating 
the new sheath. 
While the roots are elongating, the contents of the fleshy 
sheaths, especially on their inner side, are absorbed; the 
flower-stem is extended, and the young bulb in* 
creases, and at the time of flowering, in spring, 
is proportionally large (Fig. 3, li). If it is then 
examined, wo find that the outer sheath is 
clothed on the inner side with distinct dia¬ 
phanous inarticulate hairs, about a line long, 
especially where it forms two angles towards 
the peduncle, and at the base. This sheath, or 
abortive leaf, is rather thin, and soon after the 
plant has blossomed, when the inner sheaths 
always thicken and become more fleshy, is en¬ 
tirely dried up to a thin skin, like the sheaths 
belonging to the base of the axis of the now 
withered peduncle. Besides the principal bulb, 
accessory bulbs also occur, whose first leaf is 
likewise hairy on the inner side in the axils of 
the first sheath, and of the fleshy ones which lie 
within it, as also offsets. The bulb in the axil 
of the penultimate sheath frequently flowers in 
the same year with the principal bulb 5 the 
others at a later period. 
On the short, tolerably broad, basal axis we 
often find five sheaths, the lowest dried, the 
inmost serving as magazines of nutriment. The 
bulbs of Tulips differ from those of most species 
of Album, and the genus Gagea, in that sheaths 
only spring from the basal axis, and not leaves. 
It agrees with many species of Allium, as, for 
instance, A. Scorodoprasum , in that the outer¬ 
most sheath is soon dried up, but no such 
membranaceous sheath is found in the Garden 
Tulip, as follows the thickened sheaths in the 
above-mentioned species. 
(To be continued.) 
BROMPTON AND QUEEN STOCKS 
I quite concur with “ T. A.,” in the result of his ex¬ 
perience, with respect to one-year-old seeds producing more 
double flowers than new seeds. This “ T. A.” declares to be 
a fact, though he expresses his inability to say, why there is a 
larger number of double flowers in old seeds than in new 
ones. On referring to Yol. Y. of “ Chambers’s Edinburgh 
Journal,” page 368, he will find that the cause of double 
flowers lias been explained in the Retue Horticole, on a rather 
curious and interesting principle. As the information con¬ 
veyed by the article is of importance, and will doubtless be 
considered interesting by “ T. A.,” and many of your readers, 
I extract it at full length from the journal referred to, under 
an expectation that you will think it of sufficient interest to 
warrant its insertion in connection with the present subject. 
The article is as follows : — 
“ It is impossible for any inquiring mind not to attempt 
an explanation of the fact, that many plants which, in a state 
of nature, never present more than a single row of petals, 
begin to assume several rows under continued cultivation. 
The effects of a richer soil, and other genial circumstances, or 
the mere accident of double petals in one plant, transmitted 
with improvement through its progeny, are the common ex¬ 
planations ; and they are generally received as satisfactory, 
without reflecting that what wo call accident is itself a result 
of some cause, and that change of condition must attack some 
-CAUSE OE DOUBLE FLOWERS. 
physiological principle before it can have any effect in modify¬ 
ing the character of a plant. Nothing is now so common as 
double flowers; and ‘ to explain the phenomenon,’ says the 
Revue, ‘ we must make practice agree with theory.’ Every 
gardener who sows seed wishes to obtain plants with double 
flowers, so as to have blossoms which produce the greatest 
effect. Every double flower is a monstrous vegetable. To 
produce this anomaly', we must attack the principle of its 
creation—that is to say, the seed. This being granted, let us 
examine in what way these seeds ought to be treated. If, 
after having gathered the seeds of Ten-weeks’ Stock, for 
example, we sow them immediately, the greater number of 
the seedlings will produce single flowers ; whilst, on the con¬ 
trary, if we preserve these same seeds for three or four years, 
and sow them, we shall find double flowers upon nearly all 
the plants. To explain this phenomenon, we say, that in 
keeping a seed for several years we fatigue and weaken it, so 
that the energy, which would otherwise have been expended in 
producing stamens, produces petals. Then, when wc place 
it in a suitable soil, we change its natural state, and from a 
wild plant make it a cultivated one. What proves our posi¬ 
tion is, that plants in their wild state, shedding their scccds 
annually, and sowing them as soon as they fall to the ground, 
yet in a long succession of time scarcely ever produce plants 
with double flowers. We think, then, after what we have 
