296 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. August 10, 1858. 
1 of the canal is imprisoned in an organically closed space, but 
[ a free communication is left above with the outer air. The 
bud is constructed like that in the axil of the first leaf, and 
behind it the axil is somewhat swollen, and forms a little oval 
; cushion (Fig. 3, 5), on or in front of which the bud rests. 
This cushion answers to the swelling of the axis between the 
first and second leaf. 
In the axil of the third leaf there is occasionally, though 
rarely, a third bud, formed exactly as the second, on a still 
smaller cushion, and in a much shorter canal: far more fre¬ 
quently there is in the axil of this third leaf (in which case 
there is no canal) the lowest and first expanding flower, which 
is borne bv a short but rather strong peduncle. The same is 
the case wfth the fourth, fifth, and sixth leaves. More than 
four blossoms are rarely present, and frequently only one. 
Each blossom stands in the axil of a leaf. The internodes 
between the leaves in whose axils the blossoms are seated are 
very short. The leaves below the uppermost flower are often 
contracted into short scales. The axis is stunted above the 
highest blossom, and is here frequently covered with small 
leaves and little blossoms (Fig. 1, p). Barren plants agree in 
essentials with those which flower, except that about two 
leaves only are in general present, and that the axis ceases 
above the second. After the parts which appeared above the 
ground in autumn have withered, no remarkable change takes 
place in those vegetative organs with which we are concerned. 
In spring the parts of the axis and leaves are gradually ex¬ 
tended. 
Towards the end of May, when the fruit appears above 
ground, the leaves having already come forth in the beginning 
of April, the corni of the previous year is quite wrinkled, 
though still rather tough. In the young sterile plant the 
second tall sheath (i) is already withered above, and only a 
small portion remains below, above the lowest leaf, in the 
form of a thin brown skin;—the outer and shorter (h), as 
well as the sheath (f), which at first enclosed the roots, had 
already decayed just after flowering. This sheath has, how¬ 
ever, no part in the formation of the brown coats. The lowest 
leaf (k) covers with its sheath, which is greatly elongated 
(from four to ten inches), all the inner parts. The lowest 
developed internode (Fig. 1, n) is much elongated and 
thickened, and has assumed the size which is attained in large, 
full-grown corms in autumn. The portion of this internode 
(Fig. 1, g), between the point of insertion of the first leaf 
and the little bud, is also somewhat elongated, and, since de¬ 
scending obliquely it pushes forward beneath the bud, it 
! forms the part which is called by some authors the lateral 
appendage. The upper margin protrudes as a strong raised 
border, since the internode is not remarkably thickened above 
; the point of insertion of the second leaf. The border rises 
| obliquely in front, towards the medial nerve of the first leaf, 
and forms there, above the young bud, a blunt projecting 
point. The young bud (o) is at present dormant. 
The internode between the second and third leaf is often 
elongated to the extent of from two to three inches, as also 
the canal beneath the medial nerve of the second leaf. The 
bud at the base of the canal is unaltered, but the cushion 
behind it is thickened, though not so much as the lower in- 
I ternode, and forms a little rather obscure lateral appendage. 
The bud which is sometimes found in the axil of the third 
leaf is generally abortive. The other internodes between the 
leaves in whose axils the fruit is seated remain very short. 
When the fruit is ripe the following parts die off;—the 
whole axis with its leaves down to the internode between the 
first and second leaf which forms the corm ; of the internodes 
between the second and third leaves, there remains only the 
part behind the bud which formed the cushion, which gives 
rise to an appendage, one line broad and three lines long, in a 
hollow on the swollen margin of the new corm. The roots 
also die ofF; the long tall sheath of the lowest leaf, whose 
lamina is soon withered, changes into a brown, rather thick 
and coriaceous membrane, which involves the whole plant. 
The cuticle on the inner side of this sheath adheres generally 
so firmly to the new corm, that when the sheath is removed, 
it remains attached to the corm in the form of a thick brown 
membrane. 
The new corm attains its full size in the course of the 
summer, and compresses that of the former autumn, whose 
contents are completely exhausted, and whose cuticle changes 
into a very delicate membrane, which easily shells off, but 
which resists a long time complete decomposition, as is also 
the case with the brown sheath attached to it. The bud in 
the axil of the lower leaf, after being so long dormant, in¬ 
creases rather rapidly. The roots arising from the base of 
the axis at first enclosed in a thin membrane, whose point of 
insertion is only separated by a very narrow line from that of 
the first sheath (h), break forth, rupturing the membrane 
which is still present when the plant Sowers, as well as the 
base of the sheath of the lowest leaf of the last year’s plant, 
and the top of the second longer sheath (i) projects from the 
outermost sheath, which has hitherto enclosed the whole bud, 
from which at a later period the blossoms also protrude. 
The bud in the axil of the second leaf is frequently abortive, | 
or developed only at a much later period. Frequently, how¬ 
ever, it is developed at the same time with that in the axil of , 
the lower leaf, without, however, producing flowers. After 
the destruction of the corm on whose margin it is seated, it 
loses all organic connection with the plant which was de¬ 
veloped at the base of the corm from the bud in the axil of j 
the lowest leaf, and becomes perfectly free. The time of each 
phenomenon cannot be exactly marked, as it is subject to 
great variation. 
When we examine, then, the plant in autumn, we have parts 
belonging to at least three different years; first, the flowering 
plant; then the fleshy corm which produced the flowers in 
the previous year, the dry brown envelope and a bunch of 
dead roots; and, lastly, the bud which is to produce the 
blossoms the next year. Very frequently, however, the re¬ 
mains of earlier corms and their investing coats are present. 
Three such coats may sometimes be counted, investing one 
another; the older being outermost, and the youngest im¬ 
mediately enclosing the new corm. 
Since the number of leaves which precede the formation of 
the primary bud is always the same, the bud being constantly 
in the axil of the third leafy appendage (or first leaf), and the 
position of these appendages is constant, it follows that the j 
addition of each new annual period in one and the same plant 
has always the same direction. It is clear, then, that the ad¬ 
dition of new parts in the plants which spring from the bud 
in the axil of the second leaf must be in a different direction 
from that of the primary bud. It appears, however, that no 
remarkable change of place is combined with this arrange¬ 
ment ; from the fact that the brown coats envelop the pro¬ 
duce of several years, having a narrow passage only, through 
which the blossoms of one cycle, w r bicli is often three or four 
years later than that to which the outer coat belongs, protrude 
without any marked direction from a straight line. 
The circumstance that I have uniformly spoken of a corm 
and not of a bulb requires no explanation, since it is a portion 
of the axis, and no part of the leaves which assumes the 
office of storing up the nutriment for the new plant. 
In conclusion, 1 must draw attention to a deviation from 
the usual position of the leaves which I do not quite under¬ 
stand. The second sheath in the young plant stands with its 
back to the corm or axis of the last year’s plant. What then 
is the position of the first or shorter sheath with respect to 
this second sheath? It seems, judging from their earliest 
condition, as if it also stood with its back to the axis of the 
last year’s plant. In this case the second sheath must stand 
belore the first, and not alternating with it; if, liowevei, we 
assume that the first stands on the side of the young plant, 
which is turned away from last year’s axis, it maintains its 
position before the leaf from whose axil the young plant 
springs. Both cases must be considered as abnormal, but 
the latter more so than the first. 
(To be continued .) 
A oeaoixy of the Pike.- —A friend of mine, who resides 
by the river Weaver, near this town, was walking on its banks 
one day a short time back, and espied a fine pike, weighing, 
according to his estimation,from 5lbs. to Gibs., dead, having 
in its throat a large vole, or water-rat, also dead. It appeared 
that the pike had seized the vole as prey, but was unable, i 
probably owing to the violent struggles of the animal, to 
swallow it, and the death of both vole and pike ensued in 
consequence.—T. Bukgess, Nantwich. 
