134 BULBS AND TUBEROUS-ROOTED PLANTS. 
method, graphically portrayed in his own language, as 
follows: ‘‘In March (1884) I bought a dollar packet 
of Gloxinia seeds, the finest strain in the market, and 
containing no more seeds than an ordinary fifty cent 
packet. I sowed them in a shallow seed-pan that was 
well drained and filled with light, sandy, fine soil, and 
kept in a warm greenhouse on a shelf near the glass. In 
two weeks’ time a good many of the seedlings were up, 
and in about three weeks the whole crop appeared; but 
it was about five weeks from sowing time before I ven- 
tured to prick them off. Then I pricked them off singly 
into other shallow seed pans prepared as before, and 
afterwards, as soon as their leaves began to crowd each 
other, transplanted them into boxes, there to remain 
until the end of May. 
** By this time I had much frame room, and I made 
up a hotbed, waited until the heat was on the decline, 
then prepared it by filling in four or five inches deep 
with light, mellow soil, as if I were going to raise a lot of 
Stocks or Asters, and planted out my Gloxinias in it, 
about mine inches apart each way. I have kept them 
covered with sashes shaded with whitewash. They are 
kept close at night, and in the daytime, according to 
the warmness and brightness of the day, the sashes are 
tilted up from two to six inches, but at no time do I 
allow sunshine to get on the plants. Any dampening 
leaf or decaying matter is removed as soon as observed, 
and J never water or syringe the plants overhead ; indeed, 
any watering required is done most carefully by intro- 
ducing the waterpot spout between the plants and under ~ 
the leaves. 
‘‘During their whole life the plants have been kept 
close to the glass, shaded from sunshine, and dry over- 
head. These plants are to-day—the middle of July~ 
exceedingly strong and luxuriant, their leaves crowded 
and overlapping each other, and they are blooming beau- 
