FOR AMATEUR CULTURE 



should be put uppermost. Spread them out 

 on damp moss, or on pieces of old carpet, and 

 keep them moist and warm until sprouts ap- 

 pear. Then put them into pots, just covering 

 the tuber with soil. It is well, at this time, to 

 set a stick by each tuber to tie the stalk to, as 

 it shoots up. Being very soft and brittle, it is 

 easily broken if not given good support. 



Water moderately. 



A window with an eastern exposure suits 

 this plant much better than a sunnier one. 



When the blooming-season is over — which 

 will be in October, as a general thing — the 

 leaves will ripen and fall off. Allow the soil 

 to become quite dry. When the stalks have 

 fallen from the tubers, set the plants away, in 

 their pots, without disturbing them in any way. 

 Keep them through the winter without water, or, 

 if any is given, let it be in such small quantities 

 that the soil is only very slightly moist — ^just 

 enough so to prevent the withering of the tubers. 



In spring, shake the roots out of the old soil, 

 and sprout them as already advised, after 

 which pot them in fresh soil, as at first. Tu- 

 bers so treated will remain strong and healthy 

 for years, increasing in size with age, and giv- 

 ing more and more flowers each year. 



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