vi RIVERSIDE LETTERS 43 



have mastered the difficulties of its culture at 

 last. My method is to defer planting until 

 very late in the autumn ; I put the tubers 

 into rather a small pot of nearly pure river 

 sand, this pot I place inside another larger 

 one, and plug the space between the pots 

 with dry moss. I place the pots on a shelf 

 in the sunniest part of the greenhouse, and 

 give no water at all until some time after 

 Christmas. Strange to say the green shoots 

 often begin to show before the plants have 

 received a drop of water. I give the water 

 very liberally at first, but in great moderation 

 as the plant shoots into growth. I let it have 

 all the sun that shines, and if the frosts are 

 very severe at any time I take the pots into 

 my studio whilst the extreme cold lasts. This 

 year my treatment has been quite successful, 

 and the plant burst into bloom on the 4th 

 of April, -whilst I was still from home. My 

 wife told me that when she entered the green- 

 house in the morning the sight of the two 

 blooms quite made her start, and well it might, 



