228 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



layers of dry sand, barley chaff, sawdust, or the 

 shellings of oats from the mill, they will he as fresh 

 on returning to the soil in spring as when taken up 

 in winter. The last named substance, being kiln- 

 dried, has in a high degree the aptitude of being 

 absorbent and antiseptic, not liable, on drawing mois- 

 ture from the tubers, to take on and propagate decay. 

 The boxes with their valuable deposit, if the cook be 

 not stormy, cannot be better placed than in the kit- 

 chen. The garret will do, but not the stable loft 

 for the hay is suffocating nor the damp floor of barn 

 or cellar. 



As some of the finest varieties are not prolific of 

 young tubers, to secure their propagation slender 

 shoots from the stems may be taken off early in the 

 season, when three inches long, and planted in pots 

 as above directed. Well tended in summer, they will 

 produce small tubers capable of yielding the finest 

 flowers next year. This tender offspring may be 

 preserved during winter, either in the pots where 

 they grow not to be watered however dry, nor ex- 

 posed to frost or they may be cleared of mould, and 

 stored like the stronger roots, with a little more dele- 

 cacy in favour of their youth as in a drawer of the 

 study, where they may be occasionally seen. 



Feathergrass On account of its curious appearance 

 and extreme resemblance to plumage, is worthy of a 

 particular notice. Being of slow growth from its hard 

 and spiky seeds, it is often lost or destroyed before 

 coming to maturity. This is the sole reason of in- 

 troducing here a plant which afterwards needs so little 

 care. Sow the seed in a flowerpot, and when the 

 grass has got strong and turfy in the root it may be 



