47 



outwards ; so that they can be got into the pot without 

 any soil, it is sufficient. 



But many more roots can be placed in a small 

 place without pots, on a tan-pit, or on the front plat- 

 form of a house, by placing there mould four inches 

 thick, on which putting the roots, and filling all the 

 interstices between the tubers with rich soil. 



The crown where the tuber joins the stem should 

 be above the surface of the soil, which should be 

 three-fourths loam and one-fourth sand, and there 

 being first a piece of thin crock, just large enough to 

 cover the hole in the pot, placed over it. The tuber 

 should be carefully potted, and the soil shook or 

 poked between all the lobes of the tuber, that it 

 may be solidly planted ; otherwise, if there be any 

 part hollow under the tuber, and between the lobes, 

 it will soon be a harbour for vermin. It is also ne- 

 cessary to cut away from the tubers every part that 

 is decayed, and any appearance of rot, as, unless cut 

 away before potting, it will spread, and perhaps de- 

 stroy the whole, before the shoots are long enough 

 to take off. The pots should be placed in a hotbed, 

 or in the stove, or, in the absence of these, in the 

 warmest part of a greenhouse ; but if there be neither 

 stove nor hotbed, it is far better to adopt the mode 

 of parting the roots already treated ; nevertheless, 

 we have propagated in a kitchen, or other warm 

 room, and in a greenhouse. 



