antage.
Bulblets may easily be kept too dry, and herein lies the principal
danger. They should not be stored where artificial heat can reach them
nor where they are exposed to drafts of air. The effect of drying, as
previously explained, is to harden the coverings, and render it
difficult for the sprouts to make their way out. It is best never to let
them get dry from the time they are taken up till they are planted.
There is but little risk of keeping them too damp, and yet this is
possible, as, for instance, when the receptacles in which they are
stored are allowed to stand on a wet cellar bottom. In such a case a
large part of them will grow before they can be planted, and so be lost.
On account of the necessary dampness to which they are exposed through
the winter, they should be planted early, four or five weeks before
corn planting time, if weather and condition of soil permit. The
bulblets of some varieties sprout early and at a low temperature, and an
active effort should be made to get them into the ground before this
comes to pass. The soil may be too cold to start the majority into
growth, but the shells will still be softening and getting ready to grow
as soon as there is sufficient warmth.

The growing of bulbs from bulblets is such an important part of the
business that it seems best to describe the process in detail, even at
the risk of some repetition. The ground used for this purpose should be
level, or as nearly so as possible, to guard against washing, and the
soil should be made very fine. The rows should be made straight, of
uniform depth, about two inches, and rather broad, so as to give a good
width of bottom surface. If horse labor is to be employed in the
cultivating, the rows will need to be from thirty to thirty-six inches
apart; if a wheel hoe is to be used, eighteen inches will be ample, and
when land is precious the space may be diminished to fifteen inches, or
even twelve, though the latter is too narrow for convenience. The
bulblets should be screened through sieves of different meshes, so as to
have each size by itself, in order that the growth may be uniform.

Sow them very thick in the row, from one hundred to three hundred to the
foot, and have the bulbs average half an inch in diameter. They seem to
do best when very thick in the row, perhaps because there is such a mass
of stem that they can lift up the covering of earth and come through
with ease. Whenever I have sown them thin, w