168 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICUT.TURAL SOCIETY. 



be paid to mulching. I would not recommend any varieties for planting 

 without they had good, intelligent care. 



Question: I would like to ask if it is possible by systematic mulching 

 and care to put in narcissus so they can be used Decoratioti Day. What 

 do you know about handling them? 



Mr. Green: It would be entirely guess-work with me. I always 

 dislike to recommend anything I do not know about. My customers 

 are practically my personal friends also, atid if I tell them anything 

 else, they come back at me and say, "Here, Green, you lied to me about 

 so and so," so I have to be very careful about recommending anything 

 unless I know I am right. 



Question: I would like, if you can, to tell us how we can get cannas 

 through the winter? 



Mr. Green: Put them in the cellar. Leave them out in the fall 

 until they are killed down by the frost — not until they are clear frozen, 

 but after the tops are well frozen off, cut them off about a foot, about 

 like you would corn. We always take them up by putting a spade under 

 them, leaving a ball of earth, as much as will cling to them, attached; 

 we let them lie out for two days; if the weather is damp, we leave 

 them until they are dried out, then we put them iti earth and put them 

 in the cellar, where the temperature is about forty, or in the greenhouse; 

 for the average planter the cellar will do and will keep perfectly. 



Question: I have tried it and they don't do. 



Mr. Green. Let the earth dry right on them until you go to shake 

 them out in the spring. If your cellar is too dry, sprinkle them occa- 

 sionally. The ordinary cellar is all right if not too dry. Furnace heat 

 in a cellar is dryer than the ordinary cellar without heat and they will 

 need watering. 



Question: Would a cellar having a cement bottom be too dry? 



Mr. Green: I do not think so. Right upon the floor would be a 

 good place for them. If the furnace causes a dry condition of the air, 

 you will have to water. 



Question: What time toward spring would you advise taking the 

 cannas up and putting them out. How soon should we get them out? 



Mr. Green: Speaking from the standpoint of the florist? 



Question: For the general planter. 



Mr. Green: I would say, if you have got a place to start them. I 

 would put them in in March. We start them in February; we have to 

 havi* good big plants to make a showing when they are put out, but for 

 the average planter I would say in March. Take them up and break 

 them up into one or two healthy eyes and put them in sand, or put 

 them in half sand and half soil, then you can leave them there until 

 all danger of frost is over, then put them in the bed. 



Question: Can you start them exclusively in a dark cellar or in a 

 dark place? 



Mr. Green: No, I would not recommend storing them in the dark; 



