lUSCUSSION. i)i 



been covered in the paijers you have heard. I do not know of anything 

 Mr. Atlvinson has omitted. If there is anything omitted we will be 

 glad to hear from you. 



Mr. Williams: There is one thing in regard to bulbs, liitu iliey luaj 

 be wintered as easily as potatoes. I want to talve exception to that, 

 in the case of the canna particularly. I have had trouble wintering 

 them and I know most people do who- attempt to keep them in that 

 manner. 



Mr. Atkinson: Suppose I had said sweet potatoes, is there any ex- 

 ception to that? 



Mr. Williams: I guess that would be all right. 



Chairman: The trouble with most individuals or private growers is 

 that they shake too much of the soil off the roots. If they would leave 

 all the soil on them and let them become dry with that soil on them 

 and put them in a place near the furnace they will keep, but don't 

 put them in a damp place. They can not have too much soil on them. 



Mr. Simanton: I have not had much to do with keeping them, but 

 I have collected something in the last couple of years and we have 

 been trying a little different plan. After the frost we cut the tops 

 off but don't dig them up until the ground begins to freeze, leaving 

 them in the ground to ripen. I find that they keep much better that 

 way than when we dig them right out of the ground. That explains 

 to my satisfaction why they are keeping better. 



Chairman: I do not know what the causes of failure in keeping cannas 

 are. We have never been troubled at all in keeping the bulbs. They seem 

 to be one of the plants that take the least attention of anything we grow, 

 but I should think in a wet season leaving the bulb after the tops were 

 cut would have a tendency to make them keep better. 



Mr. Williams: I believe that canna roots are very much like sweet 

 potatoes, you have to be careful that they do not sweat. They should 

 be spread out on a shed floor and allowed to dry thoroughly. If you 

 have wet dirt around them they will sweat. 



Mr. Dole: We cut our cannas off as soon as the frost hits them, let 

 them stand until we think it is going to freeze hard, when we dig them 

 up and put them under a raised bench in the carnation house where 

 we have wintered our cannas for a good many years. We always w'inter 

 them that way, and our steam pipes are just above them, some of the 

 tops will just touch the steam pipes, and we have never had any trouble 

 with them excepting once or twice with some varieties. The more ten- 

 der ones, I think, are hard to keep, anyway. The hardier varieties are 

 easier to keep, anyway. 



Mr. Green: I believe the keeping quality is due to the condition of 

 the plants, in the fall. If we have had a wet fall the inside of the 

 plant has a soft growth, especially the hearts or centers of the bulbs 

 or tubers. If we have a wet fall just previous to the time we dig 

 them up, before and just after a frost, they do not seem to be ripened 



