PROPAGATING PERENNIAL FLOWERS. 357 



or SO constituted, that to store them in ordinary temperature in 

 the cellar they will not keep, but there is a variety called the 

 robusta that is a valuable canna. It is a green-leaved variety 

 and will stand a great deal of abuse, and the root can be kept in 

 the temperature of an ordinary cellar very well, but it will not pay 

 any one to attempt to store any other variety. It is better to 

 buy the roots in the spring. I have grown a great many cannas 

 from seed. You can buy the seed from seed men at quite a rea- 

 sonable price, and you want to buy in considerable quantities 

 because some will not germinate. The way to treat this seed 

 is to take it about the first of March and put it into a common 

 fruit can and pour in water as hot as the can will bear and place 

 the can on top of the warming oven for two or three days until 

 the seeds begin to swell to about twice their natural size ; then 

 place them in an ordinary soil, and they will grow. I have grown 

 thousands, I might say tens of thousands of c^nna plants from 

 seeds, and they are just as succesfully grown as those grown 

 from the roots. 



Mr. Husser : It is really an interesting thing to raise cannas 

 from seed, but if you raise some nice cannas, you want to keep 

 them over, as it is only the root that will again produce the same 

 varieties. 



HOME STORAGE FOR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 



F. B. MC LERAN, WRENSHALL. 



I believe more fruit and vegetables are lost every year through 

 improper storage than through any other cause, as how to success- 

 fully store vegetables and fruit at home and upon the farm is a prob- 

 lem that few, as yet, have solved. When we look about us and see 

 the immense storage plants of the packers, the dairymen and the 

 commission men ; when we know they keep eggs, butter, meat and 

 fruits for months, finally disposing of them at great profit — we rea- 

 lize that they have found a solution of the problem. 



This paper will deal, however, only with the winter storage at 

 at the farm. The main requirements are, iirst, uniformity of tem- 

 perature ; second, darkness ; third, a correct amount of moisture. 



These essentials can be best obtained, and mantained, in what is 

 commonly known as the root cellar, a cellar entirely covered with 

 earth. Being entirely covered with earth, the outside temperature 

 does not readily affect the inside temperature, thus avoiding the sud- 

 den changes that are so injurious. The earth covering also furnishes 

 about the correct amount of moisture for our vegetables and apples, 

 just enough to prevent them from withering up, and not damp 

 enough to rot them. Never put a house, barn or building of any 

 kind over your cellar, if you want the best results. 



