STORING SUMMER FLOWERING BULBS. 



477 



water should be given them until the foliage 

 has completely died down, when the leaves 

 and stems should be cut off and the pots laid 

 on their sides in a warm moist situation, 

 where the atmosphere is damp, A warm 

 corner under the greenhouse bench will suit 

 them. Place the pots so that no water can 

 drip on them from the plants on the bench 

 above, and no water should be given them, 

 as the most atmosphere will supply all they 

 need in this respect. A very dry position 

 does not suit fancy caladium bulbs when 

 dormant, as they often suffer from dry rot 

 if kept in a very "hot dry place. 



Bulbs of the caladium esculentum, or as 

 it is commonly called the " elephant ear '' 

 plant, that succeeds so well in the open gar- 

 den in summer time in light moist soils, is 

 not so particular as to its winter quarters as 

 its more fancy relative I have just men- 

 tioned. The bulbs of this variety should be 

 dried fairly well when they are taken from 

 the ground and then packed in dry sand in a 

 box and the box placed in a fairly dry warm 

 room or cellar where the temperature -s 

 never below 45 degrees, and not above 70 or 

 75 degrees during winter. No water should 

 be given them until they are started into 

 growth in pots in April or early in May. 



Cannas. — These most useful decorative 

 plants are natives of tropical climates, i.o 

 that even in winter the roots of these must 

 not be exposed to a low temperature. Very 

 few cellars except those that are artificially 

 heated by a furnace are suitable for storing 

 canna roots in. A temperature of 50 to 6.0 

 degrees suits them very well during winter. 

 By leaving a fair amount of earth around 

 the clump of roots when they are taken from 

 th'e ground and allowing the soil to .dry 

 somewhat before storing them, canna roots 

 can be kept successfully in almost any dwell- 

 ing house, provided they are kept in a warm 

 temperature as before mentioned and not al- 

 lowed to become either too dry or too wet 

 during winter. If the room or cellar they 



are stored in is very hot and dry the roots 

 should be covered with dry earth or sand en- 

 tirely, but if the position is only fairly moist 

 the soil adhering to the roots will be suffi- 

 cient to keep the fleshy tubers or roots from 

 drying out too severely. Nothing approach- 

 ing a freezing temperature agrees with can- 

 nas even when dormant, so that care should 

 be taken to keep them at least in a tempera- 

 ture above 45 degrees. I have known very 

 heavy losses to occur in the storing of carnia 

 roots during w^inter from their having been 

 kept in a continuously low temperature dur- 

 ing winter, although the temperature had 

 never reached actually to freezing point. 

 The fleshy rhizome like roots looked quite 

 fresh when taken out to start them in spring, 

 but the growth germs of the tubers had lost 

 their vitality, a very large percentage not 

 growing at all, and many of those that did, 

 made only weakly sickly growth until well 

 on in the summer. 



Dahlias. — There is nothing better for 

 storing dahlia roots in during winter than 

 sand or sandy soil. Dahlia roots can be 

 kept in a lower temperature than cannas. A 

 fairly moist cellar (not wet) and a tempera- 

 ture of about 40 to 45 degrees will suit dah- 

 lia roots very well. Care must be taken not 

 to put dahlia roots too near the furnace, as 

 an excessively dry moisture will often prove 

 fatal to them. The plan of drying the roots 

 and stringing them up to the joists in the 

 cellar as is often — in fact frequently — prac- 

 tised in England is not as a rule a success 

 here, where the atmosphere is drier and 

 where more artificial heat is used than in the 

 old land in heating dwelling houses. In 

 very damp cellars or basements, however, 

 dahlia roots might possibly winter through 

 by being hung to the joists or rafters, but 

 dry earth or sand is about as good material 

 to keep them in as can be found. An occa- 

 sional dip of low temperature, short of ac- 

 tual freezing, will not hurt dahlia roots, but 

 a temperature of about 40 degrees suits them 



