274 MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



a growth of leafage indoors as It will carry out- 

 doors. Dahlias, cannas, and the like should be 

 marked before the foliage freezes. A strip of zinc, 

 with the name written in pencil, is a good way. 

 After the foliage is killed by the frost, the tubers 

 will ripen if they are left in the ground for a time, 

 but they should not be left in after there is danger 

 of the soil about the stalks freezing. Such bulbs 

 should be lifted on a warm, sunny day, and left to 

 dry out thoroughly before being stored away. If 

 the storehouse is very dry it is well to pack them 

 in dry sand, but I have had the best success by 

 storing them in the vegetable cellar. Placed in a 

 bin, like potatoes, they will keep perfectly where 

 potatoes will keep, and begin to sprout in the spring 

 at about the same time that potatoes begin to 

 sprout. 



" Bulbs that live over winter need care also. If 

 they have been growing for years, undisturbed, they 

 often become matted together in large clumps and, 

 therefore, throw up but few flower stalks. When 

 this is the case they should be lifted in the fall, 

 divided, and reset if possible in a new place. Those 

 newly set, or long set, should be covered with a 

 thick mulch of well-rotted manure to protect from 

 the cold and to furnish fertilizer for the coming 

 spring. Over this may be placed a protection of 

 straw or evergreen boughs, or leaves, if needed. 

 Where snow falls early and remains all winter, 

 it affords a good covering for such bulbs. It is 

 the alternate freezing and thawing that kills, not 

 the steady cold." 



