AUTUMN NEEDS 57 
Take up in October, or before the ground 
freezes, such bulbs and tubers as would perish if 
left outdoors all winter. These include the dahlia, 
canna, gladiolus, Galtonia candicans and Madeira 
vine. It is a good plan to let them dry for a few 
days under cover. This gives the tops a chance to 
die down before they are cut off, while the clinging 
soil falls away readily. Then place the tubers and 
bulbs in a dry, dark cellar where they will be kept 
from freezing and yet not be warm enough to start 
premature growth. Cannas and dahlias may be 
set on a board, raised a little from the floor, and 
partially covered with the dry earth that has fallen 
away from them. Very choice varieties of these 
plants and all smaller tubers and bulbs would better 
be laid in a wooden box and covered with dry 
sand. The sand treatment may also be used for 
wintering a few of the tender herbaceous peren- 
nials like the red-hot poker plant (Tritoma). 
Very often it is worth while saving some of the 
olants that were bedded out in the spring and have 
made a sturdy growth—these for future display 
purposes. The lemon verbena and lantana, per- 
haps, have developed into big shrubby plants and 
there are geraniums, both “fish” and fragrant, that 
have seen one winter in the house but are now 
grown beyond indoor convenience. Put all of these 
in large pots or wooden boxes, crowding the plants 
fairly close together. Keep them where they can 
dry off, by the gradual withholding of water, but 
where they will not freeze, until November and 
