26 BULLETIN 962, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The fertilizer used will be that which is most available. As indi- 
cated above, the experimental culture described in these pages has 
been on poor soil fertilized with stable manure, and the ground has 
been covered with crops to turn under whenever the time during 
which it was not occupied would permit. Manures should be well 
incorporated and applied sufficiently in advance of planting to avoid 
the detrimental effects of raw fertilizers. Experience indicates that 
rots in the base of the bulbs are rather easily induced by carelessness 
in the use of manures. 7 
STORAGE OF BULBS. 
Bulbs of the Easter lily should be exposed to atmospheric in- 
fluences as short a time as possible. Imported stocks are packed in 
pulverized dry earth as soon as possible after they are dug. In this 
pack the evil effect of a bulb mass is avoided, the bulbs are kept dry, 
and excessive desiccation is prevented. 
Cold-storage handling has been developed to a high degree of per- 
fection. The bulbs are held 2 degrees above the freezing point for 
a year, and in some cases for two years, and still they give results. 
They usually go into storage in the original pack. 
The handling of home-grown stocks is, of course, a matter for 
experiment. There is much to Jearn about it. The temperature 
must be kept down, the atmosphere kept dry, and the ventilation 
controlled, so as to prevent the bulbs from wilting too much. These 
requirements are not difficult to fulfill in September or October in 
a reasonably well-arranged building which is dry. The light on the 
bulbs should also be subdued or they will turn green in a short time. 
It is particularly important that the atmosphere of the storage house 
be dry, because root action starts very quickly in a moist atmosphere 
and blue mold is likely to cause trouble. If the bulbs must be kept . 
out of the ground longer than a month, or six weeks at most, they are 
better packed in pulverized dry earth, as are imported stocks. |. 
Stocks of bulbs of the Easter lily have been carried by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture on a basis not altogether ideal. The bulbs were 
out of the ground in 1920 from September 20 to November 1 and were 
somewhat wilted when planted, but not injuriously so. After digging 
they were worked over on the benches in a greenhouse, a very bad 
place. They were then stored in a poorly ventilated half basement 
which was only moderately dry. 
It is not a difficult matter to hold the bulbs over winter in the 
climate of Washington, D. C. They have been carried over for 
spring planting in almost perfect condition when packed like im- 
ported bulbs in dry sand in boxes and buried in dry earth under a 
porch of a dwelling. The box was put down in the ground 1 foot 
PAD git: npc 
