94 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
improvements. The latter is especially noteworthy on ac- 
count of its large leaves and is probably the best all-round 
variety yet grown. 
Color.—Red, yellow, and red and yellow spotted were the 
characteristic colors of the early cannas, the flowers being 
produced in a terminal raceme or panicle. To-day, owing 
to the work of the plant breeder, we have a wide range of 
color, including maroon, crimson, scarlet, yellow, and rich 
orange, and last, though perhaps best of all, the pure white. 
The color of the flower is best appreciated when viewed 
against a background of green, and, in a formal arrange- 
ment, the canna groups should be so placed as to obtain a 
background of shrubbery or trees. An informal planting is 
more difficult, but excellent effects may be secured by scat- 
tering the plants singly or in very small clumps in the 
hardy border or in shrubbery. 
Culture—Cannas require a rich, friable, moist, and warm 
soil. Good corn weather is also good canna weather and 
nothing is gained by planting out cannas too early in the 
season. The beds for cannas should be well prepared. It 
must be remembered that cannas make a tremendous growth 
during the season and therefore require plenty of food and 
a good depth of soil in which the roots may feed. A wheel- 
barrow of good well-rotted stable manure to the square yard 
of soil is not too much for new canna beds, although if the 
same bed is used another year, a smaller amount is sufficient. 
Tt is oeaes to either plant the dormant roots directly 
in the beds outside or to start the plants inside under 
= When planting the dormant roots directly in the 
eds, care must be taken that the eyes or growing points 
are not placed too deep—one inch deep being cient. 
Plants that have been started in pots may be planted slightly 
deeper in the beds. Where mass or hedge effect is desired, 
the plants may be set 12 inches apart, but where the beauty 
of the individual specimen is the ideal, three feet is not too 
much. In general, it may be better to plant not closer than 
18 inches and to give orchid-flowering varieties even more 
room. 
During the summer water must be supplied abundantly 
and a lookout kept for any insects that may attack the leaves. 
Owing to the nature of the canna leaves, spraying materials 
do not stick well, so when caterpillars or other insects at- 
tack the plant they should be picked off by hand and de- 
stroyed. Picking off dead leaves and flowers are matters of 
routine that make any bed of flowers more attractive. In 
the fall the canna plants may be dug up and transplanted 
