Winter Meeting. 237 



'is 



orchard. Now I have a Ben Davis orchard of about 8 or lo acres. 

 There are some A\ inesaps and some Jonathan in it. I haven't had 

 a fair crop of apples in the last four years. Now I wish to know what 

 is the matter. I have thoroughly taken care of my orchard, sown it 

 with clover, and it has been cultivated, and I have had good crops 

 heretofore, but in the last four years I have not had a good merchant- 

 able crop, that I would consider one-fourth or one-fifth of a crop. 



President Murray. — I want to say one word in regard to the un- 

 fruitful orchards in Northwest Missouri. We are going to have to 

 root prune very severely or girdle in order to make them develop 

 more fruit buds. I think our trees here grow too much to wood, and 

 we have got to use a good deal of common sense and observe con- 

 ■ditions. surroundings, and be governed accordingly. 



Thereupon convention took a recess until 8 p. m. 



WEDNESDAY, 8 p. m. 



For the entertainment of the evening, music and recitations were 

 given b}' a number of young people of the city. 



CANNA CULTURE. 



(By R. G. Ran, Superintendent of Parks, St. Joseph, Mo.) 



The growing of Cannas is very simple, but still all little points 

 of detail have to be worked out well, these make all plant cultivation 

 successful, and create the specialist. 



We start about the 15th of February to divide the bulbs, and 

 pot out like other florists 4 or 5 strong, large, sprouts in 5 and 6-inch 

 pots, leaving part of the live roots on. After potting in rich loam, we 

 keep the Cannas in a warm, sunny greenhouse, with a night tempera 

 ture of not less than 60 degrees, and during the day not less than 80 

 degrees. After this the Cannas have to be kept wet at all times. In 

 order to grow strong plants give as much room between same as pos- 

 sible. It is well enough to plant out Cannas in bloom, but the flowers 

 don't last long, and large growth is also not as valuable as low, strong 

 sprouts. After middle of May we plant the Cannas out of doors in 

 rich, well prepared soil, from 18 to 24 inches apart in large beds, in 

 small beds 12 inches. Plant fairh^ deep to have all the bulbs well 

 covered, and then at once saturate the ground, which should be re- 

 peated every week during dry weather. Soon after the planting we 



