238 State Horticultural Society. 



cover the ground with 3 inches of any kind of manure, which is to be 

 coveted with lawn chppings, to hide the bad appearance of same. 

 xAlw^ays plant while the ground is dry, and loosen it up again before 

 mulching. The mulch serves better than working the ground. It 

 keeps the sun from burning and baking the beds, and at the same time 

 furnishes feed. A few years ago I was in Chicago, laughed at when 

 I told w^e take off the dead flowers on Cannas. But as soon as the 

 first crop of flowers is over and the seed starts to develop, the flowers 

 become weak and small, or stop blooming, and also make a pour 

 appearance. You wall also find the same with other plants. Taking oO' 

 the dead flowers, watering and' manuring are the chief points for 

 successful Canna culture. If this is followed right, the beds will be 

 in bloom soon after planting time, until fall, when the frost cuts every 

 thing dowm. In fall w^e dig up the bulbs wdth all the soil, which will 

 stay with them, and winter them in a warm place, where they receive 

 a watering about every three weeks, to keep the bulbs from drying up. 

 For our section is it best to plow the mulch on the beds under in fall. 

 Cannas wnll do better in large beds than in small ones, or in narrow 

 borders. Nearly all Cannas, with a few exceptions, grow tall, and 

 about the same size, under a first-class cultivation. 



The selection of varieties has about as much to do with having 

 nice Canna beds as the culture,' and some of the best kinds w^e know of 

 are following ones : About the best one is ^Nlad. Crozy.^the oldest of the 

 large flow^ering Cannas, which I was the first to grow in the 

 city. The color is bright scarlet with gilt edge. Some brighter is 

 Paolo Radelli, w'hich is a _weak grower. Queen Charlotte has a 

 broader gilt edge. Florence A'aughan still holds its owai. It is a good 

 yellow with scarlet spots. Golden Bedder is a dwarf, pure yellow 

 with small flowers. For deep carmin we use Alphonse Bouviers, and 

 discarded Chas. Henderson for its blooming so late. President Mc- 

 Kinley and President Cleveland have a good color, but sunburn some. 

 For bronze leafed ones we grow America, La France, Egendale and 

 Bassets Red. The last one has poor flowers but the best bronze foliage. 

 We discarded all the orchid flowering Cannas but Suavia. which has 

 the largest flowers of all', on account of sunburning. The new hybrids 

 Pennsylvania and Kate Gray are a little improvement on the old orchid 

 flowering ones, but sunburn some also. Other good new ones are 

 Rosemary, a prolific bloomer of a beautiful pink. Striped Beauty, Mot- 

 tled Queen, West Grove, a magnificent scarlet dwarf, Mdm. A. Blaue 

 a good orange, Golden Standard, Betsey Ross of a fine orange. Leopart, 

 and Niagara. • Besides them we tested some more new varieties, of 

 W'hich we will discard more than half after the second year's trial. 



