1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



99 



Cannas the leaf-stalks of this sort are more fleshy, 

 and the new eyes or side-shoots less prominent, and 

 unless the tubers are kept growing after taking 

 them from open ground before frost touched the 

 leaves, or if leaves have to be cut off after frost 

 killed them, the opening and drying off has to be 

 domr very slowly, and in a warm house, or the 

 roots will invariably rot. The only really safe 

 way I found to be to cut off only a part of leaves 

 and bury the roots under a bench in a light and 

 warm place when vegetation will be kept up all 

 winter, or at least until new shoots show them- 

 selves. 



Then only it will be safe to divide the roots too. 

 Canna Newtonia iridiflora has the same habit and 

 foliage, and requires same treatment. Its sole dif- 

 ference is in the color of its flowers, being of a 

 lighter red. 



I may mention that we have succeeded in 

 raising a beautiful yellow blooming Canna, flowers 

 same size as Canna Ehmanni. 



FLOWER-BEDS. 



BY MR. N. ROBERTSON, GOVERNMENT GROUNDS, 

 OTTAWA. 



The beauty of a design is to have it brought out 

 so that any one can tell what is meant, without 

 being told, as is the case in many instances. To 

 show a distinct pattern with flowering plants, 

 requires a considerable amount of attention and 

 care to be properly done, for which I practice two 

 plans that may be of some advantage to your 

 readers. 



To keep my colors from intermixing I use two 

 plans, one is putting a line of some stiff growing 

 plant between the colors, to harmonize and be 

 trimmed to line and height. Say it is a red, I use 

 Achyranthes, and for a white, Cineraria mari- 

 tima, or some such plants. My patterns are 

 drawn on the bed, and they are planted on the 

 lines. Another method is planting short stakes 

 around my lines, not to show above the plants, 

 and running stove-pipe wire on them, and turning 

 the colors to their respective sides. All this may 

 seem a good deal of trouble, but will well repay 

 by a distinct pattern, for this is the main point in 

 all such work, and I would especially advise all 

 who try such beds with flowering plants, to evade 

 intricate patterns, or acute points,' and not less than 

 bands of two feet wide, for considerable mass of 

 color is required to give effect. 



With plants such as Alternantheras, Thymes, 

 Pyrethrums, &c., and low growing plants, as 



Echeverias, Semperviyums, Sedums, &c., any 

 design almost can be carried out ; the first can be 

 clipped into any form, and the last will not out- 

 grow their position. 



My designs are all planned, drawn to a scale, 

 and colored nearly to that of the plant to be used ; 

 during the winter months, calculating the quantity 

 I may require — and being sure to have plenty to 

 plant close, as our summer seasons are so short that 

 early effect is required. This study of my patterns 

 I consider a very important part ; for let any one 

 go out in the spring without this preparation — and 

 he will surely make many mistakes which this will 

 obviate. 



When my beds are dug and made firm, I have 

 them raked smoothly ; I then put a plank across, 

 raised on blocks at each end ; if the bed should be 

 wider than can be reached in this way, I put two 

 feet into the end of a plank, resting the feet in the 

 bed, and the other end on the grass, or walk; from 

 this I draw my plans, and plant, never treading on 

 my bed after it is raked. For this purpose I use a 

 large wooden compass, rule and line. The com- 

 pass is extremely useful where you want to follow 

 a curved or irregular edge, setting it to the distance 

 you want, keeping one point to the edge, and 

 marking with the other. The planks I use in the 

 same way when doing all my summer trimming of 

 the beds, thus leaving no unsightly marks. 



I mentioned in a late number of your paper 

 that my facilities for keeping over such a large 

 quantity of plants (about twenty-five thousand), is 

 very limited, and had driven me to try various plans, 

 and have them look ornamental as well. The 

 greenhouses are visited by many, especially during 

 the session of parliament, and it would not do to 

 have them otherwise than neat and tidy. My pas- 

 sages being wide enough to admit of a box four 

 inches wide and five deep, attached to the front of 

 my benches, this box runs all round, and is filled 

 with the different varieties of Alternanthera, 

 which when broken up in the spring and put in 

 the hot-bed, gives me a large quantity of it, and 

 gives a fine finish to the benches, as a border. 



As to other plants, such as Echeverias, Semper- 

 vivums, Pachyphytum, Verbenas, &c. In the first 

 two only offsets are saved, and put closely into 

 boxes made of a uniform height and width, painted 

 green, filled with sand ; the last two are made of 

 cuttings, and treated similarly ; the boxes are 

 placed on the front of the benches in another 

 house, and look very ornamental, the back portion 

 of the benches being filled with other plants. 

 These are samples of many things I use in this 



