EXPERIENCE WITH CANNAS 



G. A. VVOOLSON. 



1 



"^HE advent of Caniia Austria marked 

 an important era in the culture of 

 these semi-tropical plants, which 

 are now considered so essential to every 

 lawn. The foretelling of its glory im- 

 pressed me favorably, hence a fine specimen 

 was duly installed in a prominent bed in my 

 garden. Somewhere I had read that the 

 variety " did best in poor soil." This I did 

 not in the least believe, for I had had long 

 and intimate acquaintance with cannas of 

 many kinds, and had fully demonstrated 

 their ability of appropriating for personal 

 glorification the desirable elements in the 

 richest and strongest soil which the ingenu- 

 ity of man could concoct. Consequently I 

 expected to break all previous records of the 

 new acquisition. 



Cow manure was liberally spread over the 

 bed and the soil forked over and thrown out. 

 Just what the excavation was filled with I 

 positively refuse to tell. However, the re- 

 servoir was to serve as bank account for the 

 plant to draw from later on. The soil was 

 then thrown back and the bed got in shape. 

 All went well for a while. Fine fresh 

 leaves unrolled rapidly, but after a little they 

 blanched strangely, turned brown and with- 

 ered. 



" Drench it with plain straight water," 

 was the advice given, but of no avail. The 

 roots had struck the reservoir, and deluging 

 the soil only choked them with a bigger 

 drink. My " center piece " was facetiously 

 commented on. The roots were lifted m 

 the fall, and as they were sound, but not 

 vigorous, wore ensconced in a lo-inch pot, 

 given indifferent soil and placed in a sunny 

 bay window. Liquid fertilizers were duti- 

 fully passed on to more appreciative cannas, 



nevertheless nothing but leaves resulted; 

 these were good to look at, and Madam 

 Crozy and Gen de Miribel made up all defi- 

 ciency of bloom, showing what a canna 

 should and could do indoors in midwinter. 



Last spring I cut down the stalks and di- 

 vided the root growth into thirds; two of 

 these were repotted in ordinary soil and a 

 moderate allowance of liquid fertilizer given 

 occasionally, but out of door pot culture was 

 no more fruitful than that indoors, in fact 

 the foliage was less luxuriant' owing to the 

 more rapid evaporation of moisture in the 

 open air. The third section was located m 

 the poorest vein of soil my garden could fur- 

 nish; some water was of course given, but 

 assuredly the subject was not " fussed with." 

 As a result thereof there stands in that us- 

 ually barren spot a robust plant stretching 

 its glorious spikes of clear yellow to a height 

 of six feet. Individual flowers measure ful- 

 ly six inches across, and the larger petals are 

 fully two inches wide. Obviously Canna 

 Austria is a law unto itself, a fact demon- 

 strated at the expense of a little personal 

 conceit. 



A dwarf canna (Nellie Bowden) growing 

 close by, looked quite like a small edition of 

 its " lily-flowered " superior. It is the only 

 canna which might properly be called 

 dainty looking, and it is that in leaf and 

 flower, as both are small, trim and slender. 

 The color is a little deeper yellow and lacks 

 the clear transparency of petal; the two 

 smallest petals are stained with red much 

 deeper than the faint dots of Austria. This 

 is also a free bloomer out of doors, but has 

 never done anything indoors. The extreme 

 height thus far attained is 38 inches. — Amcr. 

 Agriculturist. 



