CANNA. 

 The Canna is a fine foliage plant, making a good bed alone, but particularly desirable as the 



center of a group of foliage plants, of which it is one of the very best. 



Growing from four to six feet. The leaves are sometimes two feet in 



length, of a beautiful green, some varieties tinted with red. The flowers 



are on spikes, pretty, but not conspicuous. Roots can be taken up in 



the autumn and placed in the cellar. They flourish and are vigorous in the 



dryest and hottest weather. A bed of 



Cannas presents a very beautiful tropical 



appearance that is exceedingly pleasant, 



contrasting delightfully with the ordinary 



foliage of the garden. In the West 



Indies a superior kind of arrowroot is .jgi 



made from the fleshy underground stems ; ^gC^^ 



the tubers of some species are eaten as a 



vegetable. The seeds are large, round 

 and black, which gives its common name, Indian Shot. The Canna and the Ricinus we 

 consider the two best foliage plants known for ordinary use in this country. A good bed of 

 Cannas, and another of Ricinus, will almost make one dream he is luxuriating in the tropics. 



CALADIUM ESCULENTUM. 



The Caladium is one of the handsomest of the ornamental-leaved plants. The leaves are 

 often more than a foot in length, nearly as much in breadth, 

 and of a beautiful green, somewhat variegated or mottled. 

 Roots obtained in the spring will make a good growth in the 

 summer, and in the fall should be taken up and stored in the 

 cellar, like Dahlias. The Caladium delights in heat and 

 moisture, and in localities pretty well North it is well to start 

 the root stalks, or rhizomes, which the fleshy bulb-like root is 

 called, in the house a few weeks before 

 it is time to plant in the garden, as in 

 this way a larger and earlier growth is 

 obtained. The Caladium is a native of 

 very warm countries, such as the Sand- 

 wich Islands and the West Indies, and as 

 the roots abound in starch, they are eaten 

 by the natives, after being deprived of their acrid properties by some process of cookery, or 

 perhaps filtering, in some such manner as the Indians of California remove the tannin and 

 bitter taste from the acorns, which they do by washing and filtering through the sand. 



GALLA. 



This is the well-known Egyptian Lily, or Lily of the Nile. Its large white flowers are indis- 

 pensable in the winter, its foliage is broad and good, and it will pros- 

 per under very adverse circumstances, if water 

 is provided in abundance. It is also an excel- 

 lent plant for aquariums none better, either 

 placed in the center bedded in a little earth and 

 ' sand, which may be covered with stones, or 

 ' planted in a pot which can be placed in the 

 aquarium, and so covered with pieces of rock 

 as to be entirely concealed. In the spring, 

 the plant may be set in the garden, where 

 it can remain until autumn, when it should be repotted for winter flowering. It will not appear 

 to advantage in the garden, nor is it-designed to do so, the object being to place it where it will 

 be no trouble and at the same time gain strength for winter blooming. In California the Calla 

 makes a wonderful growth, and is perfectly hardy, as, of course, it is in the South. 



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