76 GARDEN GUIDE 



GANNAS FROM SEED. Canna seed is as hard as shot. It is 

 difficult to get water through the seed coat so that the seed can start 

 growth. Mr. F. P. Avery describes an experience with starting seed. 

 He says: " March 22d I received some seed. I have access to an 

 emery wheel, and I ground down to the white meat on every seed. 

 That same evening I poured' hot water on them, and kept them in 

 hot water until the evening of March 27th, giving the seeds a five days' 

 bath. I found four seeds showing a white germ the size of a pin-head. 

 I put the lot in a big dish of sand, covering them about an inch. The 

 dish stood in a hot place over a stove, where the seeds luxuriated in 

 bottom heat and had hot sunshine. Fifteen days after I put the 

 seeds to soak there were more than two hundred plants, averaging two 

 inches in height. Some are three inches and some three and one-half 

 inches tall. If these plants keep growing as they have begun they 

 will match any plants started from roots by the time warm weather 

 comes. Heat' and moisture do the business, and March is a good 

 month for starting the seeds, for fire heat is needed." Instead of 

 using an emery wheel, the seeds are frequently nicked with a file. 



DIGGING AND STORING. When the tops are killed by the frost 

 the roots can be dug in the morning, and if the day is sunny they can 

 -be left to dry. They are easily stored in any place where Potatoes 

 keep at all well. They must be kept warm, for if they are cold and 

 damp they decay. They may either be buried in sand or soil, although 

 sand is preferable. It is really unnecessary to wait till the tops die 

 down, for the beds may be wanted to plant with bulbs, in which case 

 let the Cannas grow as long as possible and then dig them. 



THE DAHLIA 



There is little question why the Dahlia has gained in popularity. 

 The newer varieties win our admiration as soon as we see them. Should 

 you insist that the Dahlia is very formal and stiff we should answer 

 that the ones to which you refer are perhaps stiff because they were 

 carefully bred for regularity and symmetry, and you would look upon 

 them as triumphs of the breeder's art if you knew that the modern 

 varieties have been evolved from several wild Mexican species. Near 

 Mexico City, at an altitude of one thousand to two thousand feet 

 above that of the city, we find the wild forms on sides of the deep 

 ravines in partial shade. It is hot in the daytime, but really gets cold 

 at -night. How nicely this explains why our varieties bloom best nearer 

 the cooler days of Autumn. 



It was at the end of the eighteenth century before the Dahlia 

 reached Europe and soon after three varieties were known. Soon 



