8 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Sbptembbb 22, 1910. 



mit the possibility of overproduction, 

 one conservative manufacturer aptly 

 says that "the problem of the auto- 

 mobile manufacturer in the next few 

 years will not be to turn out cars but 

 to sell them." 



THE CANNA OF TODAY, 



It was the third Saturday afternoon 

 in September, one of those bright, warm 

 days when light and atmosphere favor 

 flowers, bringing out their colors most 

 vividly after the 'cool night. The Ches- 

 ter valley, always beautiful, was espe- 

 cially lovely that afternoon. A fair 

 division of warmth and moisture had 

 aided the fertile soil in bringing the 

 crop^,/^o perfection. On a hillside about 

 a mile' outside the town of West Grove 

 there wa^ a gorgeous sight. A field of 

 eannas, rich in coloring, was in full 

 bloom. Beyond, another field with the 

 colors massed and strikingly contrasted, 

 each bringing out the other strongly; 

 away off in the distance still another 

 field, the bright hues of the flowers 

 blending softly with the green beyond. 

 It is doubtful whether there is such an- 

 other sight anywhere else in the world. 



Antoine Wintzer, the dean of canna 

 hybridizers in America, was waiting; it 

 needed but a moment to get the book 

 of pedigrees, and the outside world 

 was forgotten. A dozen pages of field 

 notes fails entirely to give an adequate 

 idea of the beauty of those canna fields. 

 The notes are cold; they merely speak 

 o^ names, of crosses, of types and not 

 of wondrous size, of vivid color of tints 

 and shades and harmony. With full 

 knowledge of my inability to convey 

 more than a faint impression of the 

 canna of today these lines are written. 



Antoine Wintzer has 3,000 canna seed- 



ing been carried on that the number of 

 varieties retained as worthy of further 

 trial, retained after a most rigid exam- 

 ination, is large. The aim for the last 

 few years has been chiefly directed to; 

 ward the whites and pinks. A pure 

 white canna, first-class in every respect, 

 has been Mr. Wintzer 's goal. Alsace 

 was the first important step forward. 

 Then came Mont Blanc, with its pure 

 white flowers of finer texture and larger 

 truss. Now Mr. Wintzer has a half 

 dozen or more seedlings from Mont 

 Blanc or from Blanche Wintzer that 

 promise an improvement on their par- 

 ents. A white canna with large, full 

 flowers that are not buried in the fo- 

 liage, strong habit and early flowering 

 is Mr. Wintzer 's object. > 



Mrs. Alfred F. Conard, the beauti- 

 ful pink canna introduced this year, is 

 a distinct improvement on anything Mr. 

 Wintzer has done so far. His aim for 

 years has been to produce a pink canna 

 of the shade of the La France rose, 

 and in Mrs. Conard this has been ac- 

 complished. There are a number of 

 pinks in the field of seedlings that bid 

 fair to equal and possibly surpass the 

 standard bearer. Another year will 

 show. Another pink variety, a seed- 

 ling of two years ago, was of such un- 

 usual merit that only a touch of lav- 

 ender in the pink prevented its selec- 

 tion in place of Mrs. Conard. 



The dwarf canna is receiving especiai 

 attention. There are a half dozen seed- 

 lings or more that are not over twelve 

 or fifteen inches high; perfectly 

 healthy, vigorous, foliage well devel- 

 oped, flowers large and showy. This 

 type Mr. Wintzer is trying to develop, 

 believing that it has a great future 

 for flowering in pots and for borders, 

 or even for solid beds. The seedlings 



Delivery Outfits of John V. Laver, Erie» Pa. 



lings on trial this season. Of these 

 fully 300 have been marked for further 

 trial. His efforts in securing promising 

 varieties are more than usually success- 

 ful; the experience of seventeen years, 

 aided by a favorable season, has pro- 

 duced splendid results. A flower that 

 would have been considered an improve- 

 ment ten years ago was scarcely no- 

 ticed now; size, substance, color, form, 

 foliage, each and all must be better 

 than in some existing variety or the 

 claimant is discarded. With such won- 

 derful skill has Mr. Wintzer 's hybi:idiz- | 



of the dwarf type were some bronze, 

 some green in foliage; one, a pink 

 flower, had an immense truss suggest- 

 ing great possibilities. 



Another interesting feature in the 

 canna trials is the importation of seed 

 from the wild canna from Costa Eica 

 in Central America. These eannas are 

 mostly green-leaved (a few are bronze), 

 with tiny red or yellow flowers. Their 

 foliage was lancelike, in marked con- 

 trast to the broad, drooping foliage of 

 our highly cultivated varieties. Mr. 

 Wintzer 's idea in experimenting with 



the wild eannas is that the introduc- 

 tion of new blood may produce greater 

 improvements, certainly greater varia- 

 tions. ■ 



The improvement of late has been 

 almost entirely conflned to the gladio- 

 lus-flowered type. The sterility of the 

 orchid-flowering class is a bar to their 

 development. Of the 3,000 seedlings 

 this year, only one is orchid-flowered. 

 Had the results been proportionate to 

 the endeavor, there would have been 

 at least 500 of these orchid-flowering 

 sorts. It is a question whether the 

 world of flowers is a loser thereby, the 

 gladiolus-flowered varieties being so 

 much more desirable in every way than 

 the orchid-flowering class, though per- 

 haps this may be a question ofi(,taste. 

 When it ia, fjonsidered that the stand- 

 ard of the gladiolus-flowered type to- 

 day is a canna that will bear three 

 or four flowers erect on long, stiff 

 stems, each truss to be compact, with 

 flower two inches in diameter, color 

 clear and bright (anything that fades 

 or is washy will not pass), foliage 

 broad, luxuriant, it is pretty hard to 

 get an orchid-flowering variety, with 

 its tall, rather lanky growth, that will 

 compare favorably for nine out of 

 ten positions for which eannas are re- 

 quired. 



A list of Mr. Wintaer's productions 

 includes many of the best varieties in 

 all the large collections. Besides the 

 whites and pinks, he has produced some 

 peerless reds. His efforts this season 

 will be to produce a yellow that will 

 distance his standard bearer, Buttercup. 

 The thought that time is the greatest 

 bar to complete success is met by the 

 plan of indoor cultivation in order to 

 secure seed of certain choice breeds each 

 six months rather than each year, with 

 the belief that vigor would not thereby 

 be impaired. 



A farewell glance over the long rows 

 of standard varieties, showing their 

 vigor of growth and brilliancy of color 

 unimpaired, showing, too, clearly, the 

 improvement of each five years, some- 

 times of each year, was a sight that 

 will not fade in memory. Phil. 



FBEESIAS FOB THE MABEET. 



Please give us some information on 

 the growing of freesias for the market, 

 stating how long to grow them from 

 the bulb, how to handle them, the need- 

 ed temperature and the best variety to 

 force. R. A. W. 



The earliest lot of freesias may be had 

 in bloom for Christmas if placed in pans 

 or flats as soon as the bulbs arrive, 

 usually the first week in August. By 

 securing and planting bulbs now, you 

 can have them in flower by the end 

 of January or you can easily hold them 

 back a month later in a cold house. 

 Flats should contain four inches of soil, 

 and one 24x12x4 will hold sixty to sev- 

 enty-five bulbs, according to their size. 

 They grow finely in pots and pans. An 

 8-inch pan will hold twelve to fifteen 

 bulbs and a 10-inch one twenty bulbs. 



A suitable compost is one-half fibrous 

 loam, one-fourth well rotted and pulver- 

 ized cow manure and one-fourth leaf- 

 mold, not too much decayed, adding a 

 good dash of sharp sand and a little 

 soot. After putting in the soil, water 

 well, place in a coldframe and cover 

 with board shutters until growths ap- 

 pear; then gradually give full light. 

 The bulbs will start in about two weeks. 



