ON LILIES 



In point of fact I found it exceedingly difficult, 

 especially when attempting to cross the ordinary 

 canna with the Florida species already mentioned. 

 I worked for eight years with that purpose in view 

 before succeeding. And even then the seedlings 

 were greatly lacking in fecundity, producing very 

 little seed, notwithstanding the fact that cannas in 

 general usually produce abundantly in California. 



The infecundity of the canna hybrids suggests 

 that the species in question are almost at the limits 

 of affinity. But the seeds produced, although few 

 in number, were some of them fertile, and the 

 hybrid progeny showed possibilities of develop- 

 ment, as already suggested. The later generations, 

 however, are almost or quite sterile, refusing to 

 seed. 



The chief difficulty in growing seedlings of the 

 canna is to insure the germination of the seed. The 

 familiar name "Indian-shot plant" by which the 

 canna was first known suggests the character of its 

 seeds, which in point of fact are not unlike small 

 bullets in appearance and in hardness of texture. 

 The old plan of germinating the seeds used to be 

 to file off part of the thick shell, in order that the 

 seed might absorb moisture. 



This works very well, but can hardly be applied 

 on a large scale. 



My own method has been to disinfect the canna 



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