2 



THE FLORAL IVORLD 



CANNAS FROM SEED. 



Procure a packet of good French 

 canna seed, chip a tiny bit off the germ 

 end of each one and soak for ahout 

 three days in warm water. Then stick 

 each seed down in the soil in a box 

 and place in a sunny window. When 

 the plants are three inches high, pinch 

 out with a good ball of earth at the 

 root and set out if the weather is 

 warm and settled. Set then; in clumps 

 where they can be kept moist, and yoii ' 

 will be well repaid for your trouble. 



How wonderfully the canna has been 

 improved! It is no longer raised for 

 the tropical appearance of its foliage 

 alone, but for the great, gorgeous, lily- 

 like blossoms. It is as easily raised, 

 when once set out, as the zinnia or 

 balsam. The great yellow, or vivid 

 scarlet, or the blotched yellow and 

 red, make a grand bed of color. In the 

 fall tihe roots can be taken up and 

 stored in the cellar. 



Nebraska. "G A. Flory. 



PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN GROWING 

 FERNS. 



I read quite a good bit about grow- 

 ing ferns, most writers claiming they 

 must be grown in the shade, if grown 

 successfully. I must differ with them. 

 Two years ago I received from a florist 

 two small Boston ferns. I planted 

 them in a shallow fern pan, set it in a 

 shady place, and gave it water as need- 

 ed, but they did not grow, and 1 was 

 disappointed. Last spring I took a 

 cracked jardiniere, seven inches 

 across, and ten inches deep. In this I 

 put good garden soil mixed with sand 

 and then planted my poor, sick-looking 

 ferns. After watering them well, I put 

 them in the sitting room until June, 

 when I moved them to the front porch, 

 where they were Dut partially shaded 

 from the sun the entire day. Every 

 night and morning we gave them a 

 good shower bath and they awakened 

 and began growing. In the fall I put 



them in the sitting-room window, 

 where they have the full, benefit of the 

 afternoon sun. My pot of ferns is now 

 a thing of beauty, some fronds measur- 

 ing twenty-seven inches, drooping 

 gracefully over the sides of the table. 

 They alone occupy one window and 

 are admired by all who see them. I 

 give them a shower bath in tepid 

 water twice a week. I have some run- 

 ners turned down and will be able ta 

 start other plants from them in a few 

 months. 



Delaware. Mrs. G. W. Bo\V]vrAN. 

 SOIVIE GOOD COMBINATIONS IN BEDDING. 



On each side of the row of tall-grow- 

 ing sweet peas plant bush sweet peas 

 and border with Cupid sweet peas. 

 Around a cone of moon flowers try 

 planting daturas, sweet nightingale, 

 and encircle these with nicotiana af- 

 finis and border with miothola bicornis 

 or with evening primroses. 



A gladiolus bed is nice carpeted witk 

 myosotis or mignonette and bordered, 

 with sweet alyssum. Phrynium varie- 

 gatum is fine to border the canna beds. 



For a moist, shady corner nothing 

 equals wild ferns transplanted from 

 the woods when new growth first 

 starts in April. Use soil from where- 

 they grow wild, and border the bed 

 with wild violets. This bed will im- 

 prove year after year. 



To cover a blank wall on the south 

 nothing equals cyclanthera explodens. 

 a very desirable annual climber, which, 

 when planted in very rich soil, will 

 grow twenty-five feet in one season. 

 Dwarf nasturtiums planted at the foot 

 of these vines will prove a lovely- 

 combination. A clump of purple helio- 

 trope bordered with a dense row of 

 sweet alyssum is fine. For tropic ef- 

 fect try a clump of richinus zanzibar- 

 ensis surrounded with tall-growing 

 cannas; encircle these with dwarf can- 

 nas and border the whole with phry- 

 nium variegatum. 



Ohio. Annice B. Calland. 



