BITS OF EXPERIENCE AND PROPHECY. 



665 



grow and look their best, and these are novel qualities 

 for a novelty. 



Madame Crozy. — For elegance of bloom this canna 

 takes the lead. The flowers are deep vermillion red, 

 bordered with delicate lines of gold, that give the flower 

 a peculiarly rich appearance. If one wandered amid 

 a wilderness of fine cannas all in bloom, Madame Crozy 

 would be singled out with special exclamations of admi- 

 ration. The plant is robust in growth, and proved las' 

 season to be one of the earliest and most constant 

 bloomers among all the cannas on our grounds. These 

 good points have made it popular for conservatory dec- 

 oration and cut-flower growing under glass. 



Alphotise Boiinicr has an intensely brilliant crimson 

 color, and so is darker than the last, without the golden 

 border. It is hard to decide which of these two plants 



nas, this is a remarkable variety. It deserves cultivation 

 among the best sorts on account of its large, oval, soft 

 green leaves, resembling those of the banana, and its 

 showy spikes of large carmine flowers. The plant is of 

 strong and robust habit. 



Wintering Canna Tubers. — After the frosts have 

 browned the foliage, we dig canna tubers, cut away the 

 tops and pack the roots in boxes of dry earth, which are 

 kept in the cellar until spring. In order to bring all 

 the cannas into flower earlier, and thus lengthen their 

 season of attractiveness, the tubers may be started in a 

 hotbed or greenhouse in the spring ; but a very satisfac- 

 tory course is simply to take them from the boxes and 

 plant them in the open ground about the time the Japan 

 quince flowers. 



Poppies with Blotched Petals. — Umbrosum and 



Alphonse Bonnier Canna compared with Gladiolus. 



should have precedence. Madame Crozy has the most 

 beautiful flower, but Alphonse Bonnier is freer flowering 

 and more robust in growth. 



Star- of iSgi was sent out several years ago. It is 

 distinct from the two varieties above named, dwarfer in 

 growth, and does not flower so freely. The blooms are 

 bright scarlet and slightly mottled. It is said to possess 

 considerable merit as a pot plant for spring forcing, to 

 sell when in bloom. 



Geoffrey St. Hillaire. — This variety has been in cul- 

 tivation for several years, and is, perhaps, the best of the 

 dark-leaved, improved cannas. The flowers are a light 

 salmon color and of large size ; the leaves are of a rich, 

 dark maroon with a metallic lustre. 



Ehemanni. — Although not among the newest of can- 



Danebrog, two annual poppies that bloomed for us this 

 year, seem worth noting, because of their blotched petals 

 and irregular form. Umbrosum is deep scarlet, with a 

 large jet-black spot near the base of each petal. Usually 

 the flowers are four-petaled, but there is a tendency to- 

 ward eight petals, and where this number is found, the four 

 inner petals are very narrow and the spots proportionally 

 small. Danebrog is a lighter scarlet than the one de- 

 scribed, and the blotches on its petals are pure white. 

 In this variety the petals incline to be fringed. 



Spring versus Fall Seeding for the Lawn. — Our 

 usual experience in lawn-making has been in the line of 

 spring seeding, but a year ago we had a plat of consider- 

 able size ready to convert into a lawn in September, and 

 concluded to try seeding at that time. We reasoned that 



