File:The American garden (1891) (17528463413).jpg

Title: The American garden
Identifier: americangarden121891broo (find matches)
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors:
Subjects: Horticulture; Gardening
Publisher: Brooklyn, N. Y. : (s. n. )
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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396 THE CANNA. and make in the shape of a V harrow. Let the teeth set about 45 degrees forward, and let the two cross pieces come in about twelve inches from the end of the rake ; saddle them on and let one of the teeth go through where they are saddled on, take the wheel off of your wheelbarrow and place itin front, letting the axle through both beams just the same as the wheelbarrow beams were. Now place a piece behind the wheel to hold the beams, then get two plow handles and put them on your wiffletree with a rope (an iron rod is better). As the horse pulls the rake until it gets full you have to stop him, lift your handles and as the trash drops down you push forward same as a wheelbarrow until the teeth are clear, and then let down. I cleared some very thick timber land, for which pur- pose it beats hand rakes a great deal. I raked the land both ways and sowed grass without breaking it and left the ground in good condition. THE CANNA.
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NE OF of the most popular fol- iage plants of the day is the canna, and most justly so. A bed of an assortment of cannas, their broad, musa- like leaves and flaming spikes of bloom, give an air of trop- ical luxuriance to theplainest yard, thus relieving the tiresome sameness too often found in our gardens. How long will it take us to learn that fine foliage is in every way as de- sirable as fine flowers ? Certainly a gratifying change can already be seen. But a few years ago flowers alone were considered worth growing, and each flower garden seemed a copy of some other. Now, thanks to a more enlightened taste, flowers are relieved from monotony, and their beauty actually enhanced by contrast with leaf effects alone, whether wrought out in intricate mosaic designs with eche- verias or coleus, or seen in the less formal beds of ricinus or canna ; and the time is near at hand when the coleus and caladium, the achyranthes and the canna will be as universally used as the gera- nium and verbena are to-day. Some of our foliage plants have little to recommend them beyond their bright coloring, and of that the eye soon tires. Not so with the stately canna, with its var- ied gifts of fine habit, handsome foliage, bright flowers, and perfect coloring ; while over and above all this, it is of the easiest culture, only asking to be well fed. The canna is of most accommodating habit and can be grown out-doors or in the house, in sun or shade, though its rankest growth, and deepest coloring is obtained by full exposure to the sun. The host of insects that are the plague of many plants rarely attacked the Canna. If these things are true, and they undoubtedly are, why do we see so many stunted specimens ? The an- swer can be written in four words, viz : because ihey are starved. The cannas are gross feeders, and food they must have in abundance, if they would thrive. The soil can scarcely be made too rich with manure, or the ground spaded too deep. In a bed suited to them, how the roots do revel ! No weed need be feared, when once they fairly get to growing, for the greedy roots will take possession of every inch of the ground, and the huge leaves lapping overhead will take sole possession of the air and sunshine. It is of no use to plant a border to a bed of cannas, unless the new dwarf cannas, Helianthtis niullijtoriis^ or some similar plant that grows rank enough to hold its own, is chosen. Nor should the plants be crowded closely together in border or bed. The canna is a plant that needs plenty of room for its best development, and the plants should not be placed closer than two feet apart, and the taller sorts are all the better if the. space is increased by an additional foot. As to the question of the best variety, that depends altogether upon individual taste. The writer's favorite is the Ehemanni, which, while it has been over-praised as a flowering plant, deserves every good word that has been said in favor of its foliage. Its habit is grand, its leaves superb, its color a clear soft green, of which one never tires as of the dull bronze and dingy purple can- nas so often planted because they are novelties. Its one fault is that high culture is necessary to secure good specimens. The starved plants are no finer than any common uncared-for seedling. Many of the dwarf kinds have most beautiful flowers, almost equal in size to a gladiolus bloom. These dwarf sorts, while not so fine for foliage beds as the taller ones, are beautiful for borders and make especially fine pot plants for room decorations with their massive leaves, and their large heads of bloom. Our American florists catalogue less than a dozen var- ieties, but the European dealers send out long lists of fifty or more, and the prospective purchaser is quite be" wildered by the glowing descriptions. There are cinna- bar, cochineal, cerise madder, purple, and brown reds, canary, straw, golden, saffron, and orange yellows, to- gether with "gooseberry color," whatever that may be, salmon, crimson, scarlet, capucine. and violet. Surely there is no lack of variety here ! There has been much complaint that cannas rot during the winter, but if large clumps of these plants are lifted in the fall and put, tindiT'ided, in a dry cellar, and not a drop of water given, they will remain sound and plump, and will sprout of their own accord when spring comes. I have seen clumps that had remained unwa- tered in a cellar six months, that had formed strong shoots fifteen inches high before being brought to the light. Very small plants should be kept through the winter in a growing condition. Mo. Mrs. Lora S. LaMance.

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