about this, and we have had the talk over and over again in all our societies whenever the subject of cannas has come up, but the fact remains that the average man cannot keep a canna; now that is a fact, a real fact, and I have given up trying.

Mr. Button: I will tell you the way we keep them; let them freeze down in the fall, the weather gets pretty cold before we start to dig, then we dig them right up, shake off the loose dirt, place them on the ground that is pretty nearly dry under the greenhouse bench and leave them there under the, bench at about

50.

Dr. Loope: How far down do you let them freeze?

Mr. Button: Oh, say the ground freezes perhaps an inch, hard. I have kept them twenty years and hardly ever lose a canna. We never dry them entirely off. If you keep them in a dry temperature the chances are they will shrivel up and you will lose 50 per cent or more of them, but if you keep the temperature moist at 50, keep them in sand in the cellar, or you can keep them laid away in a corner of the cellar where there is a temperature of 50 and moist atmosphere, I do not mean wet, not so wet but what they will hold their substance, and then they will keep all right.

Mr. Rieck: Do you take all the soil off?

Mr. Button: Nearly all the soil off; we do not take it all off. Mrs. Trevelen: I think there is a difference, in some seasons they keep better than others. I will tell you my experience in keeping cannas, and I have done so for several seasons. I take them out, as this gentleman said, just as the first frost comesof course I do not have them on a large scale-but I put them into pails or boxes and I put them right in the cellar, the same cellar where I do my washing, and I let them dry out; there is a furnace in the cellar and I have kept them successfully through the winter, right in the dirt as I take them out.

Mr. Uecke: I have experimented somewhat with keeping cannas for the last three years. I have tried to keep them in dry sand, but I always find they come out minus in the spring, blackened and injured.

Mr. Henderson: We have found a great deal of trouble arises from the time they are dug. If you allow them to get frozen down too far, you will undoubtedly lose your cannas. Mr. Uecke: Will you please specify the time?

2-Hort.

Mr. Henderson. That I cannot tell you, but I know you must not let them freeze down to the ground while the stalk is about quarter ways from the ground, because if you let the frost get down to the bud or eye, your canna is gone. We go through our cannas constantly and any that are getting black put them right in the bench and start them. That is the only way we can save them. Of course seasons vary, frost comes earlier some seasons than others, but our men sit up nights watching the cannas. We have found that is about where the trouble is, or a great deal of it, anyway.

Mr. Smith: What is the nature of the canna root, is it root or bulb or tuber or corm?

Mr. Arzberger: It is a root-stock.

Mr. Toole: I would like to emphasize what has been said in regard to raising cannas from seed. I should say, soak them in hot water rather than warm water, but still more safely to file through the coating of each one, after that they germinate rapidly. You are not sure of what you will get, but you will get a bloom the same season, a fine, choice lot of cannas that are worth having, so that you are not particular about grouping colors together. The President: It is not always that we have a Congressman with us. A Congressman I suppose is, or I suppose should be, like an electric light, all you have to do is to touch the button and get results. I will call on Mr. Kuesterman to give us a talk.

Mr. Kuesterman: This is rather taking me by surprise. I am a splendid listener, and I could have stayed here all day with you to listen, but I am somewhat backward in speaking. However, as matters are, I will meet the occasion the same way as the young lady who was asked how it was when she received the first kiss from her lover, "Why, she said, I met the emergency face to face."

Now let me say to you, that I am pleased above all to be with you, because I like flowers, I have always been greatly interested in gardening, and consequently I like those who like flowers. They have a proverb in German that says, "If you want to find good people, go among those who love music and flowers." That is, one that is charmed with sweet melody, one that is charmed with the fragrance of flowers, cannot be bad.

About two weeks ago I returned from a trip to Germany,

and while there, recollections from younger years came to me, and one of the most pleasant ones was our little garden. Now, my friends, while I say "Our little garden," it was not in reality our little garden, but over there they have very wise city government and they, knowing there are a great many poor people living in the city, my parents among them, they rented out garden lots to these people, say about 50 by 100 feet; oh, and how proud we felt of this, our garden. Why we never allowed any weeds to grow there, and in fact sometimes going there we were very sorry not to find any weeds, because we wanted to work. It is a splendid arrangement, and I wish they would introduce it in this country, to give everyone a garden, no matter how small it is. Over there they will even see to it that the poor people have their little orchards and they do it in this way, they grow fruit trees along all the highways, everywhere you will find apples, pears, cherries, walnuts and all kinds, and before they are fairly ripe they say to the people, "We will rent you these trees, sell you the fruit for whatever you can afford to pay." My father went and bought, say, ten of those trees, and what a pleasure it was when the time came to take off the fruit. There was no trouble about people stealing the fruit, or boys getting away with a lot of it, because in the first place, they are quite law-abiding, and, secondly, they have good overseers to look after them, and so we always had our fruit, and I think it is an arrangement that would also pay in this country. Why not have fruit trees along your highways? It gives you fruit and it helps to bear the burden of taxes. Why, over there again and again they told me the taxes were paid by what they got for the fruit.

Now let me tell you about the smallest garden I ever saw in my life, it was one four by six feet, it was in a blind institute in Pennsylvania. The president of the state board of control and I looked over some institutions and there I found a lot of these little gardens for those blind children. One of them took me by the hand, a little seven-year old girl, and said, "Oh, I want you to see my garden," and there it was.

And I tell you,

it was touching. In the first place she was counting, there were marks she could not see, but she could find her garden, and when she came there she said, "Look at that beautiful rose," she could not see it, and then again she said, "You see that little tomato plant, now is not that growing nicely," and she felt of it, and in

bending down she said, "Oh, that nasty weed." She knew the difference between weed and plant, and so she kept her garden in splendid shape.

Now, my friends, it is not my purpose to delay you long, you are all waiting for dinner. However, I may say one more thing, that when in Berlin a short time ago I there saw a rose farm, twenty, thirty and more acres, all full of roses of the greatest and finest varieties. It is kept near Berlin and I understand was supplying the garden and the palaces of the emperor. It was certainly a sight to see so many acres of roses. Now let me say, I was pleased and I watched with great interest the work of your Land Company here today, meeting some of the officers. I tell you they do deserve success, and for their own good and for the good of the town of Shiocton I hope that they will be successful in every way. It will certainly help to place Shiocton on the map, if it had not been there before, and I wish them success in every way, and I also wish you success in your proceedings here and I hope that they will be to the benefit of you all. I thank you. (Applause.)

AFTERNOON SESSION.

THE DAHLIA.

By Mr. A. P. LOEWE, Milwaukee.

In 1864 a Dutch dealer in bulbs received some Dahlia roots from Mexico, the native home of that flower. One of these roots produced a plant and flower entirely distinct from any Dahlia known at that time. It had a more slender growth, more delicate and graceful foliage than the old forms and an irregular, loose double flower, the petals being recurved at the margin so as to appear almost pointed. The color was a bright crimson,