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diff --git a/40534-0.txt b/40534-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1ec3d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/40534-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5335 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40534 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + +_Italic text_ is represented by underscores and =bold text= by equals +signs. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + TALKS ABOUT FLOWERS. + + BY + + MRS. M. D. WELLCOME. + + Thank God for the beautiful flowers + That blossom so sweetly and fair; + They garnish this strange life of ours, + And brighten our paths everywhere. + + DEXTER SMITH. + + + PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, + BY I. C. WELLCOME, + YARMOUTH, ME. + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, + BY I. C. WELLCOME, + In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. + + PRINTED BY B. THURSTON & CO., + PORTLAND, MAINE. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +To all Flower Lovers who may read these pages, we come with kindly +greetings. To you we dedicate our Work. + +Encouraged by the many testimonials of favor with which our Flower +Sketches have been received, which have appeared in the _Boston +Journal_, _Portland Transcript_, and the leading Floricultural journals, +we were induced to prepare this volume, intending it to be made up +chiefly of those articles revised and enlarged for this purpose; but +after entering upon this work, we found so little that was adapted for +use, nearly every page has been written while the sheets were passing +through the press. + +Before we were aware, the printed matter had exceeded our proposed +limits, and we were obliged to enlarge the work by additional pages, and +even then omit our chapter of "Floricultural Notes," for we wished to +put the book at a low price, that it might reach the masses. As it is, +we are sure that we have given you a great amount of valuable +information, and just such as amateurs need, respecting the habits and +requirements of those flowers which are best adapted for general +cultivation, and in a form specially new and attractive, combining the +_history_ and _literature_ of flowers, with description and mode of +culture. + +It may be deemed strange that we should omit from a work of this +character a "Talk" about the Queen of Flowers, but the subject was +so full that we thought best to devote the space to other varieties +and refer our readers to our recently published "Essay on +Roses,"--advertised in another part of this work--in which they will +find the subject fully treated. + +We would here acknowledge our obligation to Mr. James Vick for the +beautiful Bouquet of Flowers which constitutes our Frontispiece. + + MRS. M. D. WELLCOME. + _Yarmouth, Me._, June 9, 1881. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + Introduction 9 + + A Talk to Farmers' Wives 12 + + A Talk About "The Wild Garden" 15 + + A Talk About Stocking the Garden 19 + + Phlox Drummondii 24 + + Verbenas 25 + + Petunias 29 + + A Talk About Pansies 33 + + Asters 35 + + Balsams 37 + + A Talk About Geraniums 39 + + A Talk About Begonias 46 + + Gloxinia, Tuberose 50 + + A Talk About Gladiolus 54 + + A Talk About Pelargoniums 60 + + A Talk About Fuchsias 69 + + A Talk About Coleuses 75 + + Ornamental Foliage Plants 83 + + A Talk About Primroses 98 + + Carnations and Picotees 101 + + A Talk About Climbers 107 + + Thoughts in My Garden--A Poem 117 + + A Talk About Several Things 118 + + The Love of Flowers 122 + + A Talk About Abutilons 125 + + A Talk About Dahlias 130 + + Amaryllis 135 + + Hoya Carnosa or Wax Plant 137 + + Among My Flowers 138 + + A Talk About Cyclamens and Oxalis 143 + + A Talk About Lilies 147 + + Double Bouvardia 152 + + Camellia Japonica 154 + + Azalea 155 + + The Ingathering of the Flowers 156 + + My Window Box 157 + + Hyacinths 158 + + Insects 160 + + + + +Introduction. + + "Thank God for the beautiful flowers, + That blossom so sweetly and fair; + They garnish this strange life of ours, + And brighten our paths everywhere." + + _Dexter Smith._ + + +I have been thinking for some time of writing a few articles about +flowers, not for the entertainment nor instruction of those who have +extensive gardens artistically laid out, and fine conservatories with +skilled gardeners to care for the rare and costly plants, but for those, +who, like myself, have only a few beds filled with flowers, cared for by +one's own self. + +Every year there is a marked advance in the floricultural kingdom. Books +and periodicals devoted to flower culture are on the increase; florists +are enlarging their domain; catalogues are scattered broadcast, and as +free as autumn leaves, some of them beautiful with their colored plates, +handsome enough to frame. Very many of the literary, religious, and +political journals of the day have their floral department, in which the +ladies gossip of their experience and exchange opinions, and we doubt if +any column is read with greater interest. + +What recreation for the mind and body more pure, refining, healthful, +than that of the cultivation of flowers? How they reveal the Father's +love, and wisdom, and power! How perfect his work! Very fully have I +realized this, as I have examined bud, blossom, and leaf under the +microscope. Its magnifying power when applied to man's work, reveals +coarseness and imperfection, but in God's work only reveals new +beauties, and greater perfectness. The tiny flower, the details of which +cannot be perceived by the eye unaided, when magnified, surprises us +with its loveliness. We wonder and adore that Being whose hand created +its perfect form and arranged its tints with so much harmony. The study +of flowers with the microscope is one of never failing delight, and one +needs not the costly instrument to enjoy this study. The round open +glass, the size of a half dollar, and costing the same, serves every +needful purpose. + +Not only have I enjoyed the examination of flowers, but also of insect +life, specially of those terrible pests to our rosebushes and some other +plants--the _aphides_. I have closely watched their development, from +the tiny egg to the portly insect, so filled with the juice of the leaf, +that like it, he is green all over. First I observe a little speck of +red in the egg--then it has slight motion--next it runs about, and the +spot is a little larger, sometimes it is black. Sometimes the baby aphis +is all red. Now and then I find a different sort mixed up with them; the +body is much larger and transparent white. Some have wings. Skeletons, +or more properly, cast-off skins, are often seen, but with the closest +observation I have never been able to trace these to their source. Once, +I was sure that a fellow was divesting himself of his overcoat, and I +watched him till my eyes ached too badly for further investigation. + +These insects are the cows of a certain species of ant, and I am sure +they are quite welcome to all I have, provided they will have their yard +on other premises, though I would like to detain them long enough to see +the milking process. Some have seen it and written about it, so, strange +as it seems, it is no fiction. + +In this series of articles which I have entitled "Talks About Flowers," +I shall, in a very informal manner, talk to you about just those matters +pertaining to the flower garden, in which beginners and amateurs are +interested; to this class I belong; I am not a skilled florist, my +experience is limited; I am only a student in the lower classes of +floriculture, but I dearly love my lessons. I am acquiring knowledge +both from books and personal observation, and I shall enjoy imparting to +those not so favored with time and resources the results of this study, +believing it will be duly appreciated by my readers, and their interest +in the cultivation of flowers be thereby increased. I shall talk to you +about the sowing of seeds, the arrangement of your garden, the plants +with which to stock it, treating of them historically and descriptively, +with mode of culture. I shall talk to you about the most desirable +bulbs, about climbing plants, hanging pots, and the window garden, and +shall seek to meet in all these the wishes of many inquirers. + + + + +A Talk to Farmers' Wives. + + "Not useless are ye flowers, though made for pleasure, + Blooming in field and wood by day and night; + From every source your presence bids me treasure + Harmless delight." + + +"Once more I take my pen in hand," as the old time epistle was wont to +begin. While a "Young Farmer" discourseth of matters pertaining to the +farm, I propose to talk to farmers' wives and daughters of matters +relating to the flower garden. This article is specially dedicated to +them, and not to them as a whole, but to that class among them who take +no periodical devoted to flower culture, and find no time even to study +the various catalogues scattered broadcast, as sure precursors of spring +as are the falling leaves of autumn. Therefore you who have your floral +papers, your bay windows filled with plants, or your fine +conservatories, whether a farmer's wife or not, this is not written for +you, and you need not read any further. + +There are many farmers' wives who give little attention to the +cultivation of flowers. Busy lives the most of them lead, and their +indoor work shuts them off largely from the enjoyment of those beauties +nature has so lavishly spread around them. It is a pity that any of them +should say, "I have no time to waste over flowers; they bring neither +food nor clothing." + +Call that wasted time when tired, nervous, fretful perhaps, you leave +the heated rooms and run out to see if the seeds you sowed last week +have come up, or how the seedlings you set out are thriving? To look at +that opening rosebud, pick off the withered leaves from the geranium, +stir the earth a bit around that heliotrope, and linger over the dear +little pansies as their bright faces are up-turned to greet you and +cheer you with their diversified beauty? Gather a few; they will bloom +all the more because of it. There, now, don't you feel nicely rested? +The feeling of fretfulness is all gone. Refreshed in body and mind, you +resume your housework, and accomplish it much more effectively than if +you had kept right on, so tired and all out of sorts. Better far these +moments of out-door recreation than blue pill or bitters. All this is +anticipatory of the "good time coming" to you this summer. That kind +husband of yours when he goes to the store to buy his garden seeds, or +order them from abroad, is going to include an equal number of flower +seeds. He would have done it long ago but he did not think anything +about it. But you are going to give him a hint this spring. You can tell +him that in the general seed box there is one corner where are certain +dainty little packages labeled Candytuft--purple, carmine, white or +mixed; Mignonnette, Aster, Balsam, Pink, Petunia, Sweet Peas, etc., +etc., and you tell him that those Sweet Peas bloom the most fragrant +blossoms for five months, while his "Extra Early," whether "Blue Peter" +or "Blue Tom Thumb," last only a little while. So as he goes on his way +he will think to himself, "Wife works hard; she makes capital butter and +keeps the house real tidy, and I guess I must indulge her." When he +returns home he gives you those little packages, in each tiny brown seed +of which there lies hidden a beautiful life--a life that shall, by +loving care, develop "the red, white and blue" in settings of emerald, +the influence of which shall be felt by the entire household, and bring +forth a fruitage of brightness, gladness and love. + +It may be that you live remote from the village store, or perhaps there +may not be kept there a good, reliable assortment of flower seeds, so I +will tell you what to do in that case, for I wish to be helpful every +step of the way. You must send to some good florist for what you want, +enclosing stamps, if for an amount less than one dollar. You have your +seeds now, and some of them need to be started in the house in order to +secure early flowers, Asters, Petunias, Pinks, Pansies, Snapdragon and +Sweet Peas. Sift your earth through a coarse sieve. A little sharp sand +is good to mix with it. Shallow boxes are best, except for the peas. I +use cigar boxes. Dampen the earth, then sow thickly in rows, cover +lightly with more soil, dampen again, label, cover with paper so that +the moisture may not evaporate rapidly, and place in a sunny window. +Daily sprinkle through a fine rose pot, or with your fingers lightly if +you have none. However good your seeds may be, they will not grow if +kept dry, and will rot if kept too wet. The seedlings must be nursed +with care, not too much sun while tender. I do not thin out mine till I +transplant to the border, but many do, potting them singly. Peas can be +set out earliest of any. Sunny days in May often tempt one to bed out +their tender plants, and sow seed in open ground; then come cold nights, +when the fragile seedlings need a hot soapstone to their feet. It is +best to wait till warm weather is fully established, and then choose a +cloudy day for the work. Protect from the sun's rays till the plants are +established in their new quarters. Now, all this looks like much work +and care, I know, but it is only a little work, a little care each day, +and it is a work that will be a restful change, and bring you better +health and better feelings, and when you gather the lovely flowers from +the seeds you have sown and cultured, you will not say: "My time was all +misspent." + + + + +A Talk About "The Wild Garden." + + The lengthened days have come, + The busiest of the year-- + + +When the annual house cleaning treads heavily on the toes of spring +gardening, and one feels tempted to crowd the work of two days into one, +though sufficient for the present is the work thereof. The bright warm +days draw one forth to spend "an hour or two" they say, and they mean it +too--with shovel or spade in hand to prepare the flower beds, but the +air is so refreshing, and there is so much to be done, that they keep on +"a little while longer," "just a few minutes more," till Sol pours his +burning rays down upon them with the unmistakable assurance that it is +near the hour of noon. + +These are the days that try men's souls, and women's, too; days when one +wishes with Dudley Warner for a "cast iron back," but would fain add the +improvement of rubber hinges; days when the inquiry is often provoked, +"Will it pay?" + +As we change the numerous boxes of seedlings from one position to +another, that they may catch the sunbeams, "Will it pay?" As we take +them out of doors these warm days, and bring them all back again at +night, lest the air prove too harsh for the tender things, "Will it +pay?" + +Yes, we know from past experience that it will pay even a hundred fold +for all our care when the restful days shall come, and we watch with +hopeful hearts each bud of promise as it grows, and gather our hands +full of lovely flowers, the fruitage of our seed sowing and unceasing +care. + +Have been bedding out to-day my old stocky geraniums, after cutting off +all the dead and unsightly branches. These were just packed into large +boxes in the autumn--as closely as possible--dirt then thrown in to fill +up the spaces, and they were put into the cellar and severely let alone +till the weather admitted of their being taken out of doors. + +Many throw away their geraniums, if the stalks decay by being +frost-bitten or for some other cause, when often the roots are alive, +and with proper care will sprout again. I had a few in my window box +that were touched by frost one intense cold night in December, and died +down to the roots. To my surprise, they sprouted in March, for I did not +suppose they would be seemingly lifeless so long in a sunny window. + +Some of my neighbors hang up their large geraniums by the roots in the +cellar, and thus keep them throughout the winter nicely, but I have +never been successful with this method. + +My house plants are nearly all re-potted, ready to be plunged into the +ground the first of June. I put in a bit of potsherd to keep the roots +from going astray, then small pieces of coal for drainage, then fill +with mellow sifted soil, enriched with well-rotted manure. I found it so +much better last year to bed out in pots that I shall practice it more +fully this summer. When the time comes in the autumn for taking them in +doors, the work can be done in half the time. + +My seedlings will be six weeks or more in advance than those sown in the +open border. My sweet peas must go out very soon or I shall have to give +them a support, they are so tall. + +Now I am going to tell you about another sort of a garden--"a spick-span +new" sort--and I know you will be pleased to hear about it, and I think +you will want to have one of your own. + + +THE WILD GARDEN. + +Mr. B. K. Bliss, of New York, in a note, said: "We have put into your +box a packet of flower seeds for the wild garden, which we think will +interest you. We also send you the initial number of our new paper, +"_The American Garden_." In this journal I find a very interesting +article on "The Wild Garden," how to make it, and a description of one +at the country residence of Mr. M. S. Beach, near Peekskill, from his +own pen. We will quote a part of it. He says: "We plowed a strip about +six feet wide all around a five-acre field, close to the fence. On this +plowed ground, the seed, previously well mixed, was thrown just as it +happened to come. The surface having afterwards been well smoothed over, +we waited the result. This proved satisfactory. We had a wild garden +indeed. The plants came up as thickly as they could grow, and flourished +and blossomed as freely as though they had enjoyed all the care usually +given to hot-house exotics. + +"Sweet Alyssum, Mignonnette, the pretty blue Nemophila and bright +colored Phlox Drummondii seemed to cover the ground. Morning Glories of +every shade and delicate Cypress vines tried to cover the fences and run +up every tree. Quaint little yellow and green Gourds appeared in the +most unexpected places, and the whole bed seemed to be ablaze with the +orange and yellow of the Eschscholtzia, Marigolds, Calendula Officinalis +and Zinnias. One of the chief charms of this wild flower bed was the +variety and change--not from season to season, but from day to day. +Every morning would find some new, unexpected, and previously forgotten +flower in bloom." + +The packet of Flower Seeds for the "Wild Garden" consists of more than a +hundred varieties, sufficient for a square rod of ground. There must +needs be a peculiar charm in the "Wild Garden." When one wearies of the +monotonous ribbon beds and geometrical designs so long in fashion, they +can turn to the spot where flowers run riot at their own sweet will, and +give daily surprises because sown broadcast without any regard to their +names and location. Multitudes there are, who, with abundance of land +at their command, can have one on a large scale, others can have, but a +small spot. There are many who have ground specially adapted by its +wildness for the blending of the cultivated flowers with those which +grow in their native dells or woods. Wild shrubs, wild flowers, wild +climbers, can be transplanted to situations quite like their own. There +can be ferneries and rockeries, beds of violets and wild evergreens, and +combined with careless grace, such tropical plants and brilliant annuals +as would give the most pleasing effect and afford a beauty wholly +unique. + + + + +Make Home Beautiful. + + Make your home beautiful--bring to it flowers; + Plant them around you to bud and to bloom; + Let them give light to your loneliest hours-- + Let them bring light to enliven your gloom; + If you can do so, O make it an Eden + Of beauty and gladness almost divine; + 'Twill teach you to long for that home you are needing, + The earth robed in beauty beyond this dark clime. + + + + +A Talk About Stocking the Garden. + + "The flowers we love?--They are those we gathered + Years ago, when we played at home! + Flowers by the door stone, dropped and scattered + Here and there as a child would roam." + + +"How shall I stock my garden?" is a question often asked by amateurs. +That depends very much on the size, location and soil of the ground to +be furnished. If the site is elaborate, and the beds to be geometrically +laid out, much skill, artistic taste and generous expenditure is needful +to produce a fine effect. If the flower beds are cut in the lawn a +different classification and arrangement of plants will be needful. If +they consist of long beds bordering a walk, or one bed only, beneath the +front window, there needs to be a grouping of flowers adapted to the +situation. None but the "wild garden" ought to be stocked hap-hazard +style. Arrange always so that there shall be a succession of flowers +during the entire season, for if you devote a space for those of brief +duration, you will by and by have a barren spot by no means pleasing. +The most exposed situations ought, of course, to be arranged with +special reference to the best possible effects or continuity of bloom +and harmony of colors. Don't mix in all sorts of colors and sizes of +plants in any bed. Masses of distinctive colors always have a fine +effect. Where there are varieties that have more show of flowers than of +leaves, it is well to intersperse plants whose beauty lies more in their +foliage than in blossoms. + +The beautiful Coleuses, Achyranthes and Alternanthera, with their richly +colored leaves, and Pyrethrums with their vivid green lancelated +foliage, are very effective for this purpose. Cannas are very fine among +tall, free blooming plants, particularly for centers. Care ought always +to be had in selections, so that a tall and coarse plant shall never +have for its surroundings the low and delicate growers. Imagine the +effect of a gorgeous California Sunflower or a towering Hollyhock in the +midst of a bed of Pansies, or Tea Roses, or a Dahlia in a bed of +Verbenas! Have your large stocky plants in a bed by themselves, unless +it be as a background border for the more delicate flowers. A long bed +running beside a fence, or one beneath the windows of a dwelling-house, +can have, with good effect, a dense background of shrubs or Pompone +Dahlias, or even the taller Dahlias, if relieved by a fence. Where there +is a large bed directly beneath the front windows, a good arrangement is +to have, first, trailing vines that shall cover far up the sides of the +dwelling. For this, the Ipomoeas are very appropriate; of these there +are numerous varieties. _I. Bona Nox_, with its large fragrant blossoms, +which however, expand in the evening; Mexicana _Grandiflora Alba_, +immense flowers of white, long tube, a native of Mexico; grows to the +height of ten feet. _I. Hederacea Superba_ is bright blue, with white +margin, Ivy-like foliage, and _I. Fol Mormoratis_, a new Japanese +variety, with foliage beautifully mottled and marbled with white; +_Coccinea_, or "Star" Ipomea, bears a great profusion of small flowers, +scarlet striped with white. With any of these, vines of the Canary Bird +Flower intermingled, would have a superb effect; the light green, deeply +lacinated leaves and bright, yellow fringed flowers, proving a marked +contrast to the foliage and blossoms of the Ipomea. It is a very rapid +grower, and will climb and branch out ten feet or more. In front of +these climbers, or whatever others may be preferred, a row of Sweet +Peas, quite thickly set, can be trained so as to fully cover the vines +below the flowering branches, and to conceal the unsightliness of these +low down, a row of Pyrethrums or some dwarf compact plants would be +attractive. Then a walk, if the bed is sufficiently wide. The plants on +the opposite side can be arranged so as to have those of medium height +next to the path, and low bedding ones for the foreground. Verbenas are +very fine for this, and so is the Double Portulaca. For an edging, many +things are appropriate; whether one desires merely a low green, or a +border of dwarf blooming plants. For the latter, we know of nothing +prettier than the new dwarf Candytuft, Tom Thumb. Its habit is low and +bushy, and its clusters of white blossoms continue a very long time. + +Mr. Vick has for several years recommended Thrift as the best edging +plant for northern climates. It is easily propagated from cuttings; +every piece will make a plant, if taken in the fall or spring, and is +perfectly hardy. It bears tiny clusters of pink flowers, and the foliage +is fine for floral work. + +In arranging your garden stock study the adaptions of your plants to +certain positions. Some require for their best development, a great deal +of sunshine, others require somewhat sheltered positions. Portulacas +revel in dry and sunny spots, laughing at drought, while Pansies love a +cool and moist situation, therefore to bed them in a sandy soil, and a +position where they would be exposed to the intense sunshine of mid-day, +and the Portulaca in the sheltered, moist situation would be a great +mistake. + +Coleuses ought not to be set in a very open sunny place, but with plants +that will serve as a protection somewhat, or they will lose their vivid +markings. We observed this first with C. Shah; when exposed to a strong +light, the rich, velvety maroon changed to a dull color hue, but when +partially shaded it was of a very deep, rich color. The next summer we +had the beautiful Pictus, and its leaves looked as though they were +indeed painted with yellow, brown and green, but exposed for a time to +the direct sunshine nearly all day, it changed to a dark green, with +brown markings, and, robbed of its gold, it possessed no special beauty. +We speak only of our own experience, which has not been limited by any +means to these two varieties. We have had a few that would retain their +distinctive markings well, even in quite an exposed situation. + +In the arrangement of your garden, have it adapted to its surroundings. +The broad leaved Palms, the Tropical Caladiums, the stately Cannas, the +Cape Jessamine and Crape Myrtle are in perfect harmony with the well +kept lawn and stately mansion, but quite out of place in the simple +border of a vegetable garden, or rough grass-plot belonging to a low, +plain cottage. + +I will tell you of a bit of a garden furnished in harmony with its +surroundings. It was rudely dug and roughly finished by two very small +hands. It was a very wee bed, indeed. It was fenced on the west side by +a rough board shed; on the north by an old stump; the other side and end +had no protection. Without any method of arrangement, or reference to +artistic effects, here was massed the following assortment: Monks Hood, +Bachelors Buttons, Butter and Eggs, Star of Bethlehem, Poppies and +Marigolds; these last more odorous than fragrant. Old fashioned flowers +truly. But they harmonized with their surroundings, and the little pale +faced child thought them very beautiful. + +It is not essential to harmony however, that the flower bed be rudely +prepared, though the cot be lowly and its surroundings rough; the +garden, however small, can be neatly prepared, provided there are +stronger and older hands than those of the little maid referred to, and +there may be a display of taste in the arrangement of the most common +flowers, in our day at least, where beautiful varieties are within reach +of all. But it was not so fifty years ago; boxes of flower seeds were +not to be found in the shops; catalogues were not scattered broadcast +like autumn leaves and as free; "a greenhouse at your door," was not +then, as now, a verity. School girls exchanged their limited floral +treasures, and now and then a slip could be begged from the fortunate +possessor of a few house plants. But if greenhouse flowers were rare, +there were thousands in the meadows, on the hills, in the woods; the +sweet May flowers, unknown then to the little maiden as the Trailing +Arbutus, the Anemone, Hepatica, Columbine, Violets of different hues, +Wild Roses, Gay Lilies, and late in autumn, the lovely fringed Gentian: + + "Each chalice molded in divinest grace, + Each brimmed with pure, intense and perfect blue." + +What could be more lovely among the garnered treasures of the +greenhouse? But our talk is a long one, and we will defer to another +what we have further to say on this subject. + + + + +The Phlox Drummondii. + + "Flowers for gladness and flowers for sorrow, + Shadowing forth what we fail to tell; + Mystic symbols of tender meanings, + Such as the heart interprets well." + + +This is one of the most desirable of our annuals, coming into bloom +early in the season and continuing in flower till frost. They are very +effective in massed colors, and make fine ribbon beds. Contrasting +shades should be selected. A writer in the _Garden_ says that the +following are very desirable for this purpose: "Phlox Lothair, salmon +shaded with violet; Mons Henrique, brilliant reddish crimson; Venus, +pure white; Mons Goldenschugh, rosy violet; Spenceri, dark rosy lilac. +An excellent front edging for this ribbon bed is the variegated +Periwinkle. In order to grow them thoroughly well, and so to insure a +lengthened period of blooming, the ground should be deeply trenched and +well enriched with good manure from the farm yard, and not more than six +heads of bloom should be allowed to each plant. Thus treated, when +planted in long lines, it is difficult to convey an impression of these +and similar varieties." + +There are many beautiful varieties of color; deep blood purple, +brilliant scarlet, large blue with white eye, not truly a blue, but the +nearest approach to it of any; Leopoldii, splendid deep pink, with white +eye; Carmine Queen and Violet with a large white eye; Vick's _New Double +White_, the only one that is reliable, from seed, to produce double +flowers. Then there are the buffs and the stripes, crimson striped with +white, and rose and purple. Mr. Vick, who makes a specialty of the +Drummondii Phlox, they being a favorite with him, devotes acres to their +cultivation, and who has been experimenting with them for several +years, has produced several new sorts that are very fine; one of them is +deep red with a fringed edge. There have been very marked improvements +since this plant was first discovered in Texas by Mr. Drummond, a +botanical collector sent out by the Glasgow Botanical Society, and it +was one of the last, if not the very last, sent to Europe by him. He +soon after went to Cuba, where he died of a fever in the prime of life. +Sir N. J. Hooker named the plant after its discoverer as a memento. When +first discovered it was very inferior to the flowers seen in our +gardens, as is very apparent from an engraving of it taken from a +drawing in Mr. Vick's possession, which was made in 1838, three years +after its discovery. It is given in _Vick's Magazine_ for September, +1880, with the items we have cited. The word Phlox signifies flame, and +is supposed to have been applied in allusion to the flame-like form of +the bud. + +A lady who had excellent success with her seedlings, started early in a +box, and bedded out one cloudy day in May, says: "I was surprised to +find flowers on the plants when so young and small. I don't believe they +had been transplanted five days before half of them had flowers, and +soon the rest followed, and for more than two months my bed has been +glorious--a mass of bright colors more beautiful than any carpet or +dress pattern ever made. It is near the middle of September, and if the +frost will only keep away, it looks as though they would keep on +flowering for years. Tell everybody to have a Phlox bed and how to do +it. It is the cheapest pleasure possible." + + CARRIE, in _Vick's Magazine_. + + +VERBENAS. + +This we must have, for it is one of the most beautiful annuals +cultivated. So varied its hues! So abundant its blooms! Not a brief +season of flowering, and then naught but leaves, which are, not of +themselves attractive, but an increase of blossoms from June till +October, and it requires quite a severe frost to mar their beauty. They +have the best effect massing each color by itself, and beds of a +circular form cut in the lawn and filled with Verbenas, have a superb +effect. Seedlings are much the best for bedding out, they are so much +stronger and more bushy. Those plants offered for sale in pots, having +one tall slender stem, crowned with a cluster of flowers, are almost +worthless for the garden. True, if you get a healthy one, by layering +and pegging down, you can sometimes get good plants, but you had better +purchase seedlings by the dozen as they are offered in boxes and +baskets, or order them of the florist by mail or express, and you will +have plants that will grow compact, bloom early and profusely, with far +better foliage than the puny straggling ones rooted from cuttings. One +objection to purchasing seedlings by the clump is, I am well aware, the +fact that they are not labeled as to color, and everybody wants to know +that they will have at least one scarlet, one white, purple, and so on, +and unless the color is peeping through the bud, one must buy with the +risk of not knowing the desired color. This is the true state of the +case so far as my own observation extends. But it need not be so, and we +presume it is not so everywhere. Seedlings can be raised of course with +each of the leading colors separate, and those in greatest demand in +large quantities to meet the wants of the general public, while the +fancy sorts can be of mixed varieties. Those who raise their own +seedlings, usually buy a paper of mixed sorts, so in that case they are +no better off than those who purchase seedlings of the florist, and as +their facilities are far greater for raising early plants, it seems +preferable as a general thing, to buy of them, for these reasons. In +order to have good sizable plants for bedding out in May and June that +will bloom in August, seed must be sown the first of March, at the +latest, for it takes weeks for the little dry sticks to germinate, and +then they are such slow growers, unless under the most favorable +circumstances, they do not become strong vigorous plants by the time +you want to bed them out. Few can care for them properly while their +sunny windows are full of choice house plants, so that as a rule, we +should deem it preferable to wait until May, and then purchase the large +budded seedlings, which so quickly unfold their beautiful flowers to +brighten the garden, when it is almost barren of bloom. They do not cost +usually more than sixty cents per dozen, and one is saved from so much +care. + +However, for the benefit of those who prefer to sow their own seed, we +will give directions for the best method. First, be sure that the seed +is new. Don't sow old seed for it will not germinate. If you have no hot +bed, make one in a box or pan by putting in a layer of quite fresh horse +manure for bottom heat; over this a layer of coarse sand; then fill the +box with finely sifted soil, mixed with at least one-third fine sand. +Make it smooth; then in little rows drop the seeds, not very sparsely, +for all may not germinate, and if too thick when they come up they can +be thinned out. Press the seed down with a bit of flat board, sift a +little soil over them and then dampen by light spraying with tepid +water; a brush dipped in water makes a gentle sprayer. Cover with paper, +glass, or what is better, a bit of soft flannel wrung out of water laid +on the surface, as it keeps the soil damp without sprinkling, by being +wet as it dries. The soil must be kept moist, not soaking wet, for +however helpful to germination a previous soaking may be, when sown the +seed must not be drenched, and the same rules are equally applicable to +the seedlings, for in either case rot would surely follow. It is just +here where the special care is requisite to insure success. After the +plants have come up, the flannel or paper must be removed and the +seedlings given sunshine and air, though it is well to have a glass over +the top of the box for a week or more, as more moisture is thereby +secured; but there ought to be an aperture for the admission of air. +When two or more leaves are developed, it is well to prick them out into +other boxes or pots, if they are too thick for free growth; not all, a +part can remain undisturbed. They should be gradually hardened as a +preparation for out-door life, by being placed in cool situations. While +heat is essential to start the seed into growth, it is not beneficial to +the plants, and those who have a cold frame had better remove the plants +to it as soon as the temperature will admit. + +In bedding out, an open situation is preferable. The ground should be +well dug and enriched, with well-decomposed manure, and if the soil is +heavy a liberal mixture of sand. A situation where the morning sun will +not strike them before the dew is off in the morning is best, as this is +one cause of the mildew or rust which so frequently saps the vitality of +the leaves. In order to promote their spreading, it is a good plan to +fasten down some of the branches when sufficiently flexible to the +ground, and for this, nothing is more convenient than hair-pins. All the +seed vessels should be pricked off in order to secure the best results, +as much of the strength of the plant goes to them if allowed to remain. +One can afford to be very liberal in gathering the flowers, for the more +liberally they are picked off, the more rapidly buds form and develop. +As it was with one of Bunyan's characters: + + "There was a man (though some did count him mad), + The more he cast away, the more he had." + +The wise man says: "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth." + +A florist says that "to grow Verbenas successfully, plant them in beds +cut in the turf. Chop the turf well and thoroughly mix with it a good +share of well-decomposed stable manure; never, on any account plant them +in old and worn-out garden soil as they will most assuredly fail. Give +them a change of soil each season, as they do not thrive well two years +in the same bed." + +As a house plant the Verbena is not a success. It is most always sickly, +and infested with red spiders. They cannot be kept over winter in a +cellar; it is growth or death. + +Verbenas were first introduced into Europe about fifty years ago from +South America, and a few years later into this country. They have been +greatly improved, and the varieties are very numerous. Many are +fragrant. The only hardy sort is Montana, a native of Colorado. It is a +profuse bloomer, color, a bright rose. There are the German Hybrids, the +Italian stripes, and the Drummondii from Texas. Every year brings its +novelties, as with other flowers. Mr. C. E. Allen, who makes a specialty +of seedling Verbenas, is sending out several fine ones this season; +Silver Queen, Florence, Emma, Carroll, Ralph and Variegata are very +attractive according to the descriptions. + + +PETUNIAS. + +[Illustration] + +Few things in the garden will make more show throughout the entire +season, even after quite severe frosts, than a bed of Petunias from a +paper of seed marked "Choicest Mixed from Show Flowers." They will +produce such a profusion of flowers, charming one from day to day with +their variations of markings, and of color. Some retain their +distinctive characteristics, while with others they are changeful as the +Kaleidoscope. Stripes, blotches, sprays, white throats, green edges, +they are just lovely. Then there are the double sorts; purple with white +spots, white with purple; rose color, white, purplish-crimson margined +with white; lilac veined with purple; white with stripes of purple in +the center of each petal, some exquisitely fringed; large and full as a +rose, and some almost as sweet. + +In nothing, perhaps, has there been such a wonderful improvement by +culture and hybridising as the Petunia. Mr. Vick tells us how that half +a century ago, he saw for the first time, a Petunia. It was a novelty--a +strange flower from a flowery land, South America, and it was carefully +treated in green-houses. The flower was white and small, and looked +somewhat as if made of paper--such a flower as would now be destroyed if +by chance seen growing accidentally in our gardens. The novelty soon +subsided, and although it was ascertained that it could be grown in +gardens, it did not possess sufficient merit to gain popular favor. A +little later, however, about 1831, to the astonishment of the floral +world, it was announced that a new Petunia, of a purple color, had been +discovered in Buenos Ayres. It was first flowered and seeded in the +Botanic Gardens of Glasgow, and thence seed was sent all over Europe and +to America, where it soon became a great favorite. About thirty years +ago a double Petunia was grown and propagated by cuttings. It was only +semi-double and white, but it was the commencement of a new era in +Petunia culture. Truly wonderful have been the advances in development +of this beautiful flower. + +The Petunia is divided into three distinct classes, the Grandiflora, +Small Flowered and Double. + +The Grandiflora varieties have a strong succulent growth, the flowers +are not so numerous as some others, but are very large and double, +frequently measuring three inches in diameter, and some kinds are +exquisitely marked with various shades of violet, purple, maroon and +scarlet upon white ground; some striped, others bordered, some marbled, +some deeply fringed. The double Petunia gives no seed, and it is only by +fertilizing single flowers with the pollen of the double that seed can +be obtained. But Petunias of all kinds are easily multiplied by +cuttings. + +The Small Flowered class are those that make our gardens so attractive +with their varied hues and markings. Some of the new hybrids are of +wonderful beauty. Last year gave two of the Double and Fringed sort that +have been frequently noted as gems of the first water. + +Mrs. Edward Roby, color, a glowing crimson-maroon, edged with pure +white, very double and deeply fringed. Model of Perfection, deep maroon, +heavily edged with white, and deeply fringed. These were priced last +year in a Western catalogue at $1.50 each; this year they are priced at +30 cents. So one gains by waiting a year for high-priced novelties. + +New Double Fringed Petunia for 1881, is President Garfield, which +originated with Mr. C. E. Allen, and is thus described in his catalogue: +"Color, light purple veined with deep purple magenta, edged with a broad +band of an exquisite shade of green. Very novel in its appearance and a +new color in double petunias; flower very large and deeply fringed. +Plants strong and vigorous; one of the finest sorts ever offered." For a +Petunia so unique as this, with its broad band of green, and now offered +for the first time; its price, 75 cents, is low. + + + + +Pansies. + + "Open your eyes, my Pansies sweet, + Open your eyes for me, + Driving away with face so true, + The chilling wind and wintry hue, + That lingers so drearily. + + "Open your eyes, my Pansies sweet, + Open your eyes for me. + Where did you get that purple hue? + Did a cloudlet smile as you came through? + Did a little sunbeam bold + Kiss on your lips that tint of gold? + Tell me the mystery. + + "In your eyes a story I read-- + A story of constancy. + After the storms and winter's wind, + Softly you come with influence kind; + Then as I bend with listening ear, + Your cheerful voice I plainly hear, + Preaching a sermon to me. + + "So, whisper to me, my Pansies sweet-- + Tell me in rustlings low, + Of that beautiful land where fadeless flowers + Brightly bloom in immortal bowers, + And no blighting wind doth blow. + + "Tell of the care that is over all-- + That gives you your garments gay; + Whose loving hand clothes the floweret small + That grows in the field, or by the garden wall, + Whose life is only a day. + + "Yes, tell of the love, my Pansies sweet, + Of the love that knows no end; + That through earth's winter safely keeps + Watch over his children, and never sleeps; + The love that paints the violet blue, + And quenches your thirst with drops of dew, + The weary heart's faithful friend." + + + + +A Talk About Pansies. + + "Pray you love, remember, + There's Pansies--that's for thought." + + _Shakespeare._ + + +I find my Pansies are coming up finely. My bed of Pansies last year from +"choicest mixed seed" sown in April, began to bloom in June, and +afforded me so much pleasure with their varied beauty, that I resolved +this year to have a great many of them. I see, now that the snow has +melted from the bed, that the plants have wintered well. I had all of +the colors shown in the chromo plate of my catalogue, excepting _Emperor +William_, dark blue. I think that somebody else must have got him, for +my packet of seed was divided and sub-divided. _King of the Blacks_ was +rightly named, a mere dot of yellow in the center, and _Pure White_ was +in striking contrast, while _Pure Yellow_ was golden, and _Odier_ was +splendid with its dark center banded with yellow and scarlet. Then there +was copper-colored and striped, and such rich purples with a dot of +yellow. How lovely they were! They were not very large at first, but in +August after a rain, I had superb specimens. They were bedded beneath a +fruit tree, where they were sheltered from the noonday glare. They +thrive best in a moist, partially shaded situation. The blossoms ought +to be picked as they fade, for if left to seed the strength is taken +from the plants and the blossoms are smaller. + +This season I have sown musical Pansies. "Musical Pansies! what are +they? What sort of music do they make? Will it be of the Brass Band +order, or that of the hand-organ style?" + +No, no! Not that coarse, harsh, loud sort at all. If you could hear +their low, sweet notes, you would be enraptured. But this cannot be. I +call them musical, because named for the great composers, Mozart, +Handel, Schiller, Goethe, Beethoven, Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. +They are the "New German Pansies," of which types are given in oil +colors, in the catalogue of B. F. Bliss & Sons, and represent the most +beautiful strains I have ever seen. They are no fancy sketch, but drawn +as true to life in color and size as it was possible to make them, if we +will accept the testimony of Dr. Thurber in the _American +Agriculturist_. He says, that "no doubt many who have seen the colored +plate published by Messrs. B. F. Bliss & Sons, have supposed that the +artist had exercised his imagination both as to size and the strange +combinations of colors. So far from this being the case, the flowers +are, if anything, rather below the real size, and as to colors, it would +be impossible to conceive of any artificial colors more brilliant, or +more strongly contrasted, than they are in flowers, produced by this +remarkable strain of seeds." + +In my childhood I knew nothing of the Pansy. The little Heartsease or +Ladies' Delight, as it was then called, was alone cultivated. Mr. Vick +tells us how it grew to be the fine flower now so highly prized. About +sixty years ago, a very young English lady living on the banks of the +Thames, had a little flower garden of her own, and one bed she filled +with Pansies, selecting from her father's grounds the finest she could +obtain. The gardener, seeing her interest and success, became ambitious +to try his hand, and grew plants from the finest specimens. These +attracted the attention of professional florists, and speedily the Pansy +became a popular flower. Every country gives it a pet name--Heartsease, +Fringed Violet, Trinity Flower, Butterfly flower, and Johnny-jump-up, +while the French call it _Pensée_, from which our name of Pansy is +probably derived. It means to remember or keep in mind. A floral work +published in 1732, illustrates it with a colored plate, which shows it +to have been then small like the Ladies' Delight. + + +MODE OF CULTURE. + +For summer blooming plants sow seed in the house, in March or April. +Cigar boxes are very suitable for seed sowing. Put in a layer of coarse +sand for drainage, then one of horse manure for bottom heat. Fill with +rich, mellow earth sifted and mixed with one-third silver sand, or +finely pulverized leaf mold. Have it moist but not drenched. With a +narrow strip of board, make tiny furrows about one and a half inches +apart, and in these carefully drop the seed one by one an inch distant. +Cover slightly, and press the soil firmly, then lay a piece of old soft +flannel folded once or twice, and wrung lightly out of warm water, +carefully over the soil, which will keep it damp. Cover with glass, and +keep in a warm place. In a few days see if the covering is dry, if so +damp it again, and watch for the seedlings. When they appear, remove the +flannel, but still keep on the glass, not, however, so close as to +exclude all air. Gradually inure them to the sunlight, and as soon as +they have made four or five leaves, it is best to transplant every other +one, so that they may have room to grow. Great care is needful with +tender seedlings to keep them from damping off. If too wet, they will do +this, or if kept too shady. Good judgment is essential for success. As +the weather becomes warm, expose them at first an hour or two, to the +outdoor air, and thus prepare them for early bedding out. Being hardy +plants, living out of doors during the winter, with slight protection at +the North, they will bear transplanting sooner than many other +seedlings. A rich moist soil, and somewhat cool and shaded situation, +are best adapted for their growth. For winter flowers, sow seed the last +of August, or first of September, in a frame or boxes kept in a shady +place. + + +ASTERS. + +These must be included among the essential annuals for the garden. They +are one of the chief attractions of the border in the autumn, when many +flowers have passed their prime. This plant, like the Petunia, has in +skillful hands and by hybridization, developed from a very inferior +flower to one of great beauty and numerous classes, which embrace a +great many varieties. They are represented by _Dwarfs_ and by _Giants_, +ranging intermediately from five or six inches in height to two feet. +_Dwarf Bouquet_ presents a mass of flowers with scarcely a leaf, while +_Tall Chrysanthemum_ grows to the height of two feet, and the _New +Victoria_, _Giant Emperor_, _Truffant's Perfection_ and the _New +Washington_ bear immense flowers of great beauty. The last named bears +the largest flowers of any variety; sometimes they measure more than +five inches across. The _New Rose_ is of a strong habit, and the petals +of its large blossoms are finely imbricated. _Truffant's Fiery Scarlet_ +and _Dwarf Fiery Scarlet_, are a novelty in color among Asters. +_Goliath_ is of a bushy form, and its flowers are very large. Fine +colors. _Victoria_ is a dwarf; snow-white, very double. The _Crown +Asters_ have white centers surrounded with various bright colors, and +are very pretty. The _Quilled Asters_ are quite distinct in character, +the petals consisting of tubes or quills with outer blossom petals +slightly reflexed. _Newest Shakespeare_ and _Diamond_ and _Meteor_ are +novelties of recent introduction, and come in numerous colors. We grew +them last year and deem them admirable. + +The native country of this plant is China, hence it has been called +frequently China Aster. It had originally only a few rows of petals and +a large disk. It was first discovered about a century and a half ago, by +a missionary, and sent to Europe. It was first cultivated in France, and +the French florists have done the most toward perfecting the +flat-petaled Aster, and this style of flower is known as the French +Aster. On the other hand the Germans have sought to produce fine flowers +with tubular petals, and the quilled are therefore called German Asters. +Within a few years, however, the Germans have rivaled the French in +originating superior varieties of the flat-petaled style. + +When first cultivated in France it was called _Reine Marguerite_, +meaning Queen Daisy; afterward in England it was called _China Aster_, +which means China Star. + +Asters require a rich, deep soil. Twelve inches apart is a very good +distance for the large varieties, the dwarf can be set about six inches, +or even less will do. The tall kinds need to be staked, or they are +liable to be blown down, or prostrated by heavy rains. Do not tie one +string around the entire plant, but use several, and confine a few +branches with each, so that, while having sufficient support, they may +retain their natural position. + + +BALSAMS. + +[Illustration] + +Have been sowing my Balsams to-day in a box, so as to have nice +seedlings to bed out in six weeks from now. My Balsams last year were +superior to any I had seen, but Mr. J. L. Childs, who rather prides +himself on his plants, has sent me several packages for trial. He says: +"My stock of Balsams is undoubtedly the finest in the world; all who saw +them flowering the past season were astonished at their size and +magnificence. The new variety (Child's Camellia Flowered Perfection), is +indeed a great acquisition; its flowers are of gigantic size, and so +double and perfect that they resemble small Camellias; it is also a very +free bloomer. I have counted five and six hundred perfect flowers upon a +plant at the same time." That is a wonderful yield, truly; I cannot +expect so many, but half that number would satisfy me. The Camellia +Flowered Perfection comes in nine colors; pink, scarlet, striped white +and purple, mottled, white and delicate pink, magenta spotted with +white, crimson spotted with white, purple spotted with white, pure +white, and rose-flowered perfection, lavender color, buds when half +open, resemble a rosebud. + +I shall sow some of the seeds in June, for autumn blooming, and shall +try more fully than last year the pruning method. This is done by +removing all of the branches, and then the main stock will grow two or +three feet in height, and be a perfect wreath of blossoms. Another +method is to remove the leader and let two or three branches remain. The +flowers are larger, and the plant handsomer than when allowed to grow at +its own sweet will. They do best in a light, rich soil, and a liberal +supply of liquid manure will greatly advance their growth. A writer in +the _Gardener's Chronicle_ says: "Considering the very effective display +that these plants make when associated with stately foliage plants in +sub-tropical beds, I think they are worthy of more extended cultivation. +There are few plants better adapted for the above purpose than the +Balsam, being easily raised from seed, and as is well known, they are +rapid growers if they are planted in a rich soil. Several samples of +these plants with us are now three feet through and over two feet high, +and they work admirably with such things as Castor Oils, Cannas, and the +beautifully striped Japonica. The plants referred to were planted out +early in June, and I am so pleased with their behaviour in the +sub-tropical garden, that I intend to grow them largely another year." + +I know of no reason why the Balsam might not with good cultivation +thrive as well here as in England. Let us try our "level best," and see +what we can do. + + + + +A Talk About Geraniums. + + +My interest in this class of plants was specially awakened four years +ago by the successful cultivation of a dozen or more new varieties which +I was induced to send for by the reception of the catalogue of the +"Innisfallen Green houses," containing a more attractive list of +geraniums, and at lower prices than I had ever seen. I secured a Club by +a little effort, and thus obtained so many fine extras, that it was a +very agreeable surprise. I have since learned that very many others have +had a similar surprise. + +The next spring I had a much larger assortment, and last year the +greatest variety I ever saw. I am sure that I had sixty kinds in bloom +at once. Although very small plants, as they always are when many are +ordered by mail, they throve wonderfully, and with one exception, were +all in flower in a few weeks, and kept on blooming till after removal in +the autumn. + +My method of treatment is the following: On opening the boxes I find +them packed in damp moss, many closely tied together. I take off the +oiled paper, loosen the moss packed around them, and put them in a +shallow pan, in which is sufficient tepid water to cover the roots. +After an hour or two I set them in three and four inch pots, first +putting a bit of crock over the hole in the bottom of the pot, so as to +keep the roots from going astray, then some of the coarse siftings of +soil, or small bits of coal for drainage. As geraniums are not at all +fastidious about soil, I take whatever is available, mix a small +quantity of sand with it to make it friable, enriching with old manure. +I nearly fill the pot, and then make a hole in the center, set in the +plant, press the earth firmly around it, fill to the top and press down +again, water, and set the pot in a cool and shady place for several +days, then bring to the light for a few hours, gradually accustoming +them to the sunshine, until they become fully established in their new +quarters. When the weather is sufficiently warm, I plunge the pots in +the border for the summer, covering the pots entirely. I choose a cloudy +day if possible; if otherwise, I do the work late in the afternoon, so +that the intense sunshine may not at the first beat upon them. I prefer +massing these new plants by themselves, as the effect is more pleasing +than when intermixed with other kinds. The geranium bed is the most +attractive one of my garden. It is always full of bloom, and the varied +hues commingled are very attractive. I remove all decayed leaves, and +the trusses as soon as the flowers have faded. Frequently there will be +a few decayed pips marring the beauty of a fine truss, and these I +carefully remove. All of my large stock geraniums which have been +wintered two years, I set by themselves, and they furnish an abundance +of flowers for bouquets, and cuttings for new plants. Where one has a +plenty of garden room, they need not mind having several choice +geraniums of a kind. Slips will root well during the summer months, if +set in the earth near the parent stock, where they are shaded from the +direct rays of the sun. Care must be had to set the cuttings well down +in the soil, and firm the earth compactly around them. In this way one +can obtain with little care nice plants for the winter window garden, +which will be more shapely than those which have become very branchy. +Geraniums are ill growing plants unless pruned and trained with skill. +But they are so easily cultured, adapting themselves to most any +situation whether of shade or sunshine, are so hardy, and bloom so +freely, that we can but admire them though they yield no fragrant +flowers. There are many varieties of scented leaved geraniums, and these +mixed with the odorless blossoms are almost an equivalent. Then the +beautiful "Golden Bronzed Zoned" geraniums, and the "Silver Margined" +and "Tricolored," are so beautiful in foliage, while _Happy Thought_, +with its creamy yellow leaf margined with green; _Distinction_, with +deep green leaves zoned with black; Mrs. Pollock with bronze red zone +belted with bright crimson margined with golden yellow, are exceedingly +ornamental. Beside these there are many perhaps equally attractive, not +often named in the general collection. _Freak of Nature_, first sent out +last year, is an improvement on Happy Thought the center of pure white +narrowly margined with light green; flowers light scarlet; habit very +dwarf and spreading. It originated with Mr. Gray of England, and was +awarded three first class certificates. + +[Illustration: BISHOP WOOD GERANIUM.] + +Of the numerous classes into which geraniums are divided, few only are +given usually by florists. There are the Ornamental Foliage of which we +have cited a few examples, and the Golden Tricolors, Silver Tricolors, +Golden Bronze, Nosegay and Lilliputian Zonale; Double and single +Geraniums. + +We will specify a few varieties worthy of special note, as we can +testify by personal observation. Bishop Wood, Madam Baltet, C. H. +Wagner, Madam Thibaut, Victor Hugo, Jean Dolfus, Cassimer Perier, John +Fennely, Naomi and Rose d'Amour, all double sorts. Of the single, Dr. +John Denny possesses a rare beauty, and is thus described by an English +writer: "Dr. John Denny, raised by J. Sisley, has quite set at rest the +probability of a blue or a purple, which is a positive fact, and great +honor is due to its distinguished raiser. It also possesses another +novel and distinct feature. The base of the two top petals is of a +bright crimson tinted with orange, which gives it a most striking +appearance; this, together with its immense sized trusses, free growth +and shape of blooms, renders it one of the best for pot or house +decoration, and is of great acquisition." Jean Dolfus belongs to this +purple magenta class, a double geranium, very beautiful. Also Zuleika, +which has larger pips and trusses. It is a little more striking in color +than John Denny, but both are just as lovely as a geranium can possibly +be. When Jealousy was sent out, there was much ado over it because it +was the nearest approach toward a yellow Zonal, but it was eclipsed +pretty soon by Guinea, which was an advance by a shade or two. We had +the two in proximity last summer, and though but little difference, it +was sufficiently marked to enable us to decide that Guinea for color, +size and form, was preferable. We just get settled down on that, when we +are startled by the announcement of another novelty, "New Guinea" by +name, "a great improvement on Guinea, being two shades brighter." Well, +well! we must have that, too, and see if in other respects as well as +color, it is worthy to eclipse our favorite. + +Henry Cannell--this is a new geranium, originating with Mr. John Thorp +of Queens, New York, who makes a specialty of seedling geraniums, and +has sent out from his grounds many of great value, one of them Happy +Thought, so widely known. We have not tested H. Cannell, ours was sent +from Innisfallen during the winter, and has not yet bloomed, but we are +sure that it would never have received the name of the most +distinguished florist in England, if it were not a superior variety. + +New Life originated with Mr. H. Cannell of Swanley England, in our +Centennial year, and he sent out the first thousand by subscription +only, at £1 each--not one sold till the thousand were engaged! When +introduced the following year to this country, stock plants were sold +for $5.00 each. Now you can purchase it at prices ranging from ten cents +to thirty. It is unique in color, being splashed, striped, and flecked +with salmon and white on an intense scarlet ground. It is sometimes +freakish, having pips with some petals salmon, others partly white and +partly scarlet, others pure scarlet. But this very freak is charming, +for with beautifully striped trusses there will be others thus sportive. +Its habit is dwarf, compact, and its dark leaves zoned with black are +very handsome. It cannot be surpassed as a free bloomer. Mr. Cannell, +when sending it out, expressed the wish that the day might come when +there would not be a cottage in the land where New Life was not found. +John Fennely, salmon striped with white, and Fairy, flaked and striped +with crimson on a bluish white ground, are very pretty. Dazzle, Harry +King, Richard Dean, and Jean Sisley are scarlet with white eye. Of +several single white geraniums in my garden, I gave decided preference +to Madame Quinet. + +There is a great difference in the duration of the flowers. Victor Hugo, +a splendid geranium, retains its beautiful trusses full five weeks. +Bishop Wood is also admirable in this respect, and Jenny Dolfus and +Naomi we believe cannot be surpassed. + +[Illustration] + +Of the Sweet Scented Geraniums, we have none equal to the hybrid, Mrs. +Taylor, for beauty of foliage and of flower. It is a fine grower, and +for green to mix with flowers it is admirable. Dr. Livingstone, a more +recent novelty, is very handsome and fragrant. Rose and Lemon scented +are delicious. Lady Plymouth is a variegated rose; leaves bronzy green, +fringed with creamy white, sometimes assuming a pink tinge; very +ornamental. London Blue is a very rare variety of scented geranium, of +heavy creeping growth, with large crimped or curled leaves covered +thickly with fine spines or hairs. Seldom blooms. + +We have specified a goodly number, yet but a few from the many, and we +can assure you that if you have a large bed of geraniums you will +greatly admire them, and feel satisfied that you have the most effective +bedding plants, requiring the least care, and for the smallest outlay, +that you could possibly obtain. In California they grow without culture +to an enormous size. From an editor's notes we cite the following: + +"A little slip of geranium planted out in the spring, had grown in the +summer to 150 branches, its stalk at its base four inches thick, and +bearing over a thousand blooms! I saw a fence fifteen feet high, +sixty-five feet long, covered with geranium vines that had clambered up +one side, and then dropped down the other, filling both sides with a +blanket of scarlet blossoms. It grows like weeds, and needs no care." + +Geraniums are so hardy that one can leave them to the last in removing +from the border in autumn. Frosts that kill Dahlia tops, and many other +plants, do not harm geraniums. Some of mine, for lack of time to remove, +are exposed till late without harm. The roots have great vitality, and +when the stalk has frozen and rotted to the ground, a new growth will +start forth, sometimes in a few weeks, and sometimes not for three +months. I have had this proved by plants in my window boxes. So one need +not be in a hurry to pull up the frozen geraniums. My large stocky +plants I pack in dry goods boxes, filling in earth around the roots, and +put them in the cellar where they have little light. The pot plants, +also, are mostly put away so as to give all the available room to the +cuttings rooted in the summer, and the rare and tender plants that will +not live in a cellar. These cuttings make fine plants for bedding out in +May or June. + +In the spring the large geraniums are brought up to the open air and +trimmed of their dead leaves, pruned of dead branches, and put in a +large bed with the Hybrid Perpetual Roses. + + + + +A Talk About Begonias. + + +My first Begonia was a Rex. It thrived for several years, and then to my +regret died, for it was quite a favorite with me. Its large leaves with +broad silvery belt and red dots, were very handsome. This species thrive +best in a Wardian case and are of rare beauty and size, grown under such +circumstances. A cool, moist atmosphere is the best for them; they burn +and shrivel exposed to the intense sunlight. They are easily multiplied +from the leaves. Cut the leaf so that a small portion of the stem will +remain, insert this in a pan of damp sand, laying the leaf out flat upon +the sand, upper side uppermost. It can be retained in place by bits of +stone or small pegs. Cuts must then be made in a number of places so as +to sever the veins, thus checking the flow of sap. A callus then forms +at the base of each piece of vein where severed, and just above it, a +bud starts out, and thus a new plant is formed. It is essential for +success, that there should be bottom heat, and that the air should be +moist. A bell glass is the best to put over the leaf, and if there is +danger that the air become too moist, the glass can be tilted up to +allow of an escape. The leaves best adapted for propagation are those +neither very young nor very old, but healthy and vigorous; yet that this +is not absolutely essential is shown by the experience of a lady who had +excellent success with a leaf that was some what decayed around the +edges, and for that reason was cut off and thrown away. Remembering +afterward that the plant was sometimes grown from pieces of a leaf, she +hunted it up, trimmed off the decayed portion, and planted it at the +foot of a tree, about half under ground, and pressed the soil firmly +around it. A few months afterward she had a nice little plant from it, +with its beautiful leaves unfolding finely. + +[Illustration] + +There are many varieties of the Rex family; some have brilliant colors +in their leaves, others are thickly covered with short hairs. These are +more difficult to manage, and require great care to preserve from dust, +as like all rough leaved plants, they do not enjoy spraying, as do +smooth leaved ones. It is well to set them out in a mild shower +occasionally. Tepid water is the best for watering. + + +BEGONIAS, NOT REX. + +This class are the most generally cultivated, and they embrace a great +many varieties, which are specially distinguishable by the diversity of +their leaves. Most of them are one-sided, that is, they are larger on +one side of the mid-rib than on the other. Some have fern-like foliage, +others lobated. Some have large palmate leaves, others are spotted and +laced with white. As a class they are very beautiful for their foliage, +but when to this attraction is added beauty of flowers, it will be seen +at once that they are eminently deserving of the prominent position now +given them both in the open border and the window garden. + +We will name for the benefit of amateurs some of the most desirable as +given by Mr. Vick: _Fuchsioides_, with its drooping scarlet flowers, is +one of the most desirable of the whole class; the leaves are small, and +of a dark green color, and the small, delicate brilliant flowers are +produced in great profusion. As a winter blooming sort it is +indispensable. _F. Alba_ bears white flowers. _Richardsonii_, a variety +with white flowers and deeply cleft palmate leaves, requires more heat +than the former, therefore well adapted to our warm rooms. _Subpeltata +nigricans_ has large, dark purple leaves, and bears clusters of large +rosy flowers, very ornamental. _Grandiflora rosea_, with light pink +flowers, and _Sandersonii_, scarlet flowers; _Weltoniensis_, of dwarf +habit and small dark green foliage, rich pink flowers, are all fine +winter bloomers. _Argyrostigma picta_ has long, thick leaves, with white +spots. _Metallica_, an elegant plant with bronzy green foliage, and +producing an abundance of pale peach-colored flowers, is of very recent +introduction. _Louis Schwatzer_ has a beautiful marked foliage in the +style of Rex, dwarf habit. _Mons. Victor Lamoine_, leaves marbled like +lace. _Glaucophylla Scandens_ is of quite recent introduction, and the +very best of all for a hanging basket. It is of a drooping habit, and +its bright glossy leaves are very handsome. It bears large panicles of +orange salmon flowers. + + +TUBEROUS ROOTED BEGONIA. + +This is a class of quite recent origin, and differs from the more +general varieties, in that it has bulbous roots which can be taken up +and stored during the winter like Gladioli and Gloxinia bulbs. It has +larger flowers than the other species; red, orange, yellow, with +intermediate tints. A writer in the London _Garden_ says of them: + +"The bulbous Begonias, mostly of the Boliviniensis and Veitchi sections +or families, may have also a brilliant future in the flower garden. +Meanwhile, their proper place seems to be in the conservatory, +greenhouse and window garden. For such positions it is well-nigh +impossible to match the bulbous-rooted Begonias for brilliancy, grandeur +and grace, three qualities seldom combined in the same plant. The plants +are also characterized by great distinctness and freshness of style and +character." + +They are both double and single. Of the single flowered, the most +important sent out last year was _Davisii_. It is a native of the Andes +of Peru. Dwarf in habit, the leaves and flowers all springing from the +root stalk. "The scapes which rise erect above an elegant bluish green +foliage, are light red; each scape bears three dazzling scarlet flowers. +The plant is of very free growth, and a profuse bloomer." _Frobelii_, a +new species from Ecuador, said to be very attractive, producing, well +above the foliage, erect branches of large brilliant scarlet flowers; +the foliage is of bright green, furnished on the under side with a thick +covering of white hairs. _White Queen_, a very elegant variety with +numerous racemes of ivory white blossoms. + +Of the new double flowered, _Glorie de Nancy_ is represented as a +magnificent variety, with large very double carmine flowers, and very +floriferous. _Louis Van Houtte_, flowers large, of a crimson scarlet +color; of fine habit, and a free bloomer. + +"_Comtesse Horace Choeteau_, is an inch or more in diameter, very +double, and of a delicate, soft shade of rose; the young plant in a +three-inch pot presented a number of flowers and buds, indicating a good +blooming habit. As a double flower it is remarkably fine, the petals +being well formed, pretty smoothly laid and imbricated."--_James Vick._ + +The soil best adapted for Begonias is turfy loam, leaf-mold, sand, and +old well-rotted manure in equal parts. When growing, they require a +liberal supply of water, applied directly to the soil. + +The Begonias are natives of the tropical countries of Asia, Africa, and +America, and most of them inhabit the mountainous regions at a +considerable elevation. They were first brought to notice and introduced +into cultivation about two hundred years ago by a French naval officer, +Michel Begon, from whom they derived their name. + + +GLOXINIA. + +This bulbous plant is a native of the tropical region of South America, +and deserves a more general culture, for all the varieties of this +genus are very handsome, _magnificent_ is not too strong a term to apply +to many of them. They may be raised from seed by sowing early in spring +in a finely sifted soil of leaf mold and garden loam. But great care is +needful, and then one has to wait the following year for the flowers. It +is better to obtain the bulbs in the spring all started, then they will +bloom during the summer. Mine had several leaves, and I removed them +from the thumb pots to five-inch size, which I judged would be +sufficiently large for them. They need plenty of light and heat and +plenty of air. To prolong the flowering an occasional watering with +manure water should be given. In the autumn they must be gradually dried +off and the bulbs kept in a warm, dry place, secure from frost. They can +be potted any time from February to May. The bulb must be planted so +that its top will be level with the surface of the soil, and watered +sparingly until the leaves appear. + +I will describe a few "superlatively beautiful." _Cinderella_, pure +white with pink band. _Brilliant_, bright crimson, margined with rose, +rich violet throat. _Rose d'Amour_, rose carmine, cream colored throat, +zone of cerise. _Nero_, dark purple, white throat. _Princess Royal_, +tube and edges white, throat mottled with dark blue. _Lamartine_, very +beautifully undulated, magnificent shape; white bordered rose limb, +veering to cochineal, marbled with white and elegantly veined with rose. +_Boule de Neige_, pure snowy white, an abundant bloomer. These are only +a few selections from the many, but sufficient to give you an idea of +the variety of colors. + + +TUBEROSE. + +What flower can be whiter, sweeter, and more lovely than the Tuberose? +As the flowering bulbs can be bought for ten and fifteen cents, +according to size, no one need be without this charming flower. It is a +native of the East Indies, and was introduced into Europe more than two +hundred years ago. Until recently Italy grew the tubers for Europe and +America, but it has now been discovered that American grown tuberoses +are superior in quality to the imported, and many florists of Europe now +advertise them. + +Here is a description of the tuberose, which appeared originally in a +volume entitled "_The Flower Garden Displayed_," published in England in +1732: + +"This is a bulbous root, brought to us from Italy every year. It brings +a spike of white flowers on the top of a stalk about three feet high, +and is very sweet scented. The flower buds are a little tinted with a +lake or carmine color. We raise this by planting the roots in pots of +fine earth, and plunging them in hot beds in February or March; but give +them no water till they sprout, then we have this flower in July. Or +else set the roots in a warm border under a south wall, and they will +some of them flower in August and some in September, or this month or +the next. When these blossom you may pot them and set them into the +green-house, and some will even bloom in December." + +Mr. Vick, from whose magazine we quote the foregoing, gives an engraving +copied from the work, showing the character of the tuberose as it was +nearly a century and a half ago. It represents a small single flower, +that would be lightly esteemed by us. + +The flower stalk is from three to five feet in height, and bears from +twenty-five to eighty blossoms. The _Pearl_ is much the finest sort. +When the bulbs are obtained from the florist they have usually several +little tubers round the large one. These ought to be taken off and +placed in rich, mellow soil to the depth of four or five inches. They +must be cared for by keeping the earth loose and watering occasionally. +Before frost they should be lifted, their tops cut away, and then kept +in a dry, warm place during the winter. The strongest ones will usually +blossom in the autumn. But summer flowering bulbs are so cheap it seems +scarcely worth the trouble. + +Will Tuberoses flower the second year, is a question frequently asked, +and usually answered in the negative, even by popular florists. A writer +in an English periodical, _Gardeners' Chronicle_, gives the following +facts: + +"Last year, instead of throwing away all our plants when they had done +flowering, as is, I believe, customary, I saved back twelve plants, not +picked ones, which were placed under a stage in a late vinery, where +they remained until the end of April without receiving any water to the +roots, other than what they derived from the moisture of the house, by +which time most of them had thrown up their flower-spikes, which +proceeded from young tubers, formed immediately upon the top or crown of +the old ones, and from the union of which--when the plants had received +a thorough watering, and otherwise were subject to a growing +temperature--a profusion of roots emanated, after which the plants +received a suitable shift to a small 24. The spikes of these plants, +although not so strong or fine as those produced by tubers imported last +autumn, are nevertheless good, both in spike and each individual flower, +which, moreover, expanded in the most satisfactory manner possible, so +much so, that this and other seasons I intend to save all my tuberoses +for flowering the second year, and perhaps the third. I may here remark +for the information of the uninitiated in tuberose culture, that in +potting the tubers all little bulbets or offsets should be rubbed off, +and subsequently any suckers which may appear should be removed +forthwith, otherwise failure to flower these most beautifully scented +flowers will, in all probability be the result. The plant is of +comparatively easy and simple culture, and considering the value of the +tuberose while in flower, and its great suitability for bouquet-making, +etc., the wonder is that it is not more extensively cultivated in +private establishments as well as by market gardeners." + +A gentleman writes me of a new method with Tuberoses; new to him, and +he says that in a large range of horticultural reading he has never seen +it mentioned nor heard of its being used except in the instance he +cites. He says: "I have grown Tuberoses for the past ten years with +varying success, but the main difficulty has been that so long a time +has been required in rooting and stocking them that the first frost +finds a large proportion of them just budding, or not commenced to +spindle. Had tried various places, hot-bed, furnace-room and hot-house, +and all the early spring months and December, but that made no +difference; they would not start until they got ready, and I lost many +bulbs from rotting. Two years ago, a friend who had had a similar +experience surprised me by showing me plants about the first of May with +fine tops that had been planted but three weeks, and the first of June +had stalks a foot high, while my bulbs which had been planted the first +of February, did not commence to sprout until June, although they had +been in a hot-house under favorable conditions. + +"Now the reason simply was this: He had taken his bulbs and not only +pulled off all the small ones attached, but had dug out with a sharp +knife all the small eyes, and had cut off the whole of the tuberous +part, leaving only the bulb proper. This I tried on one-half my bulbs, +with the result that they were nearly two months earlier than those +planted the same time, that I did not cut. Although this seems to be +rather severe treatment of the bulb, it has given such good results that +I propose to continue the practice." + +My own experience is that of late blooming. Of the dozen I planted in +the border in June, five were finely budded when taken up in September, +and have since bloomed. Two others had just begun to spindle, the others +with one exception look as though they would not stalk. Next year I +purpose to try this new method. + + + + +A Talk About Gladiolus. + + "Posthumous glories, angel-like collection, + Upraised from seed or bulb interred in earth, + Ye are to me a type of resurrection + And second birth." + + +It was my intention to devote this entire article to "Ornamental Foliage +Plants," but I think I will have a prelude, and my prelude may have no +more connection with my "talk" proper than Mr. Cook's preludes do with +his lecture proper, and I think that frequently the first is the most +interesting and important; and from the fact that in the published +reports much more space is afforded to the prelude than the lecture, I +opine that others are of the same opinion. "The Topic of the Hour," +whatever may be the question just then stirring the public mind, is +usually chosen as the preface. The topic of the hour to-day has been a +bit of a sermon from the text, "And to every seed its own body," and the +lesson embodied was that of Faith. The preaching came from a package of +gladiolus bulbs, just received, and it run on this wise: + +[Illustration] + +Here are these dry bulbs, separately wrapped and labeled. They look +alike in color, and very nearly alike in form; some are rather more cone +shaped than others. One is larger and more flat. But there is nothing in +form nor size to show that they will not develop precisely the same form +and color of flower. I know that they will all reveal the leaf, habit of +growth, bud and bloom that distinguishes this species of plant from all +others, because I know that these are gladiolus bulbs, and every seed +hath its own body. A gladiolus bulb never yet produced a dahlia. A +tigridia or shell-flower bulb, though greatly resembling some gladiolus +bulbs, and its form of leaf is very similar, yet it never produces a bud +nor blossom like the gladiolus. The tigridia hath "its own body," +peculiarly and exclusively its own. I have spoken thus far of +demonstrated facts--facts that have become to me a matter of personal +knowledge. + +But now comes the lesson of _Faith_. I find each bulb bears a different +name. I take my catalogue and read the description against the name on +each label. Thus I am told what colors pertain to each bulb, inclosed, +shut up beyond my ken. Do I have any doubts respecting these +descriptions--that the distinguishing characteristics of each sort +before me will fail to correspond? Here is _Lord Byron_ and _Lord +Raglan_. How do I know that the former will be a brilliant scarlet, +stained and ribboned with pure white, while the latter will have salmon +colored blossoms, spotted with scarlet and blotched with dark garnet? I +do not _know_ this, for I have never seen it demonstrated, but I have an +_assured faith_ that in due time I shall behold those flowers true to +their assigned colors, and if there should be a failure I should +attribute it to the mistake of the labeler. + +But why should these brown bulbs, so alike to outward view, bear flowers +so widely differing in hues? Why should _Cleopatra_ have a large flower +of soft lilac tinged with violet, and a purple feathered blotch, while +_Meteor_ is dark red with pure white stain? Why should _Nestor_ be +yellow striped with red, and _Addison_ dark amaranth, with white +stripes? Vainly would I seek by dissection to fathom the mystery of +these hidden diversified markings, but He who created this plant of +wondrous beauty gave to each "seed its own body," and thus we can plant +in faith--yea in full assurance of faith--that in due time our eyes will +behold all those varied tints now secreted in these bulbs before us. +Our seed sowing is all the work of Faith, and Hope looks beyond with +bright anticipations of the summer and autumn harvest. + +The gladiolus is very easily cultured, and I have far better success in +keeping the bulbs through the winter than I have with the dahlia. The +tubers of the dahlia easily rot, on account of the dampness of the +cellar, though carefully dried and packed in sand. But the gladiolus +bulbs, without any special care, come out in fine condition. I like to +add a few new ones to my old standard stock, so as to have a variety of +colors, for few flowers make such a grand display in the flower garden, +and the spikes of bloom are admirable for bouquets, as the buds will +unfold day after day for a long time. The lower flowers on the stalk can +be removed as they fade. The flowers are very fine also for saucer or +shoal dish bouquets. I have a special liking for these. Fill the shallow +dish with water or sand--I prefer the latter kept constantly wet--then +arrange tastefully short stemmed flowers till they are a mass of bloom. +I first make a green border of geranium leaves, or some trailing vine. +Different shades of gladiolus flowers picked from the stalk are very +effective to set off the flowers not so striking. Where the season for +out-door culture is short, as it is here in Maine, it is best to get the +bulbs started in the house. Some do this by simply placing them in a +sunny window without covering. I always plant mine in a box. + +The gladiolus can be raised from seed, but they are of slow growth, and +one has to wait till the third summer usually for their flowering. It is +far better to purchase the bulbs, then they bloom the first season, and, +except some of the rare sorts, multiply rapidly. Although novelties, and +some rare sorts are very expensive, $1.50, $2 and $3 for a single bulb, +yet very fine bulbs of choice colors can be obtained for that price _per +dozen_. In reply to the question, "What are the names of six of your +finest gladiolus not very expensive?" the reply is, "Calypso, +Cleopatra, Agatha, Eldorado, James Carter and Lord Byron." These six +cost but little more than $1. Of those more expensive the following are +very desirable: Addison, Eugene Scribe, Etenard, La France, Meyerbeer +and Rossini. These cost a little less than $3. Unnamed bulbs, a good +variety, can be bought for $1 per dozen of reliable florists. + +Of the new varieties sent out the present season for the first time, are +the following raised during the past year by M. Souchet, M. Leomine and +other French growers, who have for years made the improvement of the +gladiolus a special study. They are said to be superior to any gladiolus +hitherto introduced. Aurore, Bremontier, Chameleon, Corinne, Dalila, +Eclair, Gulliver, Hermione, Lesseps, Tolma, Victor Jacquemont. The +descriptions represent them as superb, and they ought to be at the price +named, $4 per bulb! Some of us will have to wait till their novelty is +worn off. + + +NEW HYBRID GLADIOLUS. + +_Lemoinei_ and _Marie Lemoine_. "These two varieties are Hybrids of +gladiolus purpureo-auratus, and are of the old garden varieties of +Gandavensis, and are now offered for the first time. In form they +approach the old Gladiolus Biperatus, the colors being creamy ground +with distinct markings of crimson-maroon, with lemon and salmon colored +cloudings. They have proved quite hardy and may be left out of doors +from year to year." Mr. Henry Cannell of Swanley, England, a florist of +world-wide reputation, says of those hardy Hybrids: "It is considered +both by professionals and the trade, that M. Leomine's greatest victory +was in crossing Gladiolus purpureo-auratus and gandavensis, two distinct +species, and at the time they were awarded first-class certificates, it +was thought by many that some higher and substantial recognition ought +to have been made for introducing a perfectly hardy constitution into +our glorious garden gladiolus, and saving the trouble of housing them +from frost every season." + + +GLADIOLUS PURPUREO-AURATUS. + +This is a new species from Natal, quite distinct from the common species +of gladiolus and very attractive. On a slender, bending stem, which +rises to the height of three or four feet, are borne from eight to +twelve nodding flowers, somewhat bell-shaped in form, and yellow in +color, with broad purple stripes on the lower divisions within. Its +bulbs are small, and at the end of long runners numerous offsets are +produced which are more certain to flower the succeeding season than are +the old bulbs. + + +GLADIOLUS GANDAVENSIS. + +This ancient type is a very ordinary flower, and it seems almost +incredible that such superb varieties should have been produced +therefrom by cross-fertilization. In the hands of the French florists it +has attained to the superior position it occupies to-day. More than +forty years ago Mons. Souchet, head gardener at the Château of +Fontainebleau, first called attention to this flower, and began its +improvement, and although some few other French florists, such as +Messrs. Courant, Berger, Lamoine, Verdier and others followed his +example, yet nearly all of the varieties now in commerce in France, are +of the raising of that now venerable and respected private citizen. His +successors, Messrs. Soulliard and Brunelet supply the great French +houses of Paris, by whom the bulbs are forwarded to all parts of the +world. About thirty years ago Mr. Kelway of Longport, in Somersetshire, +began his culture and hybridizing of the flower, and has built up an +immense business. He devotes fifteen acres to Gladiolus exclusively, and +the number of seedlings annually raised is 200,000. In 1879-80, Mr. +Kelway exhibited eighteen named seedlings which were severally awarded +first-class certificates as possessing striking original +characteristics. Of our own eminently successful growers, Messrs. +Hallock and Thorp of Queens, N. Y., take the lead. They devote over +seven acres to Gladiolus, and raise thousands of seedlings. + + +MODE OF CULTURE. + +For diversity of color and general effect, either in masses, or in beds +of three or four rows, placing the bulbs one foot apart and three inches +deep. Mix a liberal supply of well-rotted manure with the soil, and if +clayey, use sand. As soon as the plants are sufficiently tall stake +them, and mulch with dressing. + + +The Use of Flowers. + + God might have made the earth bring forth + Enough for great and small, + The oak-tree and the cedar-tree, + Without a flower at all. + We might have had enough, enough, + For every want of ours, + For luxury, medicine, and toil, + And yet have had no flowers. + + Then wherefore, wherefore, were they made, + All dyed with rainbow light, + All fashioned with supremest grace, + Upspringing day and night;-- + Springing in valleys green and low, + And on the mountains high, + And in the silent wilderness, + Where no man passes by? + + Our outward life requires them not,-- + Then wherefore had they birth?-- + To minister delight to man, + To beautify the earth; + To comfort man,--to whisper hope, + Whene'er his faith is dim, + For Who so careth for the flowers, + Will care much more for him. + + MARY HOWITT. + + + + +A Talk About Pelargoniums. + + "And so I hold the smallest flower + Some gracious thought may be; + Some message of the Father's love + Mayhap to you or me." + + +Here we step on disputed ground. Are Geraniums Pelargoniums? Who shall +decide when florists disagree? There are eminent names on both sides of +the question. Mr. Henry Cannell of Swanley, England, a florist who +stands in the front rank, and whose name has become so widely known in +connection with _New Life_ Geranium, of which he was the originator, +jumbles up together under the head of Pelargoniums everything we on this +side of the water class under the head of Geraniums. A veritable muddle +he makes of the matter--that is our private opinion--we whisper it to +you confidentially. Here is our yellow Zonal _Guinea_; our best scarlet +bedder, _Gen. Grant_, and _Wellington_, and _Mrs. Pollock_, and _Happy +Thought_, all called Pelargoniums, and yet are quite unlike in leaf and +flower what we Americans denominate a Pelargonium; and, to avoid +confusion, it is certainly advisable for us to adhere to our established +distinctiveness. We quote from the _Gardener's Chronicle_ of January 3d, +1880, a sensible talk on this subject, to which Mr. Cannell takes +exceptions: "Pelargoniums and Geraniums--I think it would be as well to +settle by authority the exact names of those flowers that seem to be +indiscriminately called Pelargoniums and Geraniums. Botany has been +described as the 'science of giving polysyllabic barbarian Greek names +to foreign weeds;' but while some plants, Abies Mariesii for instance, +are most carefully described, others, as Geraniums, seem to be called by +names that do not belong to them, but to quite a different flower. I +notice, both in your letter-press and advertisement, mention made of +Zonal Pelargoniums; now I should certainly decline to receive Geraniums +if I ordered Pelargoniums. I am old enough to remember that we had a +parti-colored green-house flower of a violet shape that was called a +Geranium, then came a lot of hardy-bedding-out stuff with a truss of red +flowers, all of one color, followed by _Tom Thumbs_ and _Horseshoes_ +which grow nicely out of door. Then we were told that we must no longer +call those green-house plants _Geraniums_, that their right and proper +name was Pelargoniums, and that those bedding-out plants were, strictly +speaking, Geraniums. Now, however, the old name Geranium seems to be +dropped for both, and the new name Pelargonium given to both, surely +erroneously! Let us, however, have it fairly settled which is which, so +that we may clearly and distinctly know what we are talking about, and +not make mistakes either in writing or talking, in sending to shows, or +in ordering plants."--_James Richard Haig, Blair Hill, Sterling._ + +We will now give a part of a lecture delivered last spring before a +Pelargonium Society in London, by Shirley Hibberd, a delightful writer +on Horticulture, says Mr. Vick, from whose magazine we quote the +following: + +"A Pelargonium is not a Geranium, although often so called. The true +Geraniums are for the most part herbaceous plants inhabiting the +northern hemisphere, and the Pelargoniums are for the most part shrubby +or sub-shrubby plants of the southern hemisphere. Let us for a moment +wander among the pleasant slopes of Darley dale in Derbyshire, or by the +banks of the Clyde or the Calder. We shall in either case be rewarded by +seeing vast sheets of the lovely meadow Crane's Bill, Geranium pratense, +a true Geranium, and one of the sweetest flowers in the world. In the +rocky recesses of Ashwood Dale, or on the banks of the 'bonny Doon,' we +may chance to see in high summer a profusion of the Herb Robert, +Geranium Robertianum, with pink flowers and purple leaves, a piece of +true vegetable jewelry. And, once more, I invite you to an imaginary +journey, and we will ride by rail from Furness to Whitehaven, in order +to behold on the railway bank, more especially near St. Bees, a +wonderful display of the crimson Crane's Bill, Geranium sanguineum, +which from July to September, forms solid sheets, often of a furlong in +length, of the most resplendent color. No garden coloring can even so +much as suggest the power of this plant as it appears at a few places on +the Cumberland coast; even the sheets of scarlet poppies we see on badly +cultivated corn lands are as nothing compared with these masses of one +of the most common and hardiest of our wild flowers. + +"Now let us fly to the other side of the globe and alight in the +vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope, say on the vast desert of Karroo, +where there is much sand, much sunshine, and little rain. Here, in the +midst of desolation, the world is rich with flowers, for the healthy +shrub that occurs in patches, glowing with many bright hues, consists in +part of wild Pelargoniums, which often take the form of miniature +deciduous trees, although in the valleys, nearer the coast, where more +rain falls, they are evergreen bushes. + +"Very different in their character are these two tribes of plants, and +they are not less different in their constitution and aspects. We may +regard the Geraniums as herbs of Europe, and the Pelargoniums as +miniature trees of Africa. When we examine the flowers, we find the fine +petals of a true Geranium of precisely the same shape and size; but the +fine petals of a Pelargonium are not so, for sometimes the topmost are +the largest, and stand apart from the rest with great dignity, like +mother and father looking down on their dutiful daughters, and in other +cases they are the smallest, suggesting that the daughters have grown +too fast and become unmanageable. The florists are doing their utmost to +obliterate the irregularity of the petals of the Pelargonium, and in +this respect to convert Pelargoniums into Geraniums, but the conversion +will not be complete until much more wonderful things are accomplished. +A Geranium has ten stamens, and a Pelargonium has only seven (perfect +ones). These numbers are not constant, but the exceptions are of no +consequence in a general statement of the case. + +"When all is said that can be said about the differences and +resemblances of the several genera of Geraniaceæ, there remains only one +constant and unfailing test of a true Pelargonium, and that is the +nectariferous tube immediately below the flower, and running down one +side of the flower-stalk. If you hold the pedicel up to the light, it +may be discerned as giving an indication of a double flower-stalk, but +when dissected with a pin or the point of a knife, it is found to +proceed from the base of the largest of the green sepals, and it often +appears to form a sort of digit or point in the line of the pedicel. +When you have mastered this part of the story, you may cherish the idea +that you know something about Pelargoniums. + +"The large flowered show varieties and the large-flowered single Zonals +take the lead, and they are pleasantly followed by a crowd of +ivy-leaved, double-flowered and variegated sorts that are useful and +beautiful. The Pelargonium Society has set up a severe standard of +judging, and a variety must be distinct and good to pass through the +sieve. Moreover the raising of varieties has been to a great extent +reduced to scientific principles, and we obtain as a result new +characters suggestive of the great extent of the field that still lies +open to the adventurous spirit in cross-breeding. No one in recent years +has contributed more directly toward the scientific treatment of the +subject than our own painstaking Treasurer, Dr. DENNY, of whose labors I +propose to present a hasty sketch. + +"Dr. DENNY commenced the raising of Pelargoniums in the year 1866, +having in view to ascertain the influence of parentage, and thus to +establish a rule for the selection of varieties for seed-bearing +purposes. In raising varieties with variegated leaves, as also with +distinct and handsome flowers, he found the pollen parent exercised the +greatest influence on the offspring. The foundation of his strain of +circular-flowered Zonals was obtained by fertilizing the large starry +flowers of Leonidas with pollen taken from the finely formed flowers of +Lord Derby. From 1871 to the present time Dr. DENNY has sent out sixty +varieties, and he has in the same period raised and flowered, and +destroyed about 30,000. These figures show that when the selection is +severe, and nothing is allowed to pass that is not of the highest +quality, there must be 500 seedlings grown for the chance of obtaining +one worth naming." + +We have devoted a good deal of space to this citation because of its +interest and value on the question at issue. Mr. Hibberd has, we think, +made the matter very clear, and conclusive it must be to the most of +minds. Pelargoniums are divided into classes, though we rarely see any +classifications of them in the catalogues. + + +REGAL PELARGONIUMS + +Are comparatively a new type, and from the fact of their having more +scalloped petals, somewhat approaching a double; they retain their +petals instead of shedding them as do the single show flowers. The +Beauty of Oxton and Queen Victoria, novelties of very recent +introduction, belong to this class. We had them in bloom last year and +thought them very fine. The Beauty of Oxton has the upper petals of a +very rich maroon color, darkly blotched; under petals very dark crimson, +shaded with maroon; light center tinted with rose. All the petals are +attractively and regularly margined with white and beautifully fringed. +The flowers are large and the extra number of petals gives them the +appearance of being semi-double. + +Queen Victoria is of a very novel type and marvelously beautiful. The +flowers have crispy petals, all of which are a rich vermilion in color, +broadly margined with white, and the upper ones blotched with maroon. +The "Show and Fancy Pelargoniums" have what the florists term +"blotches," i.e. large spots on the two upper petals, and "spots" which +mean the darker marks upon the center of the lower ones. The Lady of the +Lake belongs to this class. Lower petals orange-rose painted with +crimson, very dark maroon top petals with a narrow, even crimson edge, +white center. Prince Charlie is very unique in its markings. Color white +elegantly tipped, with rose-violet blotches. + + +FRINGED AND STRIPED PELARGONIUMS. + +This is a very handsome class of which there are many new varieties. +Princess of Wales we had last summer. It has elegant frilled petal +margins; flower trusses large size and borne in profusion well above the +foliage; ground color pure blush, each petal alike marked with a rich +dark velvet crimson-scarlet margined blotch. + +Star of the East resembles the Princess of Wales in growth and profusion +of bloom, but with larger flowers, of pure white ground. The petals are +elegantly fringed, the upper ones marked with a rich crimson spot, and +the under ones elegantly penciled with violet-colored lines. These are +among the novelties of recent introduction. + + +HYBRID PERPETUAL PELARGONIUMS. + +A class of distinct habit, free bloomers, mostly fragrant foliage, good +for bedding out. Of these we have only had Madame Glevitsky of Bavarian +origin. Color, upper petals a fine vermilion, veined and spotted with +purple, under petals vermilion. + +We were much pleased with Pelargonium Filicifolia Odorata for its finely +cut leaves of a Fern-like appearance and pleasing fragrance. + +Our specimens of the various classes were from the extensive and superb +collection of Mr. John Saul, of Washington, D. C. Among them was one +which originated in his establishment and was named for his wife. It +belongs to the "Regal" class. The habit is compact and very free +flowering, producing large trusses of flowers the color of which is a +rich glowing vermilion, with light center and light margin to the +petals. + +We are indebted to Mr. John G. Heinl for specimen plants of two "New +Monthly Pelargoniums," now offered for the first time to the general +public. Of the origin of one, _Fred Dorner_, we have this account given +in a letter to Mr. Heinl, from Fred Dorner, Esq., of Lafayette. Mr. +Dorner says: + +"Six years ago I undertook to grow some Pelargoniums from seed. I +procured some very choice seed of Ernest Benary of Erfust. The seedlings +grew finely. About midwinter one commenced to bloom, and to my +astonishment kept on blooming for ten months, during which period it was +never without flowers. The plants grew to a good size and at one time I +counted forty-seven good-sized trusses on it. The winter and +everblooming quality, with the large and beautifully colored flowers, +makes this Pelargonium a great acquisition to the amateur as well as the +florist. I have seen here in Lafayette plants in windows blooming all +winter, and it is acknowledged here to be the best and easiest kept +house and window plant, blooming from nine to ten months in the year." + +_Freddie Heinl_ originated with Mr. John G. Heinl, who says it is a +sport from _Fred Dorner_; it is lighter-colored and the flowers are +somewhat larger. That these are both a rare acquisition is evident from +the testimony of such florists as Mr. John Thorp of Queens, and Mr. +Henry A. Dreer of Philadelphia. Mr. Thorp says, "There are no +Pelargoniums equal to them and they have a decided right to be called +perpetual." Three months later he writes: "I am more than ever impressed +with their superiority over any perpetual blooming varieties, and they +must take foremost rank." Mr. Dreer says: "The Pelargoniums have proven +very satisfactory. They flowered during the greater part of the summer, +and are now full of buds." + +The colored lithograph, which Mr. Heinl says is a good representation, +shows them to be very beautiful. We should think that to call a plant so +dissimilar in foliage and flower a Geranium, would be a misnomer, why +not equally such to call a Geranium a Pelargonium? + + +MODE OF CULTURE. + +As we have seen by Mr. Hibberd's address, the Pelargonium's native home +is on arid plains where there is much sand, much sunshine and little +rain, so that they are chiefly dependent on heavy dews for moisture. To +plant them in heavy soil, give them a sheltered situation and liberal +and frequent watering, would be a mode of treatment directly the reverse +of what they require. In the cultivation of all plants we should as far +as possible adapt them to their native conditions. One skilled amateur +says his rule is to let the earth in the pots become thoroughly dry +before watering, and always to give a period of rest after blooming. +Another, a lady, said she never had any success with Pelargoniums until +she gave them a heavy period of rest after blooming. In the spring, when +putting her plants out of doors, she laid the pots containing +Pelargoniums on their sides, and let them remain perfectly dry until +fall. She then took the plants out of the pots, shook the soil from the +roots, and scrubbed them well with a hard brush and water. The +old-looking roots were cut off and the top trimmed down to six or eight +inches in height. They were then repotted in rich earth and watered very +moderately till they started into full growth, and after that more +freely. With this treatment they never fail to bloom. + +A young physician who raised many extraordinarily fine varieties of +Pelargoniums from seed, in stating his mode of culture, said that _his_ +practice was to re-pot large plants whenever they seemed in danger of +being pot-bound. The mold he used was made up of black earth from under +a manure heap, and a little stiff clay to retain the water. After the +plants were done flowering, they were trimmed rather close, and with +regard to probable places of sprouting. They were then placed in partial +shade, and all shoots found straying out of symmetry were pinched off. +His large plants were kept moist till after bloom, and then rather +dry.--_Floral Cabinet._ + +We have given these methods so that if not successful with one, another +can be adopted. + + + + +The Rhodora. + +LINES ON BEING ASKED, WHENCE IS THE FLOWER? + + In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, + I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, + Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, + To please the desert and the sluggish brook; + The purple petals fallen in the pool, + Made the black waters with their beauty gay,-- + Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool, + And court the flower that cheapens his array. + + Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why + This charm is wasted on the marsh and sky, + Dear, tell them, that if eyes were made for seeing, + Then beauty is its own cause for being. + Why thou wert there, O rival of the Rose! + I never thought to ask; I never knew, + But in my simple ignorance suppose + The selfsame Power that brought me there, brought you. + + RALPH WALDO EMERSON. + + + + +A Talk About Fuchsias. + +A LEGEND OF THE FUCHSIA, FROM VICK'S MAGAZINE. + + A legend of this little flower, + I heard not long ago; + 'Tis this, that when upon the cross + The sinless Saviour died, + And soldier with his cruel spear + Had pierced his precious side, + The holy drops flowed to his feet, + Then fell upon the sod, + When Mary knelt and wept for Him, + Her son, and yet her God; + An angel who was hovering near, + Thus breathed a prayer to heaven: + "Oh, Father, let them not be lost, + These drops so freely given, + But in some form of beauty still, + Let them remain on earth, + And here upon this rugged hill, + Give some sweet floweret birth." + Then, forth from the ensanguined sod, + A Fuchsia sprang that morn, + Rich crimson, dyed with Christian blood, + Wrapped in his "robe of scorn," + Drooping in sorrow, still it bows + Ever its graceful head; + Shivering in the slightest breeze-- + Trembling in fear and dread; + For the dark shadow of the cross + Can ne'er forgotten be, + Where all the perfume of its breath + Was spent on Calvary. + Yes, offering its rich fragrance there, + As incense at His feet, + The Fuchsia, though so beautiful, + Can never be more sweet. + + +ITS HISTORY AND CULTURE. + +The Fuchsia was introduced into England in the latter half of the last +century by a sailor, at whose home it was discovered by Mr. James Lee, a +florist of Hammersmith, who secured the original plant by paying quite a +sum of money for it, and in addition promising to give to the sailor's +wife one of the first young plants he would succeed in raising. In a +short time he succeeded in producing several hundred nice plants, nearly +all of which were sold at a guinea each. Shortly after this a captain +Firth presented one that he had brought from Chili to the Royal Garden +at Kew. The plant was named in honor of Leonard Fuch, an eminent German +Botanist, who lived in the 16th century. The varieties in cultivation +to-day are vast improvements. One of the early varieties was called +_Fulgens_. We recollect seeing this variety some four or five years ago, +and could not refrain from comparing it with a number of varieties +lately introduced. The flower may be described as follows: A slender +crimson tube two inches in length; sepals narrow, one-half inch; in +color a shade lighter than the tube; the corolla purple; in size very +small compared with the varieties of the present time. This variety is a +strong grower, large foliage which has a silvery appearance. Thus we can +have a slight idea of that from which have been produced the beauties of +our time; thus can we see what a skillful florist can do when he has +something to begin with. Some of the varieties of the Fuchsia are hardy +in England as well as in some parts of our own country. A traveler +informs us that he has seen them in California trained over arbors and +to the houses just as we train grape vines here, and growing most +luxuriantly. They grow in favor very rapidly wherever introduced, and it +was but a short time after they became known we find the Poet eulogizing +them in these lines-- + + "Graceful flowers on graceful stem, + Of Flora's gift a favorite gem; + From tropic fields it came to cheer, + The natives of a climate drear; + And grateful for our fostering care, + Has learnt the wintry blast to bear." + +While some flowers have been extremely popular for a season, and then +have sunk into comparative obscurity, the popularity of the Fuchsia has +never waned, but on the contrary has continually been on the increase +until now it occupies a prominent place in every collection of plants, +be that collection large or small. There is a cause for this popularity, +and that cause is, it is of easy culture and produces its flowers +freely, often under adverse circumstances. The Fuchsia is readily +propagated by cuttings of the young wood. These will root in from two to +three weeks, when they should be potted in rich soil, say one-half +garden soil or loam enriched with well-rotted manure, and one-half leaf +soil, with a little sand added to make the compost very porous. From the +time the plant is first potted it should never be allowed to become so +dry as that the growth will be checked. The great secret of growing +Fuchsias successfully is to _keep them growing_. In order to do this we +must provide for them a rich soil, an abundance of pot-room and a moist +atmosphere. If you wish to grow large specimen plants the cuttings +should be struck (that is rooted), early in the season. This will allow +a longer period for them in which to make their growth before the season +for blooming arrives; by keeping the plants supplied with plenty of +pot-room the time of blooming will be somewhat retarded, and if on the +other hand we desire to have the plants in bloom as early as possible we +allow plenty of pot-room during the early part of the growing season, +after which we allow the pots to become pretty well filled with roots, +and abundance of beautiful pendulous flowers will be the result. + +As house or window plants the Fuchsias are very popular. The variety +_Speciosa_ will bloom very freely during the winter. During the summer +months they should be protected from the direct rays of the sun, and +kept well syringed. As bedding plants their utility is limited, as they +must be planted in a shaded position. A bed of them in such a position +makes a pleasant appearance, and in this way they are easily kept +through the hottest part of the year. They may be bedded out, or may be +allowed to remain in the pots and the pots plunged in the garden. In +this latter way they will need additional care, as they must not be +allowed to suffer for want of water. If it is desirable to keep the old +plants another year they may be removed to the house or cellar, and kept +cool and dry until toward spring, when they can be repotted in fresh +soil, watered scantily, and started into growth and pruned or trained to +any desired shape or form.--_The Floral World._ + +The foregoing article so fully and clearly stated all that was essential +respecting the culture of the Fuchsia, that we have transferred it +entire instead of writing something original. We need now only add a few +things respecting some choice varieties and recent novelties. "_Champion +of the World_ has the largest blooms of any Fuchsia; the tubes are +short; sepals very broad and of great substance, well reflexed, and of a +most beautiful coral red; the foot-stalk of each bloom is of unusual +length and strength, so that each flower stands out bold and graceful. +Corolla of immense size, and as it expands forms two-thirds of a perfect +ball. Color is of the most intense bright dark purple. Free tall grower, +and for conservatory decoration is one of the most remarkable Fuchsias +for size ever yet sent out."--_H. Cannell._ + +The illustration of this Fuchsia in Mr. Cannell's _Floral Guide_ +measures two and one-third inches in diameter, and yet we are told that +when well grown, the _Champion_ produces much larger bloom than the +engraving. It has four rows of petals, and looks round and full like a +pink. _Bland's New Striped_ is of the single class, but the corolla is +very large, of a rich plum-colored purple, regular and distinctly +striped red and rose, pyramidal shape, habit strong. + +Of the Hybrid variegated Fuchsias, _Sunray_ is by far the best with red +variegated leaves ever sent out; it is very ornamental. _Pillar of Gold_ +is a very showy variety with yellow leaves. Among the novelties in +color, we find mention of _Aurora Superba_; tube and sepals rich salmon, +corolla large and spreading of a distinct orange scarlet highly suffused +with yellow, fine habit and free bloomer. _Polyhymnia_ is a dwarf +yellow. + +Of _Lord Beaconsfield_, Mr. Cannell says: "One of the strongest and most +conspicuous blooming varieties ever sent out, and one of the very best +for sale and decoration; flowers neither good shape nor color, but +produced in very large clusters and blooms nearly all the year if +allowed plenty of root room." + +This Fuchsia originated with Mr. John Laing, Stanstead Park Nursery, +Forest Hill, near London, and is a cross between Fuchsia Fulgens and one +of the modern varieties known as "Perfection." It was exhibited at some +of the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society first, as Laing's +Hybrid, in 1875 or 1876. It much resembles the old Speciosa, but is more +free blooming even than that, and its flowers are twice as large. + +Kingsburyana, figured in Mr. Cannell's _Floral Guide_--which comes to us +from Swanley, England--is very large and double. "It is another addition +to the double white corolla class, and is remarkable for its fine +vigorous growth and large showy flowers; its corolla is particularly +novel and beautiful." + +Mrs. H. Cannell, named for the florist's wife by Swaffield, its +originator, "was one of the greatest lifts in bringing the double white +corolla to perfection," and has given great satisfaction in this +country. We have never seen one so beautiful, but Mr. C. E. Allen who +has a large collection, including those rare gems from across the water, +we have named, says: "_Snow White_ is the very best double white Fuchsia +ever sent out. A fine, erect grower, and a remarkably free and early +bloomer. Sepals coral red. Superior to Miss Lucy Finnis in that it is of +a stronger habit. Have none now in bloom." Among the fine specimen +blooms of the dark purple type sent us by Mr. Allen, we think _Elm City_ +the gem for size, richness of color--a double dark purple striped with +scarlet, sepals scarlet-crimson--and compact form. The _Swanley Gem_ is +of a peculiar shape, single, very open bell-shape corolla, "frilled" Mr. +Cannell calls it, rose color with tube and sepals coral scarlet, the +latter are very prettily reflexed. + +We began our list with the _Champion_--the largest known--we will end it +with the tiniest, _Microphylla_, the whole plant, flowers and leaves are +Liliputian among the Fuchsias. + + +FUCHSIAS IN THE ISLE OF MAN. + +Here these are truly wonderful; they grow up the house fronts, and grow +into large trees, so large that you can have a tea-party around the bole +of the trees. They are also grown for hedges and kept nicely clipped, +and with their bright green leaves and scarlet flowers look cheerful and +refreshing. The winds and the spray from the sea do not in the least +affect them.--_The Garden._ + +Mr. Vick, in his Magazine says: "Once when in Europe, we saw at Ventnor, +in the Isle of Wight, a Fuchsia tree, perhaps twenty feet or more in +height, with a trunk full fifteen inches in diameter. The editor of the +_Flore des Serres_ of Belgium, in writing of this tree, says it is +doubtless the largest specimen in Europe, but is only a baby compared +with specimens the editor has seen in South America. Seeing our notice +of this tree, Mr. NICHOLLS of Sharon Springs, N. Y., wrote us that he +had "seen Fuchsias in the Isle of Jersey, in the English Channel, thirty +feet in height, and there are hundreds there from twenty to twenty-five +feet." + + +PROPAGATING FUCHSIAS. + +We have found the most effective method to be by placing the cuttings in +a bottle of water, and keeping them in a sunny window, but the following +method is said to be practiced by cottagers in the west of England: "In +the autumn, after the frost has destroyed the foliage, the wood of the +present season is cut off close to the ground and laid like a sheaf of +corn in a trench a foot deep. The bundle is covered with a few inches of +soil, and here it remains until spring, when a multitude of young shoots +may be seen pushing their way through. The soil is then carefully moved, +and with a sharp knife a cut is made each side of a joint, and the +result is rooted plants enough for the parish. The old stool throws up +more vigorously than before, to be served in the same way the following +autumn." + + + + +A Talk About Coleuses. + + +BY ONE OF THEMSELVES. + +Only a few years ago, not one of the Coleus family had a place in the +gardens of Europe and America, and I have been told that in our absence +gardeners depended chiefly upon plants with showy flowers for +ornamenting their gardens and grounds. When some of my remote relatives +were introduced, numerous were the surmisings as to what place they +should occupy amongst cultivated plants. This was especially so in the +case of Perilla Nankinensis, a plant of most sombre hue, but so striking +withal as to attract general attention. Some looked upon it as the +forerunner of a class of plants destined to play an important part in +the future, whilst others regarded it as a vile weed. Nevertheless, +considerable attention was bestowed upon its cultivation for a time; but +ultimately became so neglected as to be met with chiefly as a garden +weed. This may have been owing in some measure to the introduction of +Coleus Blumei, which species was regarded with greater favor, and at +once took a place which it held fairly well for a time, or until he +whose name I bear obtained from it varieties so novel and brilliant in +color, as to entitle them to rank high amongst the time-honored +favorites of the garden. From the most reliable information, I infer +that this species at least is one of my immediate ancestors, and whether +I owe as much of kinship to any other, has not been made known. But this +I do know, from the day I was first introduced to the public, in my +chocolate and violet colored suit until the present time, I have been +praised as few plants have been. But being neither envious nor vain, I +have desired the company of those whose colors are brighter than my own, +as variety in harmony gives greater satisfaction than any one can singly +bestow. Some of the older varieties are well fitted to produce this +effect, and none more so, perhaps, than my old friends Aurea Marginata, +and Golden Circle; but the majority of their class either lack +expression, or are so delicately constituted as to become perfect +"frights" when planted out of doors. + +[Illustration: DREER'S NEW HYBRID COLEUSES.] + +During my time, many varieties with excellent characters when in my +company, have performed their parts but poorly, whilst others have had +enough to do to keep up a doubtful reputation. It was with pleasure, +therefore, I hailed the arrival of a fresh set from England a short time +ago, headed by George Bunyard, who, with his companions were so highly +spoken of, that I hoped one or more of them would prove of service to +me. But this hope has not been realized, and to-day, for all of them, I +am as destitute of support as I was before their arrival. Poor George, +after being much in his company for a season, it is only fair to say, he +performed his part so poorly that I hope, for the credit of both, we +shall never meet again under similar circumstances. + +What the incoming season may bring forth, yet remains to be seen, but at +present the prospects are good for a grand display, as a new order of +aspirants are being marshaled for duty, whose merits, some say, are such +as to eclipse the old members of our family, and even take from me the +honors I have enjoyed so long. Should their claim be well founded, I +shall surrender my right to the first place without regret, and be even +glad to take any subordinate place I may be deemed competent to fill. +But should they fail to meet the expectations thus produced, it will be +my duty to remain at my post until such time as new varieties are found, +regarding whose merits there can be no doubt. + +Be it understood that what has been said about my associates has +reference only to them as bedders; for it is well known, many varieties +when grown under glass, and partially shaded from the glare of sunshine, +possess greater brilliancy and beauty than I lay claim to. For this +reason, I think those so constituted as to require the protection of a +green-house, should be sparingly, if at all, planted out of doors, and +the outside department exclusively occupied by such as attain their +greatest perfection in free air and the full tide of sunlight. + +Before closing this monologue, I am forced to say a word in behalf of a +plant seemingly possessed of extraordinary capacity for the work in +which I excel. I refer to Acalypha Macaffeana, the leaves of which are +large and finely formed; color, reddish-brown, and irregularly blotched +with bright shades of crimson. When fully exposed to sunlight, it looks +as if "on fire through all its length," and being much more stately than +myself, might form the central figure in a group of Coleus or other +plants with the greatest acceptance.--VERSCHAFFELTII, in _Gardeners +Monthly_. + +We do not know who is the author of this very interesting autobiography +of an old and popular Coleus. The florist for whom it was named, M. +Nuytans Verschaffelt, was the adopted son of the late Jean Verschaffelt, +of whose nursery near Ghent, he was the manager, and to which he +succeeded on the death of the proprietor. M. Nuytans was a very +distinguished and highly esteemed horticulturist; he was an active +member of the Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of Ghent and +Chevalier of the Order of Philip the Magnanimous. He died June, 1880, in +the forty-fourth year of his age. + +There has been a remarkable progress in the development of the Coleus +since the introduction of Blumei, but the two past years have been more +distinguished than any previous ones by the originating of many new and +beautiful hybrids. Pre-eminent among these are "Dreer's Set of +Tri-colored Coleus," fifteen varieties; "Queensland Set," fifteen +varieties, and "Queensland Set of Dwarfs," ten varieties. Mr. Henry A. +Dreer says of them: "These varieties which it is a pleasure to offer, +have originated in our nursery grounds during the past summer, were +selected from perhaps six thousand seedlings excelling in point of +color, variety, habit and novelty, and we feel safe in predicting for +them a future that leaves nothing wanting in this class of plants." + +Mr. Dreer is sustained in his statement by the verdict of many of the +leading florists who visited them, and the committees of the Cincinnati, +Philadelphia and New York Horticultural Societies, the summer and autumn +before they were offered to the public. + +In the February number of the _Gardeners Monthly_, a lady asks some of +the correspondents who have tried the new Coleuses, to report thereon, +whether as brilliant as their illustrated types, and if they retain +their colors in bedding out. We will give the replies from the March +number. + +J. R. H., Richmond, Va., says: "In response to the query of Mrs. R. B. +Edson about Dreer's New Hybrid Coleus, I take pleasure in giving my +experience with regard to their hardiness in the summer sun. As the +summers in our city are extremely dry and hot, I think it a very fair +trial of them. + +"When I received my box of Coleus from Mr. Dreer and opened it, the +first thought was that I was swindled nicely, while I at once perceived +that they were of an entirely new type of Coleus, but considered their +colors very ugly indeed, and quite different from the colored sheet in +his catalogue. However, I determined to give them a trial before +expressing my opinion. I put them in the hottest place I could find, +determined to get out of them all the 'come out,' should there be any, +and to my utter surprise, their colors changed so rapidly and +beautifully, that after a lapse of two weeks, I could scarcely believe +they were the same plants. I so much liked them I determined they should +have a prominent place in my garden, and accordingly planted them in my +border where they did not miss the sun at all while it shone. They grew +off at once with the old colors (as when received), which discouraged me +again, when to my surprise, about the middle of June, they began to +show their bright colors again, and in three weeks they were the +brightest and prettiest Coleuses I have ever seen, and remained so with +a continual growth until they were killed by the frost. + +"I must confess I never saw plants resemble as much the colored plates +of their likeness, as did my Coleus; just like the plate with the +exception of the fine gloss, which of course I did not expect. It seemed +that the hotter the atmosphere was the brighter they looked, and have +stood the sun about twenty per cent better than the older varieties. +They have given me more pleasure than any set of new plants I have ever +received. I consider them the greatest acquisition I have known in the +soft-wooded class of plants. While there is quite a similarity in the +tri-colored set, it is not at all an objection. The only objections to +any of them are that Amabilis and Mrs. E. B. Cooper, while very rank +growers, are exceedingly ugly, and Superbissima entirely worthless. It +will not grow, I don't care what I do with it. Some seedlings that I +have raised from them are very richly colored, and I think them much +prettier than their parents, though I have not had a chance to test +their qualities in the summer." + +We regret that the writer did not give the names of those Coleus he so +much admired as well as those which are "exceedingly ugly" and "entirely +worthless." We can report the same lack of success with Superbissima. It +would not grow one bit, but remained stationary several months, and then +died. + +Mr. E. L. Koethens reports from a large collection: "For bedding these +are the chosen ones, Gracilliana, Miss R. Kirkpatrick, Superbissima, and +above all, Speciosa. But for inside culture, many of the new ones are +unsurpassed for beauty in any class of decorative plants. Here again +Speciosa and Miss R. Kirkpatrick of Dreer's set, lay claims to +attention, and his Amabilis is attractive for its free blooming +properties. Fairy is also conspicuous, and Beacon takes the place of +Superbissima indoors, but Zephyr, in my opinion crowns them all as a +foliage plant for indoor culture; a single head often measuring ten +inches across, with a rich bronzy-brown color. The above are all +valuable acquisitions and should be in every collection." + +Mrs. M. D. Wellcome thus writes: "Mrs. R. B. Edson in her charming +'Garden Notes and Gossip,' asks that some of the correspondents who have +tried the new Coleus, Dreer's and Henderson's new sets, report thereon. +I have not tried Henderson's, and only six of Dreer's, so I am not +prepared to report very fully. But I wish to make special mention of +Miss Ritta Kirkpatrick, which looks like the picture only it is +handsomer. It is the one represented by a large leaf, creamy white +center, broad, green lobed margin. It was a wee plant when it came to me +in early spring, but it very rapidly outgrew the other five, branching +out finely, so that I began in June to take slips from it, and have +continued to do this each month to the present time. I should think I +had rooted full thirty cuttings, and the original plant, which has been +beheaded on three of its branches, has now twenty-eight that would I +think all make very nice plants, if treated as were the others. I rooted +them all in sand, kept constantly wet, and exposed nearly all day to the +rays of the sun. I never saw anything so quickly take root and so +rapidly grow as did those cuttings. At one time I kept half a dozen +about two months in the pure sand, till they were fine large plants, +with a great mass of roots. They can be removed from the sand to pots of +earth without retarding their growth. I always allow the particles which +adhere to remain in transplanting. This Coleus is a special favorite +with me. Fairy, foliage yellow and green, blotched with crimson-scarlet, +and Charm, yellow, tinged with bronzy scarlet, stained with dark brown; +green deeply serrated margin, were very beautiful in the open ground, +and from these I rooted also in sand several very fine cuttings. But +the original plants did not grow rapidly. I think the Coleus adds much +to the attraction of the border, but it is for the winter window-garden +they are specially valuable." + +These new Hybrids have stood the test of a year's trial, and three +varieties exhibited at the June meeting of the Royal Horticultural +Society, London, carried off the highest prize for this class of plants, +and received very flattering newspaper notices. In Mr. Dreer's catalogue +for 1881, he has selected twenty-four which he calls the cream of those +New Hybrids. Superbissima is included, while Zephyr is omitted. +Kirkpatrick is among them, we are happy to say. So superb are some of +the recent Coleuses, Verschaffeltii, we fear, will have to retire still +further into private life. Being quite advanced in years, we presume he +will not regret this. We are sure that he will always be treated with +that respect which is due to honorable old age. + + + + +Ornamental Foliage Plants. + + +How much one who gives attention may learn in the vast field of Nature! +How varied are its attractions, how wonderful its work, how +indescribable its beauties! There is a fascination in these studies, +whatever may be the department to which they are directed, and the more +one learns the more sensible they become of the limitations of their +knowledge. I have already told you I had within a year or two been +awaking to a realization of the value of ornamental foliage plants in +giving an abiding brightness and beauty to the window-garden and open +border. As humanity is ever prone to extremes I may become too +enthusiastic in this direction. I thought there was some danger of it as +I surveyed my array of pots filled with fine specimens of various sorts. +I will take them for my subject to-day, giving whatever facts of +interest I have been enabled to gather from various sources. + + +CROTONS. + +Everybody has heard of croton oil, but only a few of that same everybody +know anything about Crotons. The number of species known is enormous, +and they are found in many parts of the world, but chiefly at the South +Sea Islands. Some kinds are native to our own country, mainly in the +South and Southwest, but these are not characterized by the brilliant +markings of the foreign varieties. Their leaves are often thick and +large, but usually they are very long and narrow and ribbed, veined, +spotted and blotched with crimson, scarlet and gold. They are a very +interesting class of ornamental plants, and their low price, twenty-five +to fifty cents, except for novelties, places them within reach of the +common people. They do best in a rich soil, with a little peat and sand; +also an abundance of water. + +The specimens I have are these: _Aucubæ Folium_--leaves large, dark +green, blotched with golden yellow. _Interruptum_, very long leaves, +mid-rib bright scarlet, shading to gold--very graceful. _Irregulare_, so +named because of the irregularity of its leaves in shape and color--two +precisely alike being rare. + +The handsomest however of my collection, is Croton _Weismanni_. The +ground color is a shining bright green, striped and mottled with golden +yellow. The leaves grow to a foot in length and three-fourths of an inch +wide. Among the more recent and high priced novelties are Croton +_Evansianus_ and _Princess of Wales_. The former is "distinguished by +the peculiar form of its trilobate leaves and the depth of coloring +pervading the whole plant. The newest formed leaves are light olive +green with mid-ribs and veins of golden yellow, and the interspaces +spotted with the same color. As the leaves become older, the green +deepens and changes to a bright bronzy crimson, and the golden yellow of +the mid-ribs, veins and spots becomes a rich orange scarlet." _Princess +of Wales_ is one of the long-leaved drooping forms of Croton, and is +very distinct in character. The leaves are from one and one-half to two +feet in length. The ground color is green, and the variegations +creamy-yellow, very variable in color. The markings are of the maculate +style, with here and there large blotches of clear cream-yellow, and and +in other parts clouded markings of smaller confluent blotches and spots. +Occasionally these conditions are reversed. + +The Croton _Fenzii_, recently offered in commerce by M. SOLVIATI, of +Florence, is described as a jewel among the Crotons. It is the result of +a cross effected in the green-houses of Sesto, between _C. Veitchii_ and +_C. Weismanni_, and has moderate sized oval acuminate leaves, richly +veined with golden yellow, the principal nerves being purplish-red, +which color extends to the stem and the petiole. The habit is so dwarf +and compact that plants only a foot high are often seen with all their +splendor, the yellow streaking then extending to almost the whole +surface of the leaf, and the red nerves shining on the yellow ground. It +is a variety especially fitted for the decoration of small green-houses, +as it requires very little room to be able to develop all its charms. +This variety has been dedicated to the Chevalier E. O. FENZI, President +of the Royal Horticultural Society of Tuscany.--_London Florist._ + + +FANCY CALADIUMS. + +Of these the varieties are numerous, and the foliage very ornamental. +Those I have are _Dr. Hondley_; green ground, blotched with rose, +crimson center; _Madame Houllette_,--blush clusters and white spots on +green ground; _Sagittæfolium pictum_,--arrow-shaped leaves prettily +spotted with white; _Madame Alfred Bleu_,--the ground color of the +leaves is silvery white, which is blotched with green, in some leaves +very sparingly, in others, nearly half the surface; the veins are +prominent and of rich rosy crimson, bordered by narrow bands of a +lighter shade. _Alfred Mame_,--beautiful deep carmine, richly marked +with rosy spots and white leaf margin. _La Perle de Brazil_,--ground +color, green, reticulated all over with pure white, like fine lace. +These last three are from the collection of Mr. John Saul of Washington, +and are new. + +Fancy Caladiums do best in somewhat shaded positions, in well enriched +soil, composed of finely decomposed manure, leaf mold and sand, and a +moist, warm temperature. Great care must be had in their earliest stage +of growth, to prevent decay of the tubers by over-watering. They can be +preserved in sand during the winter, in a room sufficiently warm to +prevent danger from frost. + + +CALADIUM ESCULENTUM, + +Is the most striking and grand of the Ornamental Foliage Plants for the +lawn or flower garden. It will grow in any good soil, and is very easy +of cultivation. When of full size it stands about five feet high, and +its immense leaves often measure four feet in length by two and a half +in breadth; very smooth, of a light green color, beautifully veined and +variegated with dark green. When killed down by frost in the autumn, the +bulbs must be taken up and stored in the cellar. The Caladium belongs to +the family of "Jack in the Pulpit," or Indian Turnip, and the Ethiopian +or Egyptian Calla. They rarely bloom in our Northern States. The flowers +resemble in shape the Calla Lily, only are much larger and narrower, are +of a rich cream color, very fragrant at first, but soon lose their odor, +which resembles the Magnolia. + + +ERANTHEMUMS. + +These comprise a large genus valuable for their foliage and also winter +flowers, yet not very generally cultivated. Mine are labeled +_Andersonii_, "a handsome orchid-like flower, white, spotted with red." +_Pictum_, foliage prettily streaked with white, a strong, vigorous +grower; _Tricolor_, leaves prettily marked with pink and green; +_Cooperi_, has flowers white, prettily streaked with purple; _El +Dorado_, light green foliage, with golden veinings. + + +MARANTAS. + +These are considered by florists as among the most elegant of tropical +plants, but like the Eranthemums, are not generally known. They are all +natives of tropical America, and require strong heat with plenty of +moisture. They are low-priced, and ought to be more extensively +cultivated. I think mine are very beautiful. _Eximia_, upper surface of +leaves striped with grayish-white; under, purplish-violet. _Leopordina_, +pale green with oblong blotches of deep green. _Mikans_, shining green +with a white feathery stripe. _Van den Heckii_, dark glossy leaves, +mid-rib silvery white. _Makayana_, a very ornamental dwarf species; +leaf-stalks slender reddish-purple, blade of the leaf ovate, ground +color, olive green, beautifully and regularly blotched with creamy +yellow of a transparent character; on each side the mid-rib are oblong +dark green blotches, while the under side is rosy red. _Tubispatha_ is +an elegant and very attractive species of erect habit of growth; leaves +some nine or ten inches long, light green, ornamented on each side the +mid-rib with oblong blotches of cinnamon brown. _Veitchii_, "The leaves +of this grand plant are upward of twelve inches in length; the under +surface of a rich purplish-wine color, the upper of a deep shining +green, blotched with conspicuous patches along each side, of a +yellowish-green, almost verging on gray. The contrast is very marked, +and the whole plant very beautiful." + +ACHYRANTHES, a genus of richly colored tropical plants, are better +known, and to a limited extent are found in many gardens, +_Verschaffelti_, with its dark crimson leaf, being the most common. +_Brilliantissima_, ruby red, is a new English variety; _Wallisii_ is a +new dwarf, with small purple leaves; _Lindeni Aurea Reticulata_, foliage +netted with golden yellow, on a light green ground. These plants are of +the easiest cultivation, and endure strong sunshine without injury. + +ALTERNANTHERAS are also very effective for bedding plants; habit dwarf. +Foliage is in some of a magenta-rose color, others, yellow and red; +_Purpurea_ has a purplish tint, and _Versicolor_, crimson and pink +shadings. They are unsurpassed for ribbon or carpet bedding. + +DIEFFENBACHIA, a genus of stove plants with very showy foliage. +_Brasiliensis_, a handsome variety, the leaves averaging eighteen inches +in length by eight or nine inches in width; the ground color of the leaf +is deep green, and the whole surface is mottled with small blotches of +greenish-yellow and white; _Bausei_ is a stocky-growing, broad-leaved +variety, with yellowish-green leaves, which are irregularly edged and +blotched with dark green, and also spotted with white, the markings +being peculiarly effective; _Weirie_ is of dwarf habit, the foliage of a +bright green color, thickly blotched and spotted with pale yellow. One +of the finest of the species. They grow best in loam and peat equal +quantities, with a little sand. Require strong heat and frequent +watering. + +A few ornamental foliage plants of rare beauty received from Mr. John +Saul merit special notice: + +_Cyanaphyllum Spectandum_ is a grand plant with large, oblong, lustrous +leaves which have a rich, velvety appearance; they are beautifully +ribbed with whitish color. + +_Alocacia Macrorhiza Variegata_, its large caladium-shaped leaves are +marbled and broadly splashed with white. Some leaves are nearly all +white; _Zebrina_, fine yellow leaf-stalk with distinct black marks; +_Illustris_, the leaf-stalks are erect, and have a brownish-purple tint, +color a rich green, marked between the principal veins by broad patches +of a blackish olive, and forming a striking contrast with the brighter +green portions of the leaf surface; _Sedini_, "A very beautiful hybrid +between _A. Metallica_ and _A. Lowii_. The form of the leaf is perfectly +intermediate between the two parents, whilst the coloring is a very +striking and pleasing combination of the metallic hue of one parent, +with the dark green and prominent white veins of the other." Alocasias +require a moist heat during their growing season. Soil, peat, with a +small portion of loam, sand and manure. + +_Acalypha Macafeeana_ is another of the rare and beautiful foliage +plants alluded to. It is considered the best Acalypha ever offered. It +is certainly very handsome with its "sub-cordate and serrate leaves, +eight inches long and six broad, frequently cut into many forms, and +very highly colored bright red, blotched with deep bronzy crimson." It +proves to be an admirable plant for bedding out. Quite as attractive +every way is _Panax Laciniatum_, "An elegant and very distinct habited +stove plant from the South Sea islands. The leaves are tinted and +indistinctly marked with pale olive brown, and form a rather complicated +mass of narrow segments; they are bipinnate, nearly as broad as long, +and have a drooping contour; and the pinnules or segments are very +variable in size and form, presenting the appearance of a complex head +of foliage in which the lanceolate lobes or pinnules have the +preponderancy." + +_Panax Fruiticosm_ has a very graceful fern-like foliage. These plants +belong to the Aralia family, a genus very ornamental, natives of the +South Sea Islands. + +Another of my Washington collection, very graceful and beautiful, is +_Paulinia Thalictrifolia_. Its delicate cut leaves resemble the fronds +of a finely divided Maiden-hair Fern. The leaves are of a rich shade of +green. The young shoots and foliage are of a pinkish-brown color. It is +of slender growth and climbing habit, very similar to Capsidium +Filicifolium, which has long been a special favorite of mine. Both of +these are elegant, trained on a pot trellis. + +Paulinia Thalictrifolia is a native of the southern Brazils, from whence +it was introduced to the nurseries of Messrs. Veitch & Sons of Chelsea. +If only required for decorative purposes there should be no inclination +to make the plants produce flowers which are inconspicuous; therefore +the main object should be to have plenty of healthy foliage. To secure +this, the plant should be grown in a temperature of from 65° to 70°, and +if one part of the greenhouse is more adapted to its growth than +another, it is the dampest part. After this plant came into the +possession of Messrs. Veitch, and before its true value became known, +some plants of it were placed in a corner of an old, very damp, warm +pit, in which position they grew wonderfully strong, and quite surpassed +in vigor and beauty those that were, as was then supposed, placed under +more advantageous circumstances, i.e., in dryer and lighter parts of +other houses. Care is therefore now taken to keep them where abundant +atmospheric moisture can be supplied. A compost consisting of two parts +good substantial peat and one of loam, together with some silver sand, +suits it admirably.--_Gardening Illustrated._ + + +CANNAS. + +These form a very important part of the class of which we are treating. +They give a very beautiful and tropical appearance to the lawn and the +garden by their stately growth and broad massive foliage, relieved by +rich crimson, scarlet and orange-red flowers. Their foliage comprises +various shades of green, glaucous, chocolate and purple tints, ribbed +and striped, fitting them admirably for grouping with other plants. + +They are also very effective for large pot plants in the +pleasure-ground, or conservatory. Under rich cultivation they will +attain the height of five feet. They need water often. Among the newer +roots _Creole_, very dark foliage, grows to the height of about six +feet. _Ornement du Grand Rond_, very tall, with large bronzy-green +foliage, large scarlet flowers. _Oriflamme_ has large lanceolate-green +leaves, with violet veins, a vigorous showy plant with salmon-orange +flowers. + +The roots of Cannas must be taken up in the autumn. If wanted singly, +divide them, if a thick clump is desirable let them be planted out as +they are. They must be kept perfectly dry through the winter; if the +cellar is very damp they will do better packed in sand. + + +DRACÆNA. + +This is a valuable genus of ornamental plants, specially fine for the +center of vases, and for pot culture. Although their culture is on the +increase, they are not so frequently grown as they deserve. The species +are very numerous, and are found in tropical countries, especially in +the islands of the tropics. Many of them assume the proportions of +trees. The largest specimen ever known was one of Dracæna Draco, or the +Dragon tree of Oratava in Teneriffe, one of the Canary Islands. This +tree was remarkable for its monstrous dimensions and prodigious +longevity. About ten years since, or in the autumn of 1867, this +magnificent specimen was destroyed by a gale of wind. It was a special +object of interest in the Canary Islands, and received the attention and +veneration of visitors, as do the great Seguvia trees of California. Its +trunk below the lowest branches was eighty feet in height, and ten men +holding hands could scarcely encircle it; by one measurement this span +around it was seventy-nine feet. The trunk was hollow, and in the +interior was a winding stair-case, by which one might ascend as far as +the part from which the branches sprang. It is affirmed by tradition +that, when the island of Teneriffe was discovered in 1402, this tree was +as large, and the cavity in the trunk as great, as at the time of its +destruction. We are even assured that in the fifteenth century, at the +time of the conquest of the Canaries by the Normans and Spaniards, they +celebrated mass on a little altar erected in this cavity. From the slow +growth of the young Dragon trees in the Canaries, it has been estimated +that this monster tree before it was destroyed, was the oldest plant +upon the globe. A writer in describing it says: "Long leaves pointed +like swords, crowned the extremities of the branches, and white +panicles, which developed in autumn, threw a mantle of flowers upon this +dome of verdure." The popular name of this species is Dragon's-blood +Tree, because of a resinous juice of a red color which exudes from the +cracks in its trunk. At one time this resin formed a considerable branch +of commerce, as it was used medicinally as an astringent, but it has +fallen into disuse. + +The Dracænas belong to the Lily family, and they afford a remarkable +contrast to the palms and other arborescent endogens, by their branching +heads. The young trees of Dracæna Draco do not, however, send out any +branches, even in their native localities, until they are thirty years +old or more. The small plants of this species, cultivated for ornament, +have always a single, straight stem; but are much more robust, and +quickly assume more stately proportions than those of the other kinds +that will be mentioned. + +The Dracæna is admired for its peculiar grace of form--it would be in +vain in common house culture to expect flowers. To admire a plant for +its well developed and graceful form, marks an advancement in refined +taste beyond that which would induce one to exclaim, "Oh!" at the sight +of a brilliantly colored flower. Even in rearing a plant for flowers, +the first object should be to develop it to the fullest extent in size +and shape and strength--to make a beautiful object of the plant itself; +just as the first and main attention given to a child, for years, should +be to develop and build up its physical system. + +The Dracæna is a good house plant, a good balcony and veranda plant, +good for the vase in the open air, and in a handsome pot is a fine +ornament for table decoration. Its culture is of the simplest kind, +adapting itself to any ordinarily good soil, it only requires to be +supplied moderately with moisture and to have a temperature ranging +upward from sixty-five degrees. It delights in a moist air, and whenever +possible, water should be kept where it will rapidly evaporate, and thus +ameliorate the atmosphere in this respect for the plant. This condition, +moreover, is conducive to the well-being of most plants, and no good +plant-grower can disregard it with impunity. Washing the leaves and stem +of the plant frequently with a wet sponge, is favorable to its health +and vigor, and one of the best preventives of the attack of insects. +With dust on the leaves the plants look dingy, while frequent washing +keeps them bright and lustrous. + +Dracæna indivisa has long, slender, dark green leaves, about +three-quarters of an inch or an inch in width, and from two and a half +feet to three feet in length, and the lower ones especially are very +much recurved or gracefully drooping. This species is among the hardiest +of the Dracænas, and is frequently wintered in the open ground, with +some protection in climates where the temperature frequently descends +several degrees below the freezing point. + +Dracæna terminalis is the most popular of the whole family in this +country, and is worthy of all the admiration bestowed upon it. The +leaves are broader and more erect than those of the preceding species, +and of a dark green suffused with red, or having streaks of a reddish +color; the young leaves nearly pink, but assuming a dark bronzy copper +color afterward. It is a very distinct and showy plant, and adapted to a +great variety of ornamental purposes. The propagation and sale of it is +rapidly increasing every year, and it is already widely disseminated. At +the Sandwich Islands it is cultivated to a considerable extent for its +roots, which are baked and eaten. A fermented beverage is also made from +the juice, and its leaves are employed as fodder for cattle, and for +clothing and other domestic purposes. + +Dracæna Shepherdii is of a most noble form, and is one of the finest yet +in cultivation. It has long, spreading leaves, of a metallic green, with +stripes and border of bronzy-orange, and is a very free grower. Unlike +most of the forms already known, which color most on the free young +growth of vigorous plants, this plant takes on its distinctive coloring +gradually on the older leaves. + +Dracæna cannæfolia is an interesting species. Its peculiarity consists +in the length of petiole, which is as long as the rest of the leaf. The +blade of the leaf is elliptical in form, from fifteen to twenty inches +in length, firm, and of a glaucous green. + +Within a few years past much attention has been given by cultivators in +Great Britain and Europe to hybridizing the Dracæna, and producing new +varieties. The most remarkable success has attended the efforts in this +direction, of MR. BAUSE, in the establishment of MR. WILLS, of Anerly, +England. The variety is wonderful--"broad-leaved, medium-leaved and +narrow-leaved; bronzy and green, crimson, rose, pink, violet and white +variegations; drooping, spreading, and erect habits, are blended in all +sorts of combinations." + +One of the sorts produced is described as "a most important acquisition, +having quite the habit and character of the well-known favorite +terminalis, but with white variegation. The ground color is a bright +green, with bold, white variegation, the upper leaves being white, with +here and there a bar of green."--_Vick's Magazine._ + + +DRACÆNA GOLDIANA. + +Sent out in this country for the first time in 1880, is said to be "one +of the most magnificent ornamental foliage plants ever introduced, and +altogether unique in character and aspect. It is a native of Western +Tropical Africa. The plant is of erect habit, and the stems are closely +set with stalked spreading leaves, the petioles of which are of a +grayish color, terete with a narrow furrow along the upper side, the +base being dilated and sheathing the stem. The blade of leaf is marbled +and irregularly banded with dark green and silver gray in alternate +straight bands, the colors being about equally distributed. The back of +the unfolded leaves is a pale reddish-purple or wine color, and the +stem, where visible. It is, without doubt, one of the most superb of +ornamental stove plants." + +When first sent out in London in 1878, its price was from five to ten +guineas per plant. We do not know the price in this country. Mr. H. A. +Dreer who has an illustration of it in his catalogue, furnishes the +price only on application, which is evidence that it is costly. From the +type given, it must be exceedingly handsome, and wholly unlike any +Dracæna before offered in America. + +Dracænas, as we have noticed before, are particularly desirable house +plants, keeping in good condition for a long time, even in rooms where +gas is burned--places so unsuited to most plants. They are liable to +attacks of the Mealy Bug and the Red Spider if neglected, but the +syringing and sponging advised for them will effectually prevent their +gaining a foothold if frequently and thoroughly performed. After a year +or two the plants begin to lose their lower leaves, and to get leggy, a +state of things quite undesirable, as the beauty and effectiveness of +the plants depend upon their being furnished with leaves down to the +base of the stem. When the plants have become unsightly from the loss of +their leaves, they can be renewed very quickly by a simple process. Cut +a notch in the stem, on one side, just below the lowest good leaves, and +take out a piece of the wood, then do the same on the other side of the +stem, but not exactly opposite the first notch. The object is to check +the flow of sap at this point and yet allow enough of it to pass to +maintain the head. Having cut the notches, take some moss or sphagnum +and bind about the stem, covering the incisions and fastening it on +securely with twine or fine wire; the moss is to be kept gently moist, +and in the course of two weeks will have thrown out young roots above +the notches. The head can now be severed from the stem and potted in a +medium-sized pot. After keeping it a few days in the shade, it can be +gradually brought out into the full light, and will be found to be +established. + +Dracænas may also be multiplied by removing the thick, fleshy root that +may usually be found in the base of the plant. Those tuberous roots can +be potted, and if kept in a warm place will soon start and make new +plants. When plants are re-potted a favorable opportunity is offered for +taking off these roots, for the roots of the old plants are actively at +work and, with the fresh soil they receive, will soon recover from any +slight check they may have received. + +The most rapid method of propagating this plant is by cuttings of the +stem; the stem may be cut into pieces an inch in length, and those +pieces split in two, and all of those bits will root and become plants. +They should be placed in a light, sandy soil, and given a brisk bottom +heat of 70° or 80° degrees. They will break and start into growth in a +few days.--_Vick's Magazine._ + +So fully does the foregoing express all that is needful regarding the +Dracæna, we have thought best to give it entire. We might greatly +enlarge on the subject of Ornamental Foliage Plants, and speak of the +beautiful Palms, so fine for decorative purposes, the pretty Ferns and +elegant Aralias, of which latter "_Sieboldi_ is a capital house plant, +so enduring that it will live and keep its beautiful dark green color +for weeks almost in the dark." Then there is the Euonymus, so bright +with its glossy green leaves, long a favorite whether for the border or +window garden. _Argentea_ has striped foliage, and _Japonicas aurea_ has +its dark green foliage diversified with golden variegations. _Bicolor_, +foliage almost white, and _Tricolor_, a rarer form, is marked with pink +and white. + +With the numerous varieties we have named, it will be apparent how +ornamental our gardens, whether within doors or without, may be made by +plants, the beauty of which is wholly independent of flowers, and they +do wonderfully enhance the effect of the bloomers. The Centaureas and +Cinerarias with their deeply lobed leaves of white, are too well known +to need any special mention. We do not intend however to pass so lightly +over another stately and highly ornamental genus that comes within the +reach of everyone. Ricinus, the seed of which can be purchased for a +dime, are magnificent in foliage, and when combined with the brilliant +colored fruit of the giant varieties, the effect is very oriental. +Ricinus _Africanus albidus_ is of recent introduction. It is white +fruited, and the stems and leaves are silvery; height eight feet. +_Borbaniensis arboreus_ has very large and showy foliage; height fifteen +feet. _Communis_ is the Castor Oil Plant. _Sanguineus_ (Obermanii) bears +splendid red fruit in clusters, and is very ornamental. A species from +Phillippines has gigantic foliage; height ten feet. These can be +purchased in separate or mixed packets, and we advise everyone who has a +bit of ground to try them. We will close with + + +A BIG BEAN STORY. + +I have just harvested my Ricinus or Castor Bean, which I raised from the +seed you sent me last spring. It was of mammoth growth, attaining a +height of fourteen and a half feet, and sixteen feet across the branches +of which there were seventeen after cutting off five during the summer. +Each of the branches contained a cluster of burs, the center one having +one hundred and thirty-four burs, the other branches not so many. Many +of the leaves measured from thirty to thirty-two inches across from tip +to tip or point of leaves. When sawed off at the ground, the body +measured five inches and a half of wood in diameter, inside of the bark, +which was one-fourth of an inch thick. This is a big bean story but +nevertheless a true one.--T. G. T. in _Vick's Magazine_. + + + + +A Talk About Primroses. + + +It is an old adage that one must take Time by the forelock. In the +culture of flowers, we must certainly do so, planning and preparing in +spring for the coming winter, if we would secure for ourselves plants +that can be relied on for blooming. We know of none equal to + + +THE CHINESE PRIMROSE, + +for common house culture, commencing to flower usually in November, and +continuing through the spring months. The seed for this ought to be sown +in April--if later the plants will not come into bloom so early. The +soil for Primroses in all stages should be fine, light and rich, with a +good mixture of sand. + +For seed sowing it can be put in pans, boxes or six inch pots. First, +put in drainage--I use for this coarse sand--then the coarse siftings of +the soil. On this to the depth of one and a half or two inches, put the +fine mixed soil, press down smoothly and spray lightly with tepid water. +Sow the seed on the surface, and sift on enough of the fine earth to +partially but not fully cover them. Cover with a glass, or with a bit of +soft nice flannel, and place in the shade where a mild moist temperature +can be attained. Where flannel is used, it can be kept damp and thus +impart moisture to the seeds without their being saturated, washed bare, +or displaced by spraying. When the seed has germinated, then glass can +be substituted. The tender seedlings must be gradually brought to the +sunlight; too long exposure at first would kill them, and if kept in the +shade too much they will become drawn and dwarfed. This is the critical +period, and many fail at this point. Great care is essential till the +plants put forth the third leaf, which is rough and the true primula +leaf. Then the plants must be carefully transplanted into other pots +prepared as before. In about a month the glass can be removed and the +plants potted separately, setting them low, as it is a peculiarity of +the Primula to stretch itself up out of the soil, and become shaky. It +is necessary sometimes to give them support. In watering, care must be +had to prevent the water lodging in the axils of the leaves, which cause +them to decay. They will not bear showering like smooth surfaced plants, +and only occasionally should they be sprayed through a fine hose. They +must be kept during the summer months in a shady place, and have a cool +bottom to stand on; a cold frame is the best. They must be housed by the +end of September, and the best situation for them is a light, airy shelf +near the glass, yet not exposed to intense sunshine. They do not like +frequent changes of position and temperature, nor to be grown with other +plants. Give them a cool place where they will have the morning or +afternoon sun for a time. During the blossoming season stimulate the +soil once a week with liquid manure, or water with a few drops of +ammonia added. Pick off all flowers as fast as they fade. Plants are +stronger and better the second year, and unless they get too shaky, are +good for three years. They must, after blossoming, be taken out of the +pot, the ball of earth reduced from the roots, and then re-potted in +fresh soil. It is not needful to keep them dormant and shaded through +the summer, but in a cool and partially secluded position, they will +after a brief rest begin to grow, putting forth frequently little crowns +all around about the old one, and be full of blossoms during the autumn +and winter months. The double varieties are not so easily grown, and +cannot be recommended for general culture to be raised from seed. Fine +plants can be procured from the florists, but the large single sorts, we +think give the most satisfaction. Ellis Brothers, Keene, N. H., have +sent us for trial, packets of very fine strains; some are rare, and, +judging from the description, must be very beautiful. It is not often +that we find more than four varieties named in the catalogues. They +send out a dozen sorts, some of which we will name: _Primula Fimbriata +Kermesina Splendens_; Large flowers, brilliant velvet like crimson, +yellow eye. _Primula Frimbriata Punctata Elegantissima_; a new variety; +flower velvety crimson, edge spotted with white; very distinct. _Primula +Fimbriata Striata_; beautifully striped. _Primula Fringed_, _Fern Leaf_; +pure white, with large citron eye; very fine. _Primula Globosa_, new; a +large flowering, fringed sort; petals large and many of them crimped, +each overlapping the other, so that they appear almost semi-double; +colors white, light pink, crimson and lilac pink. All of these can be +bought in mixed or separate packets. We cannot find room for all of +these, but hope from the rarest to obtain some fine plants to brighten +our room the coming winter. Great advances have been made since the +Primrose was introduced into this country little more than half a +century ago. + +[Illustration] + +Of the novelties we find in the London _Garden_ special mention made of +Primula Sinensis Fimbriata Alba Magnifica. The writer says: "The +Primulas from Mr. B. S. Williams' Victoria Nurseries, Holloway, were +remarkably fine. The newest sort shown, Alba Magnifica, promises to be +an excellent kind; the flowers are large, produced in dense and many +flowered trusses, borne well above the foliage, which is also remarkable +being elegantly crisped at the margins. The color is white, the purity +of which, however, is more strongly marked when the plants are more +mature than those shown; the habit of growth is very robust." + +Of this novelty Mr. H. Cannell says: "The new white Primula is of +exquisite form and substance; the plants are exceedingly compact, with +deeply indented leaves of a light green color; the flowers measure two +and one-quarter inches in diameter, pure white, with large, bright +yellow eye, each petal being deeply and beautifully fringed, and are +borne in large trusses well above the foliage." + +We give an illustration of this Primula, kindly furnished by Ellis +Bros., who are of the first to offer it in this country. + + +CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES. + +"What is the difference between them? I am told differently by nearly +every florist I ask. An old Englishman told me the other day that he +used to grow great quantities of them in England, and that the +difference between the two is, that the Picotee has fringed edged +leaves, while in the Carnation proper the edge of the leaf is smooth +like a rose." + +The question is asked of Mr. Vick, and he thus replies: "The Carnation +and Picotee differ only in the arrangement of the color, or markings. +The distinction is made by florists, and is of course arbitrary. Seeds +saved from one plant, may produce both Carnations and Picotee, or even +from the same seed-pod. In an old work in our possession, the +distinction is as stated, but for long years any flower with an +irregular edge has been considered unworthy of propagation. The +Carnation should have broad stripes of color running through from the +center to the edge of the petals. The Picotee has only a band of color +on the edge of each petal."--_Vick's Magazine._ + +Although Mr. Vick here states that the Carnation should have broad +stripes of color, neither he, nor any other florist makes this +distinction, but call pure white, and pure red Carnations, just as +freely as those that are striped. + +There are two classes of Carnations, and thousands of varieties. The +class of Perpetual Bloomers are called Monthly and Tree Carnations. The +Garden Carnations are hardy, and can be left in the garden during winter +by giving them a covering of leaves, straw, or evergreen boughs. They +are easily raised from seed. Sown in June or July, will make good robust +plants before frost, which will bloom the following summer. Some of them +will be single, perhaps, and these can be removed. Those of superior +merit may be multiplied by _layering_. This method is to select good +healthy shoots that have not bloomed, and make a cut midway between two +joints. First cut half way through the shoot, then make a slit +lengthwise to a joint. Remove the earth a few inches in depth, and press +the branch down so that this slit will open, and then cover with the +soil. Roots will form where the cut was made, and thus a new plant will +be formed, which can be removed in the autumn or spring. Midsummer is +the best time to do this, and by adopting this method good, healthy +plants are secured. The plants should be well watered a day or two +before layering is commenced, and immediately afterward--then only +occasionally. They are frequently propagated by cuttings, which can be +rooted in wet sand, or in light sandy soil. + + +PERPETUAL BLOOMERS, + +Or Monthly Carnations, can be easily obtained of the florists for summer +or winter blooming; the former purchased in the spring, and the latter +in the autumn. If one raises their own stock, it is not best to allow +those to bloom much during the summer that are wanted for winter +flowering. It is well to sink the pots in a good sunny place in the +garden, and when they run up and show signs of bedding, cut back the +stalk so that it may become more compact and branchy, then the buds in +the late autumn or winter, will be much more numerous. The best for +winter blooming are _La Purite_ (carmine), _President de Graw_ (white), +_Peerless_ (white, striped with pink) and _Peter Henderson_, of the +well-known varieties. Of those of recent introduction, _Lady Emma_ is +said to be excellent. One florist says that "it is destined to be one +of the leading winter-blooming Carnations. From my bed of one thousand +plants in the green-house throughout December and January last, I +plucked more blooms than from any other variety occupying the same +space." It has proved excellent also for a bedding pink. Its color is a +rare shade of crimson scarlet; the flower is of medium size, full and +double, and never bursting down the side. _Lord Clyde_ has for three +years proved to be an excellent winter bloomer. It is of a very robust +growth, like its parent the _Edwardsii_, but of a more dwarf, +low-flowering habit. The ground-work is white, thickly striped with +carmine, and a frequent blotch of maroon; very floriferous, each stem +bearing from six to eight flowerets. _Lydia_ is another of the recent +novelties, and is very handsome. Flowers very large and intensely +double, of a rich rosy, orange color blotched and flecked with carmine. +_Crimson King_ is one of the largest Carnations, very full, bushy habit, +and robust, color crimson-scarlet. A pure bright scarlet is rare; when +therefore, _Firebrand_, a novelty of 1880, was announced as a bright +scarlet, it produced quite a sensation. It is very highly commended by +those who have seen it. _Grace Wilder_, _Princess Louise_ and _Fred +Johnson_, are new hybrid seedlings now offered for the first time to the +public. + +There was quite a discussion in the _Gardener's Monthly_ of last year as +to the best pure White Carnation. In the August number, Mr. E. Fryer of +Delaware writes: "The varieties called _Peter Henderson_, sent out by +Nanz and Neuner I have found to be the best white I have yet grown for +winter bloom. It is a stronger and better bloomer than de Graw, its only +drawback being that it runs up high like _La Purite_. _Snowdon_ is a +true dwarf, pure white, and if it proves a good winter bloomer, will +probably supersede all other whites, the flower being of fair size and +very fragrant. Bock's Seedling, _Charles Sumner_, I have grown the past +winter. The flower is of an enormous size, but it invariably bursts +before opening, and is a dull unattractive color. _Waverly_ I have also +grown last winter--a splendid variety, rich crimson scarlet; the color +was no way exaggerated as represented in the _Monthly_ a year ago; +produces a fair average of flowers to the plant, flowers selling readily +at ten cents each. I think this the most useful color to the commercial +florist. + +"I still cling to the old carmine _La Purite_, which for quantity of +bloom, size of flower and general good qualities, I think has not been +beat by any of the newer varieties for winter bloom." Mr. Peter +Henderson, one of the leading florists, places _Snowdon_ above all other +white Carnations, its dwarf habit making it specially desirable. + +Florist's Pinks are more dwarf than the Carnations, flowers very double, +clove scented, and are of various shades of maroon, carmine, crimson and +rose interlaced with white. + + +THE ORIGIN OF THE FLORIST'S PINK. + +The _Gardener's Chronicle_ gives the following interesting account of +the origin of this class: "It may be interesting to record the fact, +published in an old number of the _Floricultural Cabinet_, that the +first Pink worthy of notice was raised in the year 1772, by Mr. JAMES +MAJOR who was then gardener to the duchess of Lancaster; previous to +that there were but four sorts, and those of very little note, being +cultivated as only common border flowers. Mr. MAJOR having saved some +seed in 1771, he reared several plants, which, blooming the next season, +one of the number proved to be a double flower with laced petals, at +which he was agreeably surprised, although he considered it as being +only in embryo, and the prelude to still further advance to be developed +at some future period, which is now verified by the rapid strides this +beautiful flower made in size and quality during the years which +followed. Mr. MAJOR informed the writer of the foregoing remarks that he +made his discovery known to a nurseryman or florist and was offered the +sum of ten guineas for the stock of his new Pink; but, acting on the +advice of his friends, he declined to sell, and set to work instead and +increased the stock with a view of offering it in sale to the public. It +was sent out to the public at half a guinea a pair (for it has long been +a custom of offering Pinks in pairs, a custom which is continued to this +day), under the name of MAJOR'S Duchess of Lancaster, the orders for +which amounted to £80. It is recorded that one individual ordered as +many as twenty pairs, which was considered in those days an unusually +large number. It would be interesting to have a bloom of Duchess of +Lancaster to compare with the fine double varieties of the present day. +We appear to have come to something like a pause in the matter of Pink +production as the flowers are now very large and full, and the lacing is +as perfect as can well be conceived." + + +DIANTHUS. + +The word is derived from the Greek words _Dios_, divine, and _Anthos_, a +flower; God's flower, or the flower of Jove. There are several species, +and many varieties of Dianthus; _Dianthus Caryophyllus_ is what is +commonly known as the Clove Pink, and from it have been produced the +double varieties called Carnations and Picotees. The plant in its wild +state is found growing on the south side of the Swiss Alps, at a low +altitude, where the winters are not severe. The common perennial garden +Pink is _Dianthus Plumarias_. The old and well-known Chinese Pink, +_Dianthus Chinensis_, is a biennial, flowering the first season from +seed sown in spring, lives during the winter, blooms the second year, +and then dies. New and superb varieties have been introduced of late +years from Japan, and _Dianthus Laciniatus_, and _Dianthus Heddewigii_, +both single and double, make a splendid display, and are among the most +desirable of our garden flowers. _Dianthus Diadematus_ is of dwarf +habit, very profuse in blooming, and the flowers are of various hues, +from white to dark maroon, and also beautifully marbled and spotted. Of +the recent novelties _Eastern Queen_ and _Crimson Belle_ are superb; we +speak from personal knowledge. "Eastern Queen" is beautifully marbled; +the broad bands of rich mauve upon the paler surface of the petals are +very striking. "Crimson Belle," as its name implies, is of a rich +crimson hue, with dark markings; very large and finely fringed. + +For early blooming it is well to sow seed as early as April. June sowing +will secure good hardy plants for the following season. When there is a +profusion of bloom, it is well to remove a portion of the flowers, so +that the plants may not become exhausted, and the seed pods beyond what +are desired for ripening, ought also to be cut off. + + + + +A Talk About Climbers. + + Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green, + That creepeth o'er ruins old! + Of right choice food are his meals I ween, + In his cell so lone and cold, + The wall must be crumbled, the stone decayed, + To pleasure his dainty whim; + And the moldering dust that years have made, + Is a merry meal for him. + Creeping where no life is seen, + A rare old plant is the Ivy green. + + CHARLES DICKENS. + + +Have been off on a vacation, peering into other folks' gardens and +admiring other people's flowers. Visited the Public Garden of Boston and +saw that there had been a marked improvement within ten years. The +massed beds of several sorts, with their contrasting borders, were very +attractive, specially the maroon Coleuses with border of Centaurea. +There were few varieties of Geraniums, and these were mostly massed in +beds, some all scarlet, others wholly pink. + +At Forest Hills Cemetery there was the finest display of flowers and +tropical plants I ever saw, and they are very artistically and +tastefully displayed. I saw several beds with artistic designs on a +ground work of Sempervivum, evidencing great skill in the arrangement +and culture. The entrance gateway to Forest Hills Cemetery is very +beautiful in design, and here we saw that graceful climber Ampeclopsis +Veitchii, in the perfection of its beauty, covering the front almost +entirely. I had noted it in various stages of growth, clinging to the +dwellings in all parts of the city, requiring no aid but its own little +rootlets. It is a native of Japan and was introduced in this country +twelve years ago. It was slow at first in being duly appreciated, but +now is widely known and extensively propagated. Probably the finest +plant is owned by Mr. George L. Conover of Geneva, N. Y. It covers the +entire front of his two-story square house, and has become so famous +that horticulturists from all parts of the country have been attracted +by it, and a great many people have visited Geneva for the special +purpose of seeing this fine plant. It has proved to be perfectly hardy, +only the first year the young and tender plant needs some protection +during the winter. Florists are growing them in great quantities to meet +the increasing demand. It can be obtained for twenty cents. I received a +small plant last year and kept it in my window box during the winter. It +died down, however, and I quite forgot about it, till it sprang forth +anew in April. Since putting it in the ground it has grown rapidly, and +I shall value it now more than ever. + + +HONEYSUCKLE. + +_The Golden-Leaved Honeysuckle_ is a special favorite of mine. Its +leaves are so netted and veined with yellow as to give this hue the +predominance. The foliage is small; the flowers are yellow and fragrant. +The family of _Lonicerus_, or Honeysuckle, embraces a large variety. The +botanical name was given in honor of _Lonicer_, a German botanist, who +died about three hundred years ago. + +_Lonicerus Holliana_ was introduced into this country from Japan by Dr. +Hall. The flowers are pure white when they first open, but assume a +creamy tinge in a few days. This variety blooms almost continuously from +June till frost. It attains sometimes to the height of twenty, and even +thirty feet. The flowers are very fragrant. + +_Belgian_, or Monthly Fragrant, bears its blossoms in clusters. They are +pure white in the interior at first, but afterward change to creamy +yellow, deepening into orange. + +_Sempervirens_ (Scarlet Trumpet) is a native of this country, and +perfectly hardy. This is the most common, though not fragrant. It is a +strong grower, and blooms from June to November. Its scarlet flowers +tinged with orange afford a pleasing contrast with its dark, glossy +foliage. + + +CANARY BIRD FLOWER. + +For an out-door annual climber, what can be prettier than the dainty, +graceful Canary Flower? Mine have scorned the limitations of the twine I +had fastened to the lower limbs of a small pear tree and ascending far +above them, have run out a full yard on a large branch. The light green, +finely lacinated foliage is very handsome of itself, but when the Canary +bird flower is added, how lovely it is! It is so easily grown from seed +that I wonder so few have it. A paper costing only ten cents would give +you a score of plants, and they are much prettier for the bay window +than Madeira vines. + +A writer from England says: "While in the north of England, last fall, +we paid a visit to Alnwick Castle, the seat of the Duke of +Northumberland, and the ancient home of the Percy family.... The first +thing that struck me on entering the town was a bay window most +charmingly draped with light green climbers, and literally covered with +bright lemon yellow flowers. Now this appeared so strange to me (for the +chilly night air had already affected the geraniums and other tender +out-door plants), that I had to cross the street, take the Yankee +liberty to open the gate, go inside and examine this thrifty beauty. I +confess I was not only surprised but greatly interested to find it was +_only_ the Canary flower, _Tropaeolum peregrinum_, a member of the +Nasturtium family, and I concluded at once that there should be one +cottage in America next summer worth coming miles to see on account of +its climbing plants of light green foliage and rich yellow masses of +Canary bird flower."--WALTON, in _Vick's Magazine_. + +Do not forget to include this pretty vine in your seed order next year. + + +COBOEA SCANDENS. + +This is one of the best of our climbing annuals, on account of its rapid +and luxuriant growth, attractive foliage and large bell-shaped flowers. +Under favorable circumstances they will grow to the height of twenty and +even thirty feet in a summer. They commence to bloom when quite young, +and continue in bloom until destroyed by frost. Some people remove them +from the border to the house for winter blooming, but the change from +out-door to indoor life, often retards their growth and mars their +beauty. They are too cumbersome for window plants after having grown +during the season, and it is better to sow seed in August, and get in +this way plants for the house. They are hard to germinate, and need to +be started in pots or in a hot bed. Place them in moist earth _edge +down_, and do not water until the young plants appear above the surface, +unless the earth becomes very dry. + +For out-door blooming sow in March or April. As soon as the plants are +strong enough, transplant to three-inch pots; keep them shaded from the +sun for a few days, gradually expose to the open air, and plant out when +all danger from frost is over. The soil should be well stirred to the +depth of nearly two feet, and well rotted manure worked in. In dry +weather they need liberal watering as often as once a week, and liquid +manure water occasionally is of great benefit to them. + +The Coboea can be propagated by layers at almost any season of the year. +It is done in this way: Cut a notch near a joint, place in a pot and +fill with soil, and keep the soil moist. It takes from two weeks to a +month for them to root. + +A writer says of this plant: "The Coboea is an old favorite and it is +worthy of remark that but few of the novelties introduced of late years +can equal some of the old favorites that we have been accustomed to +grow. The Coboea is a native of Mexico, from which country it was +introduced in 1792. It was named in honor of Bernandez Cobo, a Spanish +priest and botanist. The growth of the vine is very luxuriant, and it is +equally easy of cultivation, the only essentials to success being +warmth, a rich, light soil, and sufficient water. If allowed to become +very dry, it will soon wither away. It requires sun and a warm room to +grow it to perfection; yet it is not a tender plant, that is, it will +live anywhere, provided the frost does not touch it, and is one of the +few plants which will flourish luxuriantly in parlors lighted with gas +and kept almost at fever heat. If grown in a hanging basket or pot, it +must be large and the roots allowed plenty of room to spread out in. In +the summer the pots can be removed from the interior room to a balcony +or piazza, or plunged until they are again wanted. Then clip off the +growth of branches and leaves, place the pot back again in a sunny +window, where it will soon start afresh, with new arms and leaves to +cover the window. It is one of the best vines for parlor decoration, as +it will drape and festoon the window, and stretch forth its tendrils, +running up even to the ceiling. The tendrils are so clinging in their +nature that they will attach themselves to anything which comes within +their reach--curtain cords, branches of other plants, brackets, +etc.,--throwing out new branches everywhere. + +"I advise all who adopt the plan of plunging the plant in the pot in the +open air during the summer, either to shift into a pot two sizes larger, +or else to take it out of the pot and reduce the ball of earth nearly +one-half, and repot it in fresh compost before removing it to the house. +This should be done not later than September 10th. The plants will amply +repay this little attention by an increased luxuriance of both foliage +and flowers during the winter months, while plants not so treated will +become sickly and unhealthy before spring, and beside, when pot-bound, +they soon become the prey of numerous insects." + +There are several varieties of the Coboea, though _scandens_ is the most +generally known. The large bell-shaped flowers are greenish at first, +but rapidly change to a dull purple. Coboea Scandens _Alba_ has greenish +white flowers. Coboea _variegata_ is one of the most magnificent +ornamental climbers, the leaves being broadly margined with yellowish +white, the variegated foliage forming a beautiful contrast with its +large purple flowers. It is of strong habit, a rapid grower, attaining +frequently the height of fifty feet in a short time. It is, however, +difficult of propagation, rooting with difficulty. The seeds vegetate as +readily as the common sort, but the plants are apt to die off soon after +attaining their seed leaves. Layering in the manner already specified, +is the best method of increase. + +Coboea scandens _argentea_ is another variegated leaved variety, +differing from _variegata_ in that its leaves are of a purer white. It +is described by some as being identical with Coboea scandens, Schuerens +Seedling, but by Messrs. Leeds & Co., of Richmond, Indiana, as being "a +great improvement on the old variegated variety. Leaves large, green, +bordered with creamy white; calyx of the flowers variegated like the +leaves." + + +CLEMATIS. + +Clematis (_Virgin's Bower_), derives its name from _klema_, a +vine-branch. The popular name, Virgin's Bower, was given to _Clematis +Viticella_ upon its introduction into England during the reign of +Elizabeth, 1569, and was intended as a compliment to that sovereign, who +liked to be called the Virgin Queen. + +There are, it is said, two hundred and thirty described species, the +majority of them free-growing, hardy climbers. They are among the most +gorgeous perpetual-blooming of the class under consideration. Great +improvements have been made during the past twenty-five years by +hybridization, but the finest varieties have originated within ten +years. Of the new English hybrids _Jackmanii_ stands in the front rank. +The flowers are from five to six inches in diameter, and consist of from +four to six sepals which have a ribbed bar down the center; the color +is of an intense violet-purple, remarkable for its velvety richness, and +a shading of reddish-purple toward the base, and they are furnished with +a broad central tuft of pale green stamens. It originated with Jackman & +Son, England, and was first exhibited at Kensington, 1872. It is a cross +between _Clematis Viticella_ and _Clematis Lanuginasa_. From this cross +many excellent seedlings have been raised, closely resembling the parent +stock in color and general character. + +Of Jackman's Clematises the English _Gardener_ has the following: "They +are magnificent; and more than this, they do give us some of the +grandest things in the way of creepers the horticultural world has ever +seen, making glorious ornaments either for walls, verandas, or rustic +poles or pillars, varying in color from deep rich violet hue to dark +velvety maroon, and in the newer seedlings, forms beautiful shades of +pale bright blue." + +Mr. Vick says of the Clematis: "Having a rather unsightly pile of stones +in the back part of our grounds, we had them thrown together more in the +form of a stone-heap, perhaps, than of anything worthy of the name of +rockery, and planted _Jackmanii_ and other fine sorts in the crevices, +and for three summers this stone-heap has been covered most gorgeously. +Thousands of flowers, in fact a mound of flowers, every day for months, +has been the delight of visitors, causing one to exclaim, 'Nothing since +Paradise has been more beautiful.'" + +These fine hybrids will endure our Northern winters if somewhat +protected. A gentleman in Rochester, N. Y., had a Jackmanii which bore +full exposure without protection and came out in the spring uninjured to +the height of nine feet. The extremities of the shoots for about two +feet were winter-killed. + +_Clematis Sieboldii_ is a native of Japan, whence it was introduced by +Mr. Low in 1837. It is of a slender free-growing habit. "The flowers +which are produced from July to September are composed of six ovate +sepals of a creamy white color, which form a fine background for the +large rosette of purple stamens which occupy the center and render the +flowers particularly attractive." + +_Clematis graveolins_ is a native of the mountains of Thibet. It is of +comparative recent introduction. The flowers are produced on long stalks +at the axils of the leaves, and are of a light yellow--an unusual color +in this genus. It grows to the height of from ten to fifteen feet, and +blooms freely during the entire season. + +A lady writes to Vick's Magazine that she has a Clematis graveolins +which is a wonderful sight. It grew from a feeble plant planted out in +spring, two inches in height, into a column twelve feet high and three +feet broad by August, and was a mass of yellow blossoms, and then, of +the most exquisite, long-haired, silvery seed pods until hard frost. It +lived through the winter, to its extreme tips, and then grew so rapidly, +shading such an important part of her garden, that she had to remove it +in the autumn, cutting it back severely. The seedlings from it grow, she +adds, to eight or ten feet in a season. + +_Clematis crispa_ is of Southern origin; the flowers are one and a half +inches long, produced singly on long stalks, and delightfully fragrant, +a rapid grower, and perfectly hardy. _Clematis coccinea_ is of recent +introduction from Texas, the flowers are bell-shaped, of a most +brilliant scarlet, and are produced in great abundance. This rare +variety is offered only by Woolson & Co., Passaic Falls, N. J., who make +a specialty of hardy herbaceous plants. _Vesta_, a Jackman, is large and +of fine form; dead white, with a creamy tinge over the center bar, +delicate primrose fragrance, an early bloomer. _Mrs. James Bateman_, +pale lavender, and _Thomas Moore_, violet, superb, are Jackman +seedlings, which flower in the summer and autumn, successionally, in +masses, on summer shoots. These are all high priced. Many fine sorts can +be purchased at prices ranging from thirty cents to one dollar. + +The Clematis requires only ordinary garden soil. Where there are severe +winters it is best to give the young plants at least some protection. +They can be propagated by layering, which is rather a slow method, or +rapidly by seed. + + +WISTARIA. + +Very beautiful among the hard-wooded Climbers, is the Chinese Wistaria +when in bloom. Its long, pendulous racemes of blue flowers are +exceedingly graceful. They are frequently twelve inches in length and +highly fragrant. The flowers appear about the last of May and first of +June. It is not a continuous bloomer like the Clematis, but often gives +a few flowers in August. It is rather slow at first, but after getting a +good start the second or third year grows very rapidly. It is hardy +after it gets strong, but young plants need some protection. + +The Chinese White Wistaria was introduced by Mr. Fortune, and is +regarded as a great acquisition. The _Double Purple_ is illustrated in +Ellwanger & Barry's Catalogue, by a full page engraving, which gives one +an idea of its beauty better than the description which is as follows: +"A rare and charming variety, with perfectly double flowers, deeper in +color than the single, and with racemes of remarkable length. The plant +is perfectly hardy, resembling Wistaria _Sinensis_, so well known as one +of our best climbing plants. The stock which we offer was purchased of +Mr. Parkman, who received this variety from Japan in 1863, and was the +first to bloom and exhibit it in this country." + +_White American Wistaria_ is a seedling originating with Messrs. +Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester, N. Y. Flowers clear white; bushes +short. Free bloomer. + + +CHINESE WISTARIA AS A STANDARD. + +A novelty has been offered to the horticultural public of London this +spring (1880), in the shape of standard trees of Wistaria Sinensis, +raised in tubs, having heads five or six feet in diameter and covered +with clusters of bloom. The plants were raised in Rouen, France, and +sent to London for sale. It requires several years to attain plants of +good size in this style, and as a matter of profit, a strict account +would no doubt show a balance on the wrong side. In this country where +the Wistaria is "at home," it may be raised in tree-shape in the open +ground without expense, save the necessary care in pinching in and +shaping. "So completely did the plants offered in London strike the +popular taste, that there was quite a competition to become purchasers +of them, and large sums were offered by those anxious to possess them. +The general public, unaccustomed to this fine Chinese climber, looked on +with wonder at "Lilacs" of such unwanted size and beauty of +color."--_Vick's Magazine._ + +Mr. Vick evidently does not deem this method an improvement on the +natural graceful climber, for it reminds him of an anecdote which he +thus relates in reply to an inquirer respecting the Wistaria as a +standard. + +"Once upon a time some kind of a steam cannon was invented, and a day of +trial was arranged at Portsmouth, England, to which the Lords of the +Admiralty and the Duke of Wellington were invited. After the exhibition, +which we believe was somewhat successful, opinions of its merits were +freely expressed, but the Iron Duke said nothing. When urged to give his +opinion, he replied that he was thinking--'thinking if the steam gun had +been first invented, what a grand improvement gunpowder would have +been.' If the Chinese Wistaria had been a tree, and some one could have +induced it to climb and cover our porches and arbors and old trees and +buildings, what a grand improvement it would have been." + + + + +Thoughts in My Garden. + + My faultless friends, the plants and flowers, + Have only smiles for me. + When drought withholds refreshing showers, + Through hot and dreary summer hours, + They then droop silently. + + When tired and worn with worldly care, + Their fragrance seems like praise, + A benediction in the air; + Pure as an unfallen angel's prayer, + Sweet'ning the saddest days. + + No frowns, no pouting, no complaints, + In my bright garden fair, + A colony of sinless saints, + Whose beauty Nature's pencil paints, + Are my fair darlings there. + + No inattention can awake + Envy or jealousy; + Their alabaster boxes break, + As Mary's did, and I partake + Of their rich fragrancy. + + Sometimes with weary soul and sad, + I taste their sweet perfume; + And then my soul is very glad, + I feel ashamed I ever had + A hateful sense of gloom. + + Flowers are the sylvan syllables, + In colors like the bow, + And wise is he who wisely spells + The blossomed words where beauty dwells, + In purple, gold and snow. + + O! sacred is the use of these + Sweet gifts to mortals given. + Their colors charm, their beauties please, + And every better sense they seize, + And bear our thoughts to Heaven. + + GEORGE W. BUNGAY. + + + + +A Talk About Several Things. + + "Spake full well in language quaint and olden, + One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, + When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, + Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine. + Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, + God hath written in those stars above; + But not less in these bright flowerets under us, + Stands the revelation of His love." + + +What changes have been manifested--how unceasingly and with what +deftness Nature has silently wrought in tapestry and embroidery, +sculpture and painting, till beauty is all around us, in the green +carpet of earth, brightened with flowers and leafage of every hue! No +wonder the birds sing praises to Him who gave them life with its +fullness of blessings. Sad to think that man, high over all, and under +the greatest obligation, too often is silent in thanksgiving for the +gifts of a Father's love. + +No month to me has such charms as June, when nature's robes are so fresh +and clean, and the balmy air is redolent with fragrance. How delightful +to be abroad with the early worm and early bird, working in the garden, +while the songsters give free concerts, and the hum of the honey bird, +and buzz of the bee, set forth a good example of cheerful industry! + +The house plants have become established in the open border, and are so +glad to get away from artificial heat and confined atmosphere into the +broad sunlight of heaven, and breathe in full draughts of pure air and +sweet dew, that they put on their best attire, and most attractive +ornaments. Before the roses bloom, the bed of geraniums looks bright +with flowers, each ambitious to excel his or her neighbor, either in +beauty of color, or form, or duration of bloom, thus leaving me in +perplexity as to choice. When _Pliny_ bloomed everybody admired who saw +his beauty; then _Romeo_ with quite another style looked charming, but +when _Naomi_ unfolded her large trusses of double pips, of a rare, +peculiar shade, nobody ever saw a geranium quite so lovely, and then its +duration of bloom--full six weeks! _Jennie Dolfus_, however, became a +dangerous rival--a deeper, richer shade, and not a pip would she allow +to fade so long as _Naomi_ looked so pert. Some said, "I like _Naomi_ +the best;" others said, "I think _Jennie_ is the prettiest." But +_Beauty_, close by, hearing the praises lavished on her sisters, and +perchance trusting in her good name, came forth one day in dress of +white with deep pink ornamentation. Never had such unique beauty as this +ever been seen in Geranium before, and, "Isn't it lovely!" "Just +splendid!" "What a beauty!" were uttered with exclamation points, till +she blushed with becoming modesty--the flush spread and deepened until +her face was completely suffused with the delicate tint, making her yet +more attractive. _Wellington_ donned his crimson suit, and _De Gasx_ an +orange yellow; _Pauline Lucca_, prima donna though she be, appeared in +dress of pure white, and _Richard Dean_ in scarlet with a white star +that was very becoming. _New Life_ thought to draw special attention by +odd freaks, and came out in a parti-colored dress of the most singular +combinations; part of it was scarlet dotted with white--part of it half +scarlet, half salmon, part of it widely striped, and part white with +just a flush of pink! I must call him the clown of the family! + +I have only named a few of the rare Geraniums that adorn one of the beds +of my garden. For beauty, free flowering, and duration of bloom they +cannot be surpassed. + +Interspersed with them are ornamental leaved Geraniums, _Crystal Palace +Gem_, an improvement on _Cloth of Gold_; _Marshal McMahon_, the best of +all the bronzes; _Cherub_, deep green, white and orange, flowers +carmine; _Glen Eyre Beauty_, _Dr. Livingstone_, a new, sweet-scented, +fine cut-leaved Geranium; _Happy Thought_, one of the most attractive, +with its dark green leaves and creamy white center. Here and there are +commingled Anchryanthus of divers hues, and Coleosus, giving a fine +effect to the whole. This is now the most attractive bed of all, but +when the Lilies are in bloom, and the dear little Tea Roses, the bed +parallel with it will be the sweetest, if not so brilliant. + +This year I have a tropical bed of oblong form. A Castor Bean rises +majestically in the center, two beautiful Cannas each side, while a +Dracæna, a splendid Croton, two fancy Caladiums, and a few other choice +plants fill the space, the whole bordered with Coxcombs. In a few weeks +this bed will look gorgeous, and those filled with annuals will have +changed from their present inattractiveness to delightful bloom. August +is really the month of fullness of blossom, and of restful enjoyment of +beauty and fragrance. The weary days of preparation, of bedding out and +of weeding, are over, and one may now give themselves up to the +enjoyment of the fruit of their labor, till the chill nights of autumn +bring a renewal of the toil. + +"Does the brief period of restful enjoyment repay for the many weary +days antecedent and subsequent?" + +Yes, richly, fully, for there is pleasure with the toil, and to me +health-giving influences that energize the physical system for indoor +work, and stimulate the brain for literary pursuits. To me my garden is +a God-send, fraught with blessings. + +"Gardening is a pleasant pastime." I am prepared to adopt that sentiment +to-day, if I did demur somewhat last month. It is a delightful pastime, +in the early morning, to spend an hour among the flowers, trowel in +hand, rooting out the weeds, loosening the soil around your plants, and +tying up here and there the tall and fragile, while the birds are +singing in the trees around you their morning song of gladness. How the +dew-laden grass and shrubs impart sweetness to the air, and your lungs +inhaling its purity, are expanded and invigorated, your whole system +feels the better for the tonic, and prepares for breakfast, and the work +that shall follow. + +It is a pleasant pastime, when wearied with toil you go forth for a time +among your flowers and search for the buds, or examine the newly-opened +flower. How it rests you! + +It is a pleasant pastime, when the labors of the day are over, and the +sun is throwing long shadows from the west, you take watering-pot in +hand, and shower the refreshing spray upon your plants, cleansing them +from the dust, and cooling them after the heat. How they thrive, and bud +and bloom! + + + + +The Love of Flowers. + + "We should love flowers, for when we are gone + From this forgetful world a few short years-- + Nay, months, perhaps--those whom we hold most dear, + Cease to bedew our memories with tears, + And no more footsteps mark the paths that lead + To where we dreamless lie; but God's dear flowers + Give to our very graves the loveliness + That won our tender praise when life was ours." + + +LAST WORDS OF THE POET HEINE. + +Of the many touching tributes paid to flowers, there is a beautiful one +associated with the closing hours of Henry Heine, the poet. He was dying +in Paris. The doctor was paying his usual visit, when Heine pressed his +hand and said: "Doctor, you are my friend, I ask a last favor. Tell me +the truth--the end is approaching, is it not?" + +The doctor was silent. + +"Thank you," said Heine calmly. + +"Have you any request to make?" asked the doctor, moved to tears. + +"Yes," replied the poet; "my wife sleeps--do not disturb her. Take from +the table the fragrant flowers she brought me this morning. I love +flowers so dearly. Thanks--place them upon my breast." He paused, as he +inhaled their perfume. His eyes closed, and he murmured: "Flowers, +flowers, how beautiful is Nature!" These were his last words. + + +THE OLD MAN AND THE FLOWERS. + +A few years since the Belfast (Me.) _Journal_ gave this touching +incident: "One day last week an elderly man, known to our people as an +honest and hard-working citizen, was walking slowly up Main street. +There was sorrow in his countenance, and the shadow of grief upon his +face. Opposite the Savings Bank his eye caught sight of the flowering +Oleander, that with other plants fill the bay-window of the +banking-room. He looked at it long and wistfully. At length he pushed +open the door, and approaching Mr. Q., said: + +"'Will you give me a few of those flowers?' + +"The cashier, leaving the counting of money and the computing of +interest, came around the counter, bent down the plant, cut off a +cluster of blossoms, and placed it in the man's toil-hardened hand. His +curiosity led him to ask: + +"'What do you want them for?' + +"'My little granddaughter died of scarlet fever last night,' the man +replied with faltering voice, 'and I want to put them in her coffin.' + +"Blessed be flowers, that can thus solace the bereavement of death and +lend their brightness as a bloom, to the last resting-place of the loved +one." + + +CONVERTED BY A FLOWER. + +There is a beautiful incident told of a Texas gentleman who was an +unbeliever in the Christian religion. One day he was walking in the +woods, reading the writings of Plato. He came to where the great writer +uses the phrase, "God geometrizes." He thought to himself, "If I could +only see plan and order in God's works, I could be a believer." Just +then he saw a little Texas Star at his feet. He picked it up and then +thoughtlessly began to count its petals. He found there were five. He +counted the stamens, and there were five of them. He counted the +divisions at the base of the flower, there were five of them. He then +set about multiplying these three fives to see how many chances there +were of a flower being brought into existence without the aid of mind, +and having in it these three fives. The chances against it were one +hundred and twenty-five to one. He thought that was very strange. He +examined another flower, and found it the same. He multiplied one +hundred and twenty-five by itself, to see how many chances there were +against there being two flowers, each having these exact relations of +numbers. He found the chances against it were thirteen thousand six +hundred and twenty-five to one. But all around him were multitudes of +these little flowers, and they had been growing and blooming there for +years. He thought this showed the order of intelligence, and that the +mind that ordained it was God. And so he shut up his book, picked up the +little flower, kissed it, and exclaimed: "_Bloom on little flowers; sing +on little birds; you have a God, and I have a God; the God that made +these little flowers made me_." + + + + +A Talk About Abutilons. + + +This species is one of the most desirable of hardy-wooded plants we +possess. They are admirable for the house, for the balcony, the piazza, +or the border, being handsome in foliage, and very graceful and +beautiful in flowers. Some are stately, others dwarf, some are flexible +and drooping. We have had for several years three that we have greatly +admired for their variegated leaves, especially for the winter +window-garden, where they compensate for the scarcity of flowers, by the +brilliancy of their foliage, yellow and green, finely mottled and +marbled. + +_Duc de Malakoff_ is stately, and by cutting off the top of the main +stalk, it is made to branch out very largely, forming a miniature tree. +It grows very rapidly, and its leaves are like the Maple in form, which +has led many to call the plant Flowering Maple, but this is not correct, +as it is not a Maple at all, but an Abutilon. Some of the leaves on one +only a year old, measure seven inches across, and eight and a half in +length. In the older plant they are not so large. _Thomsonii_ much +resembles _Malakoff_, but its markings are not so handsome; the green is +darker, and predominates over the yellow, so far as my observation +extends, but it is a more abundant bloomer. Flowers are orange color. I +have vainly searched through many catalogues to find the color of the +_Duc de Malakoff_ blossom, but all are silent; it is not even said that +they flower at all, but my four-year-old had one bud last year, which +unfortunately blighted. The yearling has one bud, and I hope it will +live and afford me the knowledge I have failed to find in books. +_Malakoff_ not variegated, has large orange bells, striped with brown. + +My other variegated Abutilons are of trailing habit; _Mesopotamicum_ is +very graceful, one droops over the side, and climbs and twines around +the cords of a large hanging-pot, for which it is admirably adapted. Its +small pendant blossoms, crimson and yellow, growing profusely along the +slender branches, drooping among the elegantly marbled foliage, give +this variety a very attractive charm. Another is trained to a pot +trellis, and is very beautiful in this form. We advise every one to add +this variety to their collection. _Pictum_ is very similar in every +respect; the leaves are darker, and not so variegated. They require a +strong light to bring out their markings, and hence are more perfect in +beauty when bedded out in the garden, where they can have plenty of +sunshine. + +_Boule de Neige_ (Fairy Bell) has long been a favorite for its pure +white bells and constancy of bloom. A splendid winter bloomer. _John +Hopkins_, with its rich, dark, glossy leaves and golden flowers has +superseded the old _Pearl d'Or_, which was for a time the only real +yellow. _Darwinii_ is one of my favorites. The flowers are more +spreading than any other variety, opening like a parasol; color +orange-scarlet veined with pink. It blossoms very profusely, and when +only a few inches in height. The flowers are large and well formed, and +borne in clusters rather than singly, like many older sorts. This +variety was cross-fertilized with _Santana_, crimson flower, and as a +result we have _Darwinii tessellatum_, combining the variegated foliage +of Thomsonii with the free-blooming qualities of _Darwinii_. + +The improvements by hybridizing have been very great within a few years, +and many new varieties have been sent out. One of these is _Roseum +Superbum_, the flowers of which are of a rich rose color, veined with a +delicate pink. Very free bloomer. _Venosum_, we find only named in an +English catalogue. "The magnificent blooms of this variety place it at +the top of all the Abutilons. Although it is of tall growth its +beautiful palm-shaped leaves and gorgeous flowers make it invaluable for +crossing and for conservatories."--_H. Cannell._ + +Among the new and valuable novelties of American origin are _Arthur +Belsham_, _Robert George_, _J. H. Skinner_, and _Joseph Hill_. These +have been three years before the public, and Mr. John Thorp, a +well-known popular florist of Queens, N. Y., says of them, "We have not, +amongst all the flowering Abutilons, such fine varieties as these. I +have had plants between five and six feet high, pyramidal shape and +literally covered with flowers." + +They originated with Messrs. Leeds & Co., of Richmond, Indiana, who make +quite a specialty of new seedling Abutilons, and this year offer four +"of new shades and colors." + +_A. G. Porter._ "Flowers of a beautiful lavender color, delicately +suffused with a light shade of rosy pink, and handsomely veined with +magenta, forming a flower of magnificent color and shape, a very free +bloomer. A cross between _Boule de Neige_ and _Rosaflora_, with the +habit and growth of _Boule de Neige_." + +_Little Beauty_, "A very dwarf grower, having a short, compact, +symmetrical bush, which is completely covered with its medium-sized but +well-shaped flowers, of a very light salmon color, beautifully veined +with rosy carmine. It blooms in clusters and when in full bloom makes a +remarkably fine appearance. A cross between _Rosaflora_ and _Darwinii_." + +_N. B. Stover_, "A low, compact grower. Flowers large and well-formed, +almost covering the bush; color, rich ponceau, finely veined with +carmine. A decided novelty, being a new color among Abutilons." + +_Dr. Rapples._ "Light orange salmon, veined with crimson. One of the +most attractive in the set." + +A new Abutilon, a decided novelty in color, comes to us from "The Home +for Flowers," Swanley, England, sent with other choice plants by Henry +Cannell & Son. It is thus described in his _Floral Guide_: + +FIREFLY (Swanley Red). By far the highest and brightest color of all +the family; habit dwarf, and one of the freest bloomers, throwing +flowers out on strong foot stalks of the finest shape; certainly one of +the noblest, and when grown in a pot it flowers all the winter, and all +the summer when planted out, and forms one of the best flowering shrubs +that we possess. + +PARENTAGE OF THIS FLOWER.--Mr. George states that he sometime since +flowered a small red variety, which had a very lively shade of color, +and determining to make this a seed parent, it occurred to him to use on +it the pollen of the single deep color Hibiscas, which, like the +Abutilon, is included in the natural order _Malvaceæ_. Mr. George thinks +the fine color seen in his new variety, _Firefly_, is due to this happy +inspiration of color. + +The _Gardener's Chronicle_ has this paragraph respecting Firefly: A red +Abutilon, one of a batch of recent seedlings raised by Mr. J. George of +Putney Heath, well deserves the foregoing appellation. The flowers are +of large size and of a much greater depth and vividness of color than +that possessed by any variety in the Chiswick collection. It has been +provisionally named Firefly, and we believe the stock has passed into +the hands of H. Cannell & Son, of Swanley, for distribution. + +A writer in _Vick's Magazine_ describes a method of training the +Abutilon that must, we think, be a very attractive one. + +"A pretty plant may be obtained by inarching Abutilon Mesopotamicum upon +_Abutilon Darwinii_, or some other strong-growing variety, and training +it so as form an umbrella head, which can easily be done. The stock for +this purpose should be about five or six feet high. Grown in this way it +produces an abundance of bloom, and the flowers being elevated are seen +in all their beauty. If _Abutilon Mesopotamicum_ is inarched upon +_Abutilon Thompsonii_, the result will be _Abutilon Mesopotamicum +Variegatum_. A well-formed plant of this on a stock about five feet high +is one of the finest of plants; whether in blossom or not it is always +adapted for decorative or exhibition purposes. Care must be taken at +all times to keep them tied to stakes, as they are liable to be broken +off by the wind." + +Abutilons are apt to be infested by the red spider, if kept in too dry +an atmosphere, and not frequently sprayed. Moisture is death to this +pest, but as it makes its home on the under side of the leaf, it is too +often overlooked until it has destroyed the vitality of the foliage. +Recently I found that my large _Duc de Malakoff_ looked sickly, and I +concluded it had become root-bound. A few days later, I noticed brown +spots thickly covering the bark. I removed one, and on examining the +under side through a microscope, I saw several tiny insects moving +about. I decided that my plant was troubled with the scale of which I +had often read, but never seen. I made a pretty strong solution of +soap-suds, and with a sponge quite easily removed all of the pests. + +In bedding out Abutilons, it is better to have them in pots, plugging +the hole, or setting the pot on a stone or piece of brick, so that the +roots may not go astray, for if plunged directly in the ground they +throw out many roots and the plant becomes too large for re-potting to +advantage. If, however, they are planted in the earth, in August they +should be cut around the stock so as to bring the roots within due +bounds, and the plant can be pruned in the autumn. This method is +applicable to all strong plants that run largely to roots. They should +be cut off sufficiently to leave only a ball of earth of convenient size +to set in the pot when the plant is transplanted. + + + + +A Talk About Dahlias. + + +The genus Dahlia comprises but few species, all natives of the mountains +of Mexico, whose range is from 5000 to 10,000 feet above the level of +the sea. About one hundred years ago a Spanish botanist introduced seeds +of the Dahlia into his native country, and named the genus in honor of a +Swedish botanist, DAHL. The first seed imported seemed to be variable +and not very promising. About seventy years since, HUMBOLDT sent fresh +seed to Germany. Soon after this, both seeds and bulbs were introduced +into England and France, and began to attract considerable attention, +some enthusiast being rash enough to hazard the assertion that "there +are considerable reasons for thinking that the Dahlia will hereafter be +raised with double flowers." + +About 1812 probably the first double Dahlia was grown, but for several +years after this both double and single varieties were figured in +colored plates, and exhibited at horticultural shows. That the single +varieties were prized is not strange, for the double were not very good, +and even as late as 1818, published figures showed very imperfect +flowers. + +The improvement of the Dahlia after this was rapid, and its popularity +quite kept pace with its improvement. Dahlia exhibitions were held in +England and on the continent, which were crowded by enthusiastic +admirers of this wonderful Mexican flower. For many years the Dahlia +maintained its popularity, but there is a fashion in flowers, as in +almost everything, and for a time the Dahlia became, to a certain +extent, unfashionable, and this was well; for it placed the flower upon +merit alone, and growers were compelled to introduce new and superior +varieties to command either attention or sale for their favorite +flower. + +A taste for old styles is now the "correct thing," and so we have +imitations of ancient earthenware, furniture, etc., and import +_original_ Chinese Aster seed, and also obtain roots of the single +Dahlia from Mexico. + +There are three pretty distinct classes, the _Show_ Dahlias, the Dwarf +or Bedding, and the _Pompon_ or Bouquet, and to this we may add the +_Fancy_ Dahlia. The _Show Dahlia_ grows from three to four feet in +height, and embraces all our finest sorts, fit for exhibition at +horticultural shows, from which the name is derived; the flowers range +in size from two and a half to five inches in diameter. The striped and +mottled and spotted varieties belonging to the Show section are called +_Fancy_, and though not as rich, nor usually as highly prized as the +selfs, or those of one color, are very attractive. The _Dwarf_ or +_Bedding Dahlia_ grows about eighteen inches in height, and makes a +thick, compact bush, and covers a good deal of surface; flowers of the +size of Show Dahlias. They are therefore very desirable for bedding and +massing. The _Pompon_ or _Bouquet Dahlia_ makes a pretty, compact plant, +about three feet in height. The leaves are small, and the flowers from +one to two inches in diameter. Many expect to find small flowers on +their Dwarf Dahlias, and feel disappointed because they are of the +ordinary size, not knowing that it is the plant, and not the flower, +that is dwarfed, and that only the Pompon gives the small flowers. The +word _Pompon_ is French for topknot or trinket, meaning about the same +as the English word cockade. The English term _Bouquet_ is very +appropriate, as the flowers are so small they are very suitable for +bouquets. Being of a spreading habit, they cover a good deal of ground. +Unlike most of our bedding out plants, they do best in a poor soil; if +rich, they grow to branches and leaves so much, they bloom sparingly and +late. + +Generally those who plant Dahlias purchase the tuberous roots, because +they give good strong plants, that flower freely without trouble or +risk. They are smaller and better than the large, coarse roots usually +grown, because they are raised from cuttings, and generally form their +roots in pots. When a tuber is planted, a number of buds that cluster +around its top will push and form shoots, and if too numerous, a portion +should be removed; indeed, one good, strong plant will suffice, and then +the plant will become a tree instead of a bush. Even then, if the top +become too thick, a little thinning of the branches will be of +advantage. If the young shoots that start from the neck of the bulb, are +cut off near a joint and placed in a hot-bed in sandy soil, they will +root, form good plants, and flower quite as well as plants grown from +the tuber; this, however, requires some care and experience, and +amateurs generally will succeed best with bulbs. + +New varieties of Dahlias, of course, are from seed. Some of them prove +good, others fair, and a portion utterly worthless. As a general rule, +we would not advise amateurs to trouble with seeds, although there is +pleasure in watching the birth and development of a new and beautiful +variety. + +The seed of Dahlias may be sown in pots in early spring or end of +winter, in a light, loamy soil; they will germinate quickly, and as soon +as they begin to show their second leaves they should be pricked out +into other pots or boxes, so that they may have plenty of room and +air--they are very liable to damp off if at all crowded. After pricking +out they should be kept in a thrifty, growing condition, by proper +attention to watering and temperature; the temperature should be +maintained as near 70° as possible, and the watering be sufficient to +preserve a moderate moisture. + +If the green fly attack them, it will be best to treat them to a very +weak dilution of tobacco water; the young succulent plants are very +sensitive to smoke, and it is best not to fumigate them. In about two +months the young plants should be large enough to pot off singly, or to +be transplanted into a frame or bed, where protection can be given them +from the cold of night-time, or from late frosts. As soon as all danger +is past they can be transplanted into their summer quarters, and should +stand at least three feet apart. The soil where they are to grow, should +be rich and mellow. In August they will come into flower, and those +having blooms worthy of cultivation can be retained, and the others +destroyed. Only a small proportion of the plants grown from common seed +produce flowers equal to those now in cultivation, but when seed is +saved from a choice collection of named varieties, the chances are that +a large proportion of the plants will produce very good +flowers.--_Vick's Magazine._ + +"The Dahlia is called a _gross feeder_, but it is not. It loves moisture +rather than rich elemental food. In clay it finds the best constituents +of its development--moisture, silex, lime and alumnia. So we say to +those who love this queenly flower, if you would see the queen in all +her glory, plant in a comparatively heavy soil, no manure, and reduce +the stalks to one for each tuber, set the stakes firmly, to keep the +stalks from swaying, and if the season is dry, give the bulbs a +_soaking_ with water every evening during the drought. My word for it +you will then be proud of your success." + +The Pompon, or Bouquet Dahlia is a favorite variety of this genus. The +little round balls of bloom are so pretty and trim. _Beatrice_, blush +tinted with violet; _Dr. Stein_, deep maroon, striped and mottled; +_Goldfinder_, golden yellow; _Little Philip_, creamy-buff edged with +lilac; _Little Valentine_, crimson; _Mein Streifling_, salmon, striped +with crimson; _Pearl_, white; _Prima Donna_, white, fimbriated; +_Perfection_, deep maroon. + + +SINGLE DAHLIAS. + +Anything for a change from the common order of things, seems to be the +fashion now-a-days, in flowers as well as in house building and house +furnishing. The antique, the antique, is the rage! So after years of +labor and hybridization to bring the Dahlia up from its native state of +single blessedness, to its enormous cauliflower blooms, there comes a +reaction, and now single Dahlias are praised as "the most beautiful of +all flowers," the "_par excellence_ the Londoner's flower!" Well, let +the English florists thus praise its beauty if they want to, but we +opine that on this side of the great ocean it will never be considered +"the most beautiful of all flowers," however attractive some of them may +be, and well adapted for bouquets. There is no danger of their +superseding the doubles, but it is well to have both when one can afford +it; their present high price puts them beyond the reach of those whose +purses are not well filled, but in a year or two, when the novelty is +worn off, they can be purchased at half or even less, perhaps, than +their present price. + +We find in the London _Garden_ the following: "Dahlia perfecta, +originally introduced by Messrs. Henderson, is perhaps the finest flower +which we possess, unless Paragon, brought into notice by H. Cannell, may +be considered to bear away the palm. Lutea, a quilled yellow, is also a +grand bouquet flower." + +The single Dahlias, Paragon and Lutea, are now offered for the first +time in this country, by Messrs. Hallock & Thorp of Queens, N. Y., and +the former is finely illustrated in their catalogue. Color very dark +velvety maroon with shadings of bright scarlet around each petal; small +yellow disk. Lutea is pure yellow, with dark orange center. The same +firm offer Dahlia Juarezii, of which Mr. Cannell says: "The grandest +novelty of the year, and not only a novelty, but a most valuable and +useful decorative plant for all purposes through the late summer and +autumn months. Its blossoms are of a rich crimson, and very much +resemble in shape and color the well-known Cactus, Cereus +_speciosissimus_. Height about three feet, very bushy flowers of very +striking appearance and quite unlike those of an ordinary double Dahlia, +the flowerets being flat and not cupped. Figured in _Gardener's +Chronicle_ October 4th, 1879, and awarded a Botanical Certificate Royal +Horticultural Society." + +The following statement was made in the _Gardener's Chronicle_ +respecting this new type: + +"A remarkable box of Dahlias was shown by Messrs. Cannell with three or +four of the single forms, which, if it were not heresy to say so, we +should so much prefer to the formal lumps so dear to the florist proper; +and then there was a new type of Dahlia altogether, a Sea Anemone among +Dahlias, with long crimson scarlet pointed petals, like the tentacles of +an Antinia--a striking novelty, christened temporarily the Cactus +Dahlia, and which will be the parent of a new strain. It received a +Botanical Certificate; some said this ought to have a higher award, but +what higher or more appropriate form of a certificate could be given to +such a flower. If we were a Dahlia, we should greatly prefer the honor +of a 'Botanical,' to that of a 'First Class Certificate.'" + +This new type is illustrated in Hallock & Thorp's Catalogue. + +Two new Dahlias not yet introduced in this country are included among +the novelties of 1881. _Cannell's Scarlet_, a Show Dahlia, several +shades higher and brighter in color than any scarlet before introduced. +"Its shape is most model-like, and not excelled by any other, and is +without doubt the best Dahlia of the year." _Miss Cannell_, +(Eckford)--"Mr. Eckford's Dahlia, Memorial, was the king of best shapes +for many years, but the one now offered is of greater excellence, and by +far the best of its class; color white, tipped with rose-pink, and the +depth and build of flower is most model-like." + + +AMARYLLIS. + +These are the finest of all summer flowering bulbs, throwing up strong +flower stems in June and July, bearing from two to six magnificent +lily-like blossoms. The varieties are numerous, but only a few sorts are +found catalogued. Amaryllis Johnsonii is the finest of the commonly +grown varieties. Its leaves are a dark rich green, two inches broad, and +two feet long. The flowers which are five or six inches long, are +crimson with a white stripe through the center of each petal, and are +borne upon a stalk two feet high. They usually bloom twice a year, the +flowers appearing just as the leaves begin to grow. + +Amaryllis formosissima is of a very peculiar form. The flowers are +scarlet-crimson, very velvety in appearance; there are six petals, three +of them nearly erect, and three drooping very long. After being bedded +out, it quickly throws up a flower stalk and blooms before the leaves +appear. It is a superb flower, known sometimes by the name of Jacobean +Lily. Amaryllis vittata is a splendid hybrid, red ground striped with +white. Amaryllis Valotta purpurea is an evergreen variety, and should be +kept growing the year round. In August it throws up a flower-stem from +one foot to eighteen inches high, bearing a cluster of light scarlet +flowers two or three inches in diameter. A light soil and small pot +suits it best. Mr. John Lewis Child of Queens, N. Y., has a finer +collection and more numerous varieties than are usually found named in +the catalogues. Some of them we will specify. Johnsonii Grandiflora, an +improvement on the well-known Johnsonii Harrisoni, large, pure white, +with double crimson streaks running through each petal. It has a +delicious, orange-blossom fragrance. Reticulata, a bright rose color, +the foliage is very attractive--dark green with a white stripe running +through the center of each leaf. Aulica Stenopelalon, a magnificent +species, having large orange crimson flowers, beautifully veined with +scarlet. "Equestre fl. pl. This grand novelty was discovered in 1877, in +one of the West India Islands. The flowers are perfectly double, +resembling those of a large Camellia. Its color is rich, fiery orange +red. We believe we have the only stock of this beautiful flower in +America." JOHN L. CHILD. + +This and Harrisoni, are priced at $4.50, so they must be very rare and +beautiful. Aspasie, white, tinted with yellow and red; large and +perfect. Crinum Amænum, new and very beautiful, white-striped crimson. +Lutea, a hardy variety, which blooms in the autumn; pure yellow. +Calafornica, pure white. + +The bulbs are of easy culture. After blooming, and the foliage fully +grown, they should be allowed to rest for several months, then start +into growth by watering sparingly until the flower stalks appear, when a +more liberal supply should be given. Usually two successions of bloom +can thus be obtained. The bulb should be planted so as to leave the +upper portion uncovered. + + +HOYA CARNOSA, OR WAX PLANT. + +This plant is a native of tropical Asia, where it is partially +parasitical, its roots penetrating the bark of the trees which support +it. It was introduced into England in 1802. There are several species, +but only one is generally cultivated. Hoya Carnosa has thick waxy +leaves, and bears umbels of beautiful flesh-colored flowers which are +very wax-like in appearance. It is an excellent plant for house culture +as it stands the extremes of heat and cold better than most plants, and +is not easily injured by neglect. It can be trained to climb on +trellis-work to almost any height, and when in bloom, which continues +for half the year, it is a very interesting plant. + +There are several varieties of Hoya, but one only is generally +cultivated. _Silver Variegated Foliage_ is said to be very handsome but +is of slow growth and difficult to propagate. _Imperialis_ is a new +variety with beautiful foliage and scarlet flowers. _Cunningham_ has +light green leaves, deeper colored flowers than the Carnosa and is a +rapid grower. + +They succeed best in peat, with some fibrous soil and sand. They must +have perfect drainage, and require a period of rest. Hoya Carnosa is +easily propagated from cuttings. A very good method is to wrap a cutting +in moss, keeping it moist until the roots are well started. + + + + +Among My Flowers. + + +August is the month when we rest from our labor in gardening, and +abandon ourselves to the full enjoyment of the varied blossoms which so +abundantly meet our eye. Now we can best determine what changes may be +required in the arrangement of our plants next year, in order to give +the most pleasing effect. A tall plant may have been inadvertently set +out in the midst of those of low growth, and we see now how awkward it +looks. Short-lived annuals may have occupied a conspicuous place, and on +their departure left an unseemly vacancy. A bed may have been filled +with a class of plants that are not free bloomers, and so there has been +little beside leaves, while another bed has been brilliant during all +the summer months with flowers. Annuals of a new kind, high-priced +novelties, have been tested; are they any better than our old favorites? +If we cannot indulge in many sorts, what do we find the most +satisfactory? Twenty-five cents per packet seemed very expensive for +Heddewigii Pinks, but Crimson Belle and Eastern Queen are of such +superior size and rare beauty that the investment is not regretted, and +then we know that they will bloom in greater perfection next year, and +that the seed saved this autumn and sown in early spring, will increase +the stock. Twenty-five cents for a paper of Candytuft seed looks +extravagant, but no one who invests in Tom Thumb would regret it. It is +so dwarf, so compact and bushy, such a long continued bloomer, so +admirable for edging a bed, that it is really almost an essential. Then +it will sow itself, and the seedlings will be up as soon as the frost is +out of the ground, and plants from self-sown seed are so much more +thrifty and early than those one sows in the spring, that this is a +great gain. + +Candytuft--white, pink, light purple, dark purple and crimson, I find it +well worth while to culture for early and profuse flowers, and admirably +adapted for bouquets. I always have large quantities of the white, to +set off the brighter flowers, and by sowing seed in June and July, have +a succession of blooming plants. Foxglove, both white and purple, with +their thimble-shaped spotted blossoms profusely borne on tall spikes, +with side branches loaded with bloom, has been one of the greatly +admired flowers of my garden. Plumbago, with its clusters of tube +flowers, of the palest of blue, is very beautiful. Godetia, "Lady +Albemarle," I have found to be all that it is represented. For two +months it has been in constant bloom, and it will continue to flower +till frost. It is of a bushy, compact habit, about twelve inches high, +the flowers are from three to four inches in diameter, and of a +rosy-carmine color. Everybody who has seen it, has a word of praise for +this most beautiful of all the Godetias. _Alba_ is a new variety, having +pure white flowers; _Insignis_ is pure white with a crimson blotch on +each petal; _Whitney's_ is of dwarf habit, and has large flowers, +blush-colored, marked about the center with a handsome crimson stain. +The new French Marigolds "Cloth of Gold," and "Meteor" are just splendid +with their large and beautifully striped imbricated leaves. One has gold +bars evenly marked on the rich dark velvety petals, and the other has +deep orange stripes on a pale straw-colored, almost white ground. +"Meteor" is a perfect gem among the Calendulas. + +Convolvulus minor--new crimson-violet with yellow eye encircled with a +band of pure white; dark blue and light blue with yellow eye margined +with white; pure white with yellow eye, and blue and white striped, are +very pretty free-blooming dwarfs of this species. + +My Stocks are very fine, from mixed seed of the German, new large +flowering. They are mostly very double. The creamy white are especially +beautiful. The bright crimson and canary yellow are handsome. There are +many varieties of this species, but what are generally termed Ten-weeks +Stock are best known. They are classed under five heads: Dwarf, +Miniature, Large-flowered, Pyramidal and Wall-flower-leaved. Then there +are the Intermediate Stocks, prized for their late autumn blooming, of +which there are twelve or more varieties. The German Brompton Stocks are +divided into two sections; Brompton and Hybrid, or Cocordean. The latter +bloom with a single stem which forms a splendid pyramid of flowers, and +is cultivated largely in pots. Seeds sown in early spring will bloom in +autumn, and if carefully potted will flower during winter; if sown in +July and August, and cultivated in pots will flower the following spring +and summer. The Imperial or Emperor stocks, sometimes called Perpetual, +are large flowering, and white, rose, crimson and blood-red in color. + +"Hardy's All-the-Year-Round," is a perpetual bloomer. The plants grow +about twelve inches high, and produce hundreds of bunches of double +white flowers. + +Let us linger a little while at this rose bed. Are not those Teas +lovely? Look at Madame Lambard, one of the finest French roses imported +recently from Paris. Is not the color exquisite--a beautiful shade of +silver bronze, changing to salmon and fawn, delicately shaded with +carmine rose. And so deliciously fragrant! That rose so large and full, +with a rare shade of violet red, brightened with crimson maroon, is +Aline Sisley. It is surprising how such a tiny plant could have produced +such an immense flower! And this is Letty Coles, a new French rose, very +handsome and sweet; color rosy-pink, deeply shaded with intense crimson. +Perle des Jardins is magnificent with its rich golden yellow, and Bon +Silene has long been a special favorite. Its buds are large and +beautiful. That charming white so deliciously scented is Mademoiselle +Rachel, and this one with pure deep green flowers is Verdiflora, or +Green Rose, scentless, and of no value except as a curiosity. + +This grand rose is Abel Carriere, a hybrid perpetual more beautiful I +think than the popular Jacqueminot in the perfectness of its form, and +richness of its color. The outer petals are bright glowing +crimson-scarlet, while the center is a deep fiery red. But it will never +do to linger longer among the sweet roses, for there are many other +flowers to show you. + +I think that Hydrangea, with its immense trusses of bloom, is just one +of the most desirable shrubs we can have in the garden. I have had mine +six or seven years, and it bore three clusters of flowers the first +year, though a wee plant. It blooms from August till hard frost, and +needs no protection in the winter, though I do sometimes put a mulching +of straw or a bit of brush around the roots. A lady writing to _Vick's +Magazine_ says of this Hydrangea: "The first year I planted _Hydrangea +Grandiflora_ it produced three heads of flowers, the second, fifty-six, +and the third year ninety-two. Thorough cultivation and a pail of liquid +manure once a week, helped the plant to bear this enormous load of +flowers." + +Hydrangea _Alaska_ is a more recent acquisition. Its flowers frequently +measure twelve inches across, and are of a bright pink color, not hardy +at the North. _Hydrangea Thomas Hogg_ would be a very unpoetical name +did it not remind one of "The Ettrick Shepherd." This variety was sent +to the United States from Japan, by that eminent botanist for whom it is +named, and has become deservedly popular. It belongs to the Hortensia +section of the family, but is a far more abundant bloomer than any +other. The flowers are of the purest white, of very firm texture, and +retain their beauty for a long time. + +A more recent novelty sent from Japan by Mr. Hogg, is the "New Climbing +Hydrangea," which he describes as clinging to trees to the height of +fifty feet, producing corymbs of white flowers of the size of ordinary +Hydrangeas. It clings exactly like the Ivy, and must produce a striking +effect when in full bloom. It is entirely hardy. Mr. Peter Henderson was +the first to offer this novelty here and in Europe. _Elegantissima_ is a +novelty truly with its leaves flaked, bordered and striped with golden +yellow. I do not know whether it blossoms or not, it is handsome enough +without flowers. + + +HELIOTROPE. + +The new Heliotrope _Le Negre_ is the darkest of this genus, and _Snow +Wreath_ the nearest approach to white we have yet had; truss very large, +growth compact, and fragrance exquisite. _Garibaldi_ is almost white; +_Mrs. Burgess_ is dark violet, and _Duc de Lavendury_ is a rich blue, +dark eye. + +[Illustration] + +Sweet Alyssum is another of the essential flowers for the border, +admirable for edgings, for its dwarf habit and continuity of bloom. The +great novelty of last year was the new double variegated Sweet +Alyssum--"The Gem." The flowers are very full, and the foliage broad +with a mid-rib of light green, bordered on each side with pure white. It +is a fine, compact grower, and far superior to anything of this species +yet offered. + +Lantanas, I think, add greatly to the attractions of the garden, so rich +in color and profuse in blooming. _Clotilda_, pink with yellow center, +and _Comtesse de Diencourt_, flower bright rose and yellow center +sulphur, are very desirable. _Alba perfecta_, pure white, is fine, so +also is _Alba lutea grandiflora_, white with yellow center. _Mine d'Or_ +is a new variety, with bright orange and crimson flowers, and golden +variegated foliage. _M. Schmidt_ is a beautiful novelty. Flowers of a +brilliant yellow, passing into purple vermilion; grows in the style of a +Petunia. + + + + +A Talk About Cyclamens and Oxalis. + + +Next to Primroses, and by no means below them in value, we place the +Cyclamen. The leaves, a deep green with white embroidery, are very +ornamental, but when surmounted with a wealth of bloom, what can be more +charming? Two of mine have begun to blossom--a white and a pink--and the +buds are numerous. Others will bloom later. They continue in bloom for a +long period, and are easy of culture, though where there is over-dryness +of atmosphere, they are apt to be infested with the red spider. They +need to be frequently sprayed and it is well to immerse occasionally the +entire plant in water so as to wet the under surface of the leaves. The +water ought to be tepid, and indeed for all plants in cold weather. To +keep the dirt from falling out when the plant is plunged top downward, +something can be wrapped around the pot. A mixture of turfy loam and +sandy peat is best, but when not available, leaf mold or a rich mellow +soil mixed with silver sand will do. + +There are several varieties of Cyclamen, but the most common is +_persicum_, and many catalogues name no other. One of mine is +_gigantium_, an improvement on _persicum_, the flowers being much larger +and finer in every respect. Among many catalogues I find this named in +only one. _Persicum_, white and pink, is a sweet scented variety from +Cyprus; _Africanum_, white and rose, from Africa; _hederæfolium_, from +Britain. Other rare and expensive sorts are _Atkinsii_, white, crimson +and rose colored; _Europeum_, red, and _Coum_, which in the early spring +months bears above its very ornamental leaves "a profusion of small +bright, rosy, crimson and snow-white turbinate blossoms of a roundish +recurved outline, blotched with violet-crimson at the base, very +beautiful." + +The bulbs of all Cyclamens, except _Coum_, should be placed on the +surface of the soil, covered half an inch, and water given moderately +till the leaves are fully developed, and the flowers appear, when it may +be applied more liberally. Do not make a mistake and plant your bulb +upside down as did a lady I know of. "I have an idea that it is put in +wrong, as the leaves seem to come from the under side," she writes. It +is difficult to tell sometimes which is the right side to put down. + +_Persicum_, with its dappled green and silvery gray, rounded, +heart-shaped leaves, embroidered margins, is a fine ornament, but when +these are surmounted with a profusion of pure silvery white oblong +lanceolate petals, blotched with violet-crimson at their base, borne on +slender flower-scopes, the plant is very beautiful. It varies in color +from snow-white delicate peach and rosy crimson. Some are delightfully +fragrant. During the growing and flowering season the plant should have +a full exposure to the light, but not to the intense sunshine. After +blooming, the bulbs may be allowed a time of rest, removing them to a +cool and shady place in the border, if desired, watering rarely. In +early autumn repot, and after a few weeks of growth, water more freely. +It does not, however, injure the plant to keep it constantly growing, +and the best florists have very generally abandoned their former method +of letting them rest during the summer. _Cyclamen autumnale flore alba_, +white, and _rubra_, red, blossom in the autumn. + + +OXALIS. + +The winter blooming varieties are admirably adapted for hanging-pots, +and being cheap and very easy of cultivation, they ought to be in every +dwelling. There are one hundred and fifty known varieties, though our +catalogues rarely name half-a-dozen. Some are strictly winter bloomers, +others flower only in summer, and some blossom the year round. The +_floribunda_ varieties belong to this class of perpetuals. _Ortgiesi_ +also, which is a wonderful bloomer, and on account of its erect growth, +is admirably adapted for pot culture. It is a new and somewhat rare +species from Brazil. It often grows eighteen inches high, and in good +form. The upper side of the leaf is rich olive green, and the under side +bright violet purple. The flowers are quite small, yellow, and borne in +clusters. The special beauty is in the foliage. + +_Floribunda alba_ and _rosea_ have tuberous roots. The foliage is very +strong, and the clusters of bloom are borne on long foot-stalks starting +directly from the tuber. A single small tuber will often have a hundred +open flowers at a time. They are from one-half to three-quarters of an +inch in diameter. This variety can be obtained and planted at any time +of the year. It is admirably adapted for baskets or a hanging-pot. + +_Oxalis acetocella_ is the true shamrock of Ireland. Flowers are white, +borne on stalks two to four inches high. _Versicolor_ is a winter +bloomer; color white, with bright pink margins to the petals; requires +sunshine; the flowers will not expand in cloudy weather. _Floribunda_ +has no such freaks, but smiles in the storm, as well as the sunshine. A +lady writing to Mr. Vick becomes enthusiastic over her Oxalis. She says: +"The sixth of last October I planted a bulb of _Oxalis versicolor_, and +it is just beginning to bloom. And oh! what lovely flowers; delicate and +perfect in form, pure white, with just the faintest tinge of yellow in +the center, and beautiful crimson stripes on the outside. The plant also +is of a very graceful habit, bearing its tuft of small leaves, and +clusters of flowers on the top of a short, slender stem. It seems +strange that so small a bulb can produce such beautiful flowers." + +Of _Bowii_ she thus writes: "A year ago last October I planted a bulb of +_Oxalis Bowii_ in a small bed. The bulb was so very small that I did not +believe the flowers could amount to much, but was soon most agreeably +disappointed. Such a mass of flowers on one small plant I had never seen +before, and such large, bright-colored flowers! Many stopped to admire +it, and ask its name. It continued to produce a mass of flowers the +entire winter and part of the spring, until the sun became very hot. +From this one bulb I obtained eight, which I wrapped in paper and kept +in a dry place. About the first of August they commenced growing, and so +I planted them, and the first of September they were in full bloom, +though the flower grew large as the days became less hot, until they +were nearly as large as Petunias. The soil in which they grew was mostly +sand and rich surface earth from the woods, and I sometimes watered them +with weak soap-suds." + +Mr. Vick, to whom we are indebted for the most of our information on +this subject, says that this variety has large, thick, fleshy leaves, +and large, bright, rose-colored flowers, the largest, indeed, of any of +the cultivated kinds. + +In his illustrated article he gives an engraving of one named _Cernuus +plena_, the flowers of which resemble double Portulacas; erect, borne in +clusters. We regret that he gives no reference to this variety whatever. +It must be a rare sort, probably not in the market here. + + + + +A Talk About Lilies. + + +"CONSIDER THE LILIES." + +Thus spake one wiser than Solomon, even He whose hand created and +beautified the Lilies with a glory surpassing that of the greatest of +Israel's kings. + +This department of the Floral kingdom is too vast for us to explore; we +can only make a selection of a few of the numerous varieties for +consideration, gathering our information from the various sources at +hand, and adapting it to our present use. + +The Lily is the rival of the Rose, and by many is considered far +superior. They certainly are far more easily cultivated. They are hardy, +elegant, gorgeous sometimes, and sometimes of snowy purity. Many of them +are of exquisite fragrance. There are early and late bloomers, and one +can have these desirable flowers in succession for several months, by a +right selection. The earliest bloomers are the _Pomponiums_, natives of +Siberia, and are perfectly hardy. The _Lancifolium_ or _Speciosum_ is +the autumn blooming Lily, native of Japan. _Lancifolium Album_, a fine +sort, with pure white petals and a pea-green stripe, very fragrant. +_Lancifolium Rubrum_, and _Roseum_, though catalogued separately, are +the same with different shadings. Some purplish crimson, others a faint +blush of rose. Some have a red stripe, others a dark dull green, but all +are specially recommended. _Lancifolium Punctatum verum_ is a late +bloomer; color, clear white with soft rose spots and green stripes. +Finest of the species, _Lancifolium Praecox_; flowers white with a +purplish-blush at the tips. _Lancifolium Monstrosum_ or _Corymbiflorum +rubrum_, bears its crimson flowers in large clusters. Grows to a great +size. + +The Lancifolium Lilies are of special value for their hardiness and +varied beauty, and their cheapness places them within general reach. +They are classed under the head of MARTAGONS, or TURKS CAP. + +[Illustration] + +_Auratum Imperial_ is the Golden-banded-Lily of Japan which has become +so extensively known and popular since its introduction from Japan by +Mr. Gordon Dexter. It was first exhibited in July 1862, at the +Massachusetts Horticultural Exhibition. It first bloomed in England same +year. It was for sometime considered too tender for the Canadas and New +England states, but it proved to be hardy. We have had ours twelve +years, and give it only a slight protection. The petals of the Auratum +are snowy white with a golden band running down the center of each, and +freely spotted on the sides with deep carmine red. They are very +fragrant. Being of somewhat slender growth, they need support. It does +best in a warm sandy soil that has been well manured and dug deeply. It +is easily propagated from the scales of the bulbs, each scale producing +a small bulbet. They should be planted in a box about a foot deep, in +good friable soil about three inches deep, and one inch apart. Sink the +box in some out of the way place in the garden, and water frequently. In +a short time small bulbs will be found forming on the base, which +rapidly grow, and must be transplanted out the second year in the bed; +the third or fourth year it will bloom. The little bulbets which form on +the mother bulb blossom a year earlier. They should be renewed in the +fall, after the foliage is dead. Plant in a bed about four inches deep, +and let them remain undisturbed for two years; then they are large +enough to bloom and should be transplanted into a permanent bed, if +required. + + +LONGIFLORUM LILIES. + +[Illustration] + +These trumpet-shaped Lilies are charming in appearance, quite hardy and +fragrant. They bloom in July or August, and continue in beauty for a +long time. + +Longiflorum _Japonicum_ blooms in July, and is a fine dwarf bedder; +color pure white, with occasionally a greenish tinge outside. Increases +rapidly. _Eximium_ bears a longer flower, from six to nine inches in +length, and is more open at the mouth than the common Longiflorum. Pure +white and very fragrant. _Brownii_ is a native of Japan, and is a grand +Lily of rare beauty. It resembles Longiflorum in shape, but is larger +and more expanding; color white inside, exterior brownish-purple; +stamens rich chocolate, which forms a distinctive feature in this +species. It has been frequently confounded with _Japonicum_, but the +difference is very marked in the illustrations of the two, and are thus +noted in Messrs. Hallock & Thorp's "Catalogue of Lilies." + +"JAPONICUM (_Odorum, Japonicum Colchesterii_). One of the most beautiful +and rarest Lilies in cultivation. It differs from Brownii and all the +forms of Longiflorum in many respects. Note the following marked +differences: Its broader, fewer and more spreading leaves, the shape of +the entire flower and broader claw of its divisions, its shorter anthers +with pollen tinged with red. The flower is solitary and large, interior +pure white, exterior of a pinkish-brown color, tubular, bell-shaped, +with spreading revolute tips; the bud shows a rich golden tint. Bulb +white, or whitish-yellow, never red or brown, broad at the base, the +scales which are somewhat narrow and acute at the tip, the outer ones +terminate at about two-thirds of the height of the inner scales, whereas +in Brownii the scales are broad, and all pass up, overlapping, and +terminate together at the apex of the bulb, thus making the base much +narrower than the apex." + +It is a native of Japan, and is so exceedingly rare that it is priced at +$7.00, more than double the cost of any other in the list. Brownii was +priced, when a novelty at $4.00, but is now offered for $1.75. + +[Illustration] + +_Candidum_, sometimes called Easter Lily, is one of the best known and +commonly grown of all the Lilies. It has been in cultivation for about +three hundred years. Bears a profusion of pure white fragrant flowers in +a compact head. + +The double _Tiger Lily_ is a very great improvement on the old single +variety. It is very double, and very showy. _Wallacei_ is a new Japanese +variety, said to be magnificent; color, buff, spotted with black. + +_Chalcedonicum_ or _Scarlet Martagon_ is supposed to be the "Lily of the +field" mentioned in the Gospel. "It is magnificent, and its intense +scarlet is one of the finest shades in the whole vegetable kingdom. A +full bed is a most magnificent sight, and if suddenly looked at on a +bright day, has nearly the same effect for a moment as if looking at the +sun. It is much scarcer than it should be, and requires careful culture, +to be planted about six or eight inches deep, and watered in the summer +time. It pleases every one who is capable of being pleased." + +Lilies, as well as many other bloomers, are greatly improved by +thinning out the overplus, thus concentrating the sap to fewer blossoms, +which being thus liberally nourished, greatly increase in size, and +amply repay, by their superiority, for the loss in numbers. Although +this is a demonstrated fact, yet few have the courage to prune where +flowers are not very abundant, and many will not when they are. + +Those who have limited space are loth to devote much room to Lilies, +preferring plants that bloom continually throughout the season, or that +make more show. But it is not essential that the bed should be devoted +exclusively to lilies. For early spring blooming there can be the +Crocuses, Snowdrops, Hyacinths, Tulips, all of which will bloom before +the lilies, and after flowering can be taken up, i.e., the Tulips and +Hyacinths, and low bedding plants take their places. Portulaca, Pansy, +Ageratum, Mignonnette, Nemophila, Sweet Alyssum, are all suitable for +this purpose, and will not only make the bed beautiful all the season +with their blossoms, but will also be of real benefit to the Lilies by +shading their roots somewhat, and keeping the soil more cool and moist. + +Lilies must never be crowded; a foot or twenty inches is about right. +The soil should be dug deep and mixed with old rotted manure and sand +liberally, unless the soil is naturally sandy; if heavy, clayey soil, it +ought to have in addition to sharp sand, leaf mold and bog muck. Plant +the bulbs from six to eight inches deep, according to the size. Last +autumn, in planting my Lily, Tulip, Hyacinth, and other bulbs, I made a +little bed for each of pure sand, and then covered well with soil, over +which was put a blanket of old dressing, then, before snow, a covering +of boughs. The bulbs never came up so grandly, nor grew so rapidly +before. October is the best month for bedding out, later will do, and +many do not plant their Lilies till the frost is out in the spring. + +The two leading Lily growers of this country are John L. Child and V. H. +Hallock & Thorp, of Queens, N. Y. + + +[Illustration] + +DOUBLE WHITE BOUVARDIA, "ALFRED NEUNER." + +This is indeed a novelty among this class of valuable plants, being the +first double ever known. It is said to be equal if not superior, in +profuse blooming quality, and vigorous, healthy growth, to the single +white variety, _Davidsonii_, of which it is a sport. The flowers are +rather larger than those of the single flowering, and composed of three +perfect rows of petals, of the purest waxy white color, each floweret +resembling a miniature Tuberose. The trusses are large and perfect, and +are freely and without interruption produced, even on the small side +shoots, which generally make no flowers on the single one. It is highly +praised by Mr. Thomas Meehan, florist and editor of the _Gardeners' +Monthly_, and by Mr. Henry A. Dreer, florist, of Philadelphia. "A grand +thing," says Mr. Meehan. "Gives great satisfaction. It has excelled our +expectation," says Mr. Dreer. + +My own specimen, about four inches in height, has twelve buds; two small +clusters are on side-shoots. The very fine illustration of this +Bouvardia we give our readers, has been kindly loaned by the Ellis +Brothers, Keene, N. H., who have a fine stock which they are offering to +the public. + +Mr. Henry Cannell says, "Of all plants the Bouvardia, in our opinion, +excels for cut flowers, no matter either for button-hole bouquets or +table decoration; a spray of it is sure to be most prominent and +pleasing, and the odor of several kinds is deliciously refreshing, and +if well-grown they will more or less continue flowering nine months out +of the year. Strange to say, they need only the ordinary course of +cultivation of the winter-flowering Zonal Pelargonium; hitherto they +have been treated as a stove plant, whereas they only need a temperature +not higher than 50° to 60°, and in the summer to have every attention, +like a specimen Chrysanthemum, and on the first appearance of frost to +be taken into the house, and when growing and flowering, to be supplied +with liquid manure occasionally." + +Our only experience with this genus has been with _Bouvardia Humboldtii +Corymbiflora_, and it has proved to be a very valuable plant. Its pure +white flowers are produced in large trusses; their tubes are three +inches in length, and very fragrant. It blooms very freely and for a +long period. This variety and _Vreelandii_ are the best single white. + +_Liantha_ is a dazzling scarlet, and a very profuse bloomer. _Elegans_, +salmon-scarlet; large and fine. _Lady Hyslop_, a light rose. _Canspicua_ +is of a blood-red color, with whitish tube. _Bicolor_, a +summer-flowering variety. Flower tube purple, with tint of blue and +delicately mottled flesh, tipped with white. These last we find, only in +Cannell's _Floral Guide_. + +I have no difficulty in keeping my Bouvardia in the cellar, the leaves +drop off, but they come out anew in the spring. + + +CAMELLIA JAPONICA. + +This is a very popular genus on account of their rich dark-green leaves, +and beautiful rose-like flowers. They are hardy greenhouse plants, and +thrive best in light loam mixed with sand and peat, but will do well in +light soil without the peat. It will not flourish in a limestone soil. +Mr. Vick gives the following in his Magazine: + +"The Camellia Japonica was sent to England in 1739 by Father Kamel, a +missionary, for whom it was named. As a house-plant the Camellia +requires considerable care, on account of the tendency of the flower +buds to drop off. A northern exposure is best, and a temperature of from +forty to fifty degrees. When the buds are swelling, water plentifully +with warm water, but allow none to stand in the saucer. Sponge the +leaves once a week. In the spring put the plant out in a shady place on +the north side of a house or fence, not under the drip of trees, and +water it every day. Set the pots on a hard bottom, so that no worms can +get into them. They form their flower beds during the summer, and at +this time a good growth of wood must be encouraged. + +"In the Southern States the Camellia can be raised with not more than +ordinary care; at the North it must be considered entirely a green-house +plant, and as such will always be highly prized. We are often asked how +it should be cared for as a house-plant, and to all such, in the +northern part of the country, where it is necessary to maintain good +fires in warm houses for several months of the year, we have no +hesitation in saying, let it alone, do not expend care and labor where +there is so little prospect of reward." + +Camellias are of many hues, and some are beautifully striped. _Gen. +Lafayette_, bright rose, striped with white, imbricated. _Bell Romann_, +imbricated, large flower and petals, rose striated with bright crimson. +_Matteo Molfino_, petals cerise, with pure white band down center. +_Mrs. Lurmann_, crimson, spotted, very beautiful. Pure colors of white, +red, crimson, rose and carmine, can be obtained. + + +AZALEA.--Shrubby green-house plants of easy cultivation. Very showy and +hardy. Like the Camellia, they are found in all the leading colors, and +also striped, blotched and spotted. They are both single and double. + +_Alexander II_, is white, striped with vermilion; edges of petals +fringed. _Aurelia_, white, striped with rosy orange, amaranth spots. +_Flag of Truce_, is a pure double white, very fine. _Her Majesty_, is +rosy-lilac, edged with white. _Alice_, rose, blotched with vermilion; +double. + +Mr. Vick gives the following directions: "Azaleas need a light soil of +sandy loam, to which should be added one-half leaf mold. Repotting +should be done in May, trimming the tops to bring them into shape. Then +plunge in some sheltered spot in the garden. In September the plants +should be brought in under cover, or into a cool room. They do best when +the temperature ranges from forty degrees at night to sixty-five or +seventy by day. The foliage should be showered once a week, but care +must be taken that the roots are not over-watered, as they rot easily. +Small plants bloom well, but their beauty increases as they get age and +size. The flowers appear on the terminal shoots, and are from one inch +to two and a half inches in diameter. + +"Azaleas if left to themselves will develop long shoots, that after a +time become naked below and are furnished with leaves only at their +extremities. Flower stems are formed on the new wood of each summer's +growth, consequently the amount of bloom, other things being equal, +depends upon the amount of new wood annually produced. In order to have +plants of good shape when they become large, it is necessary to give +attention to pinching and training them from the first. The pyramid +form, or more properly that of a cone, and rounded at the top, is +considered the best for the plant, as it allows the greatest exposure +of leaf-surface. Two principal methods are adopted to regulate the +growth and bring plants into shape: one is by successive pinchings as +the growth proceeds, the other by allowing long shoots to grow and then +bending and training them down, thus causing many of the dormant buds +along their whole length to break and develop into shoots. A skillful +combination of the two methods is probably better than either +exclusively." + +Mr. John Dick, Philadelphia, has the largest stock of Camellias and +Azaleas, it is stated, in the United States. Their catalogue list of +these plants embraces more than a hundred varieties, to which we refer +our readers. + + + + +The Ingathering of the Flowers. + + +We have come to see your garden, said a gentleman with a lady in +company. They were from a neighboring town. This two weeks after the +heavy frost! + +I told them my garden was in the stable, and thither I piloted them. It +was not a very small garden if it was in a stable. A hundred or more +plants had been hurriedly removed from the beds the day before that +freezing night! There they were, in the soiled pots just as taken from +the ground, or packed closely in boxes. Not very attractive looking, in +one sense, yet in another they were, for they were bright, healthy +appearing plants--leaves as fresh as when in the open air, pretty +Geraniums in bloom, a mass of Lobelia, attractive with their tiny blue +flowers, Coleus of varied hues, and even a few Roses struggling into +bloom. + +Then we strolled among the despoiled beds, and the Pansies, so large and +pert, elicited admiration, and the Sweet Peas, just as fragrant as +though blight were not all around them, while dear little Mignonnette +seemed to have taken a new lease of life. + +Yesterday I arranged in a shallow glass dish as handsome a bouquet as I +have had for the season. Sweet Clover sprays, Mignonnette and fragrant +Geranium leaves for the foundation all around the dish, a few bunches of +the little white wax balls, with their glossy leaves, Geranium blossoms, +and lots of Sweet Peas, from the most delicate shades to the deepest, +and bunches of splendid Pansies, Sweet Alyssum, a bit of purple Verbena +here and there, and white-eyed Phlox. It was just lovely. + +When the evidence was sure that frost was surely coming, and a great +many plants must be taken up in a few hours' time, I was so glad that +full half of them were in pots. I could never have potted a third of +them in the time. The great object was to get them sheltered, and the +repotting could be done at my leisure. + +But I almost changed my mind the other day after toiling several hours +at the business. So many pots to wash! then fill with fresh earth, and +set the plant. O dear, wasn't I tired! But then the wide door was open, +the day was lovely, and I rather think potting plants in a stable is +better than potting out of doors on a cold day, and when one is in a +great hurry. Plants that are in pots plunged in the ground do not grow +so many roots, and that is another advantage. + + +MY WINDOW BOX. + +Perhaps I may as well tell you about my most important window box. I +had it made last autumn, and I was greatly pleased with it. It is made +of zinc, size one yard long, fourteen inches broad, seven inches in +depth. To give it strength it is framed at the top with wood. You can +have this of black walnut, or stained in imitation. You can have the +box painted any color you wish, or leave it unpainted. In the center +is Croton "Weismanni," on one side of it a fine Eranthemum pictum; its +green leaves look as though they were painted with white streaks; on +the other side, Acalypha "Macafeeana." These are the largest plants in +my box, and they do not exceed ten inches in height. There are sixty +plants in all, mostly averaging six inches in height, but a few are +quite small. They consist of very choice Geraniums--some of them +handsome-leaved--variegated Abutilons, Lemon Verbena, two bright +Achyranthes, six very beautiful Coleuses, and four fine Begonias. +There are others I cannot stop to specify. You will see that I have +filled my box with what are, in themselves, beautiful without the aid +of flowers, though I expect to have a few of these by-and-by. I am +perfectly satisfied with it, however, just as it is. I had a large +German Ivy growing out of doors, which consisted of several long +vines. This I planted in one corner of the box, and then drooped and +twined it on the outside. The change to indoor life caused the large +green leaves to fall off, but already new ones have put forth, and the +vines are rapidly growing. Everything else had been previously +prepared so that there was no change in their leafage after being put +in the box. It is a great addition to the beauty of the box to have +vines of pretty foliage drape the sides. This autumn I have had it +placed on a small, low table with castors, so I can change the plants +every week, and thus avoid that turning toward the window which they +always assume if kept in one position. + +I first put in drainage, and then filled the box with rich, mellow earth +in which was a mixture of one-third sand. I have been thus particular in +my description, for many, no doubt, who, like myself, have to make the +most of limited space, will be glad to know just how to keep the +greatest number of plants to the best advantage. Not only is there a +saving of room, but of labor, and it is more cleanly. + + +HYACINTHS. + +Among the essentials for winter flowers are the bulbs. Of these the +hyacinth takes the lead. They are so easily grown; so lovely and so +fragrant that they are worthy of a place in every collection. They +should be planted so that the upper surface of the bulb is visible. +Water liberally and then put away in a cool dark place for several +weeks, six weeks is none too long, and some I allow to remain a longer +time, bringing them to the light at intervals so as to have a succession +of flowers. They are very effective planted in a group. They are very +pretty in hyacinth glasses, but this method ruins the bulbs for future +use. Planted out they will sometimes flower. The best time to plant them +in the border is in October, but the first of November will do. It is a +good plan to make a little bed of sand for the bulb, and then cover with +light porous soil. Hyacinths are classed as tall and dwarf, single and +double. The Roman Hyacinth is the earliest bloomer, coming into flower +about the holidays if started in season. The spikes are small and +flowers rather scattering. As soon as the blooms fade, the stalk should +be removed, and when the leaves turn yellow, they can be cut off, and +the bulb dried and packed in paper bags and kept till time for autumn +planting. + +Hyacinth bulbs come from Holland. About Haarlem the rubbish heaps are +hyacinths, and the air is oppressive with their perfume. + +In California there grows what is called the Twining Hyacinth. It grows +in the mountains, and twines about the bushes, sometimes going up eight +and ten feet. After it gets to the top of the bush and rests awhile, it +lets go of the earth and goes on blooming for months, regardless of the +burning sun. The flower stem breaks off near the ground, and the flowers +are kept swinging in the air supported only by the bush about which it +twines. The color is deep rose, and it is said to be very pretty. The +picture of it certainly looks attractive. It is a large cluster composed +of dozens of blossoms. + +For flowering in the house the Polyanthus Narcissus are very desirable. +They can be put into glasses as well as the Hyacinth, but the most +natural method is in a pot of earth, and the bulb is in a better +condition for after use. The Jonquils are also pretty. Snowdrops, +Scillas and the Crocus are cheap bulbs, and planted in the autumn will +show their bright, sweet faces soon after the snow is gone. They are +also very fine for house culture. Should be planted in groups. + +Tulips ought to have a place in every garden. They make a brilliant show +in the Spring, when the beds are bare of other flowers, and afford bloom +for a long time, if a good assortment is selected. The pretty little +dwarf Duc Van Thols are early bloomers and very gay. They are admirable +also for the house, and by planting in September, will come into flower +in December. There are early single and double Tulips, and also late +bloomers, so that by having a variety, the border may look gay for a +long time. The Parrot Tulips are large and very brilliant in color, and +picturesque in appearance. All of these varieties succeed in ordinary +garden soil. They ought to be planted in October or November, about four +to six inches apart, and about four inches under the surface. Before +severe frost they need to be protected by branches of evergreen, straw +or leaves. After blooming, and the leaves have died down, they can be +taken up, dried and stored till autumn, if the bed is needed for other +flowers. + +The Bulb catalogues issued by leading florists in the autumn, and sent +free to all applicants, will enable you to select just what you want. + + +INSECTS. + +In a work of this character it seems needful to treat more fully of +those pests which prove so destructive to plant life, than we have in +our brief references. + +The APHIS or green louse is the one that most frequently infests our +plants, and the rapidity with which it multiplies, is astonishing. +REAUMER has proved that in five generations one aphis may be the +progenitor of six thousand millions, and there may be ten generations in +a year! + +The method most generally adopted for their destruction is fumigation +with tobacco. As this is attended with considerable difficulty, a weak +solution may be used quite as effectively. We have had no experience +with either method, having used another with good success for several +years. This is white hellebore which we usually apply in the powder when +the Rose-bushes are wet with dew or rain, bending the branches over, so +that the application can be made chiefly on the under side of the +leaves, where the pests are found. Two or three times proves sufficient. +For our house plants we usually make a solution, by putting half an +ounce of the hellebore into pretty warm water, and letting it stand for +several hours, stirring it up however, before spraying the leaves. +Afterward, the plants need to be washed. + +For the SCALE a strong solution of soap-suds applied with a sponge or a +small stiff brush. A tooth brush is very suitable for this purpose. + +For MEALY BUG, a mixture of one part alcohol and three parts water, +applying with a feather, or what is better, a camel hair brush. Another +method is to use kerosene in the same way. A florist who has practiced +this for eight years, says it is sure death to the insect. The feather +should be brushed all over the mealy-looking substances found usually in +the axils of the leaves. + +WORMS IN POTS. Lime water is a safe and effectual remedy for the little +white worms often found in the soil. Slake the lime in water and after +it has settled, pour off the clear water and drench the earth. + +ANTS. Various remedies have proved effective. One is to take a vial or a +cup nearly filled with sweet oil, and sink it in the ground where the +ants resort, so that the rim is on a level with the surface. The ants +are very fond of it, but it is sure death to them. + +A German writer says that carbolic acid and water will drive ants away +from any grounds--one hundred parts of water to one of the acid. Mix in +a tub and stir repeatedly for twenty-four hours, taking off the scum +that rises to the top. + +Kerosene or coal-oil mixed with water has proved very successful in the +destruction of noxious insects and grubs. A tablespoonful of the oil to +two gallons of water is the rule for tender plants; for hardy ones it +will be necessary probably to have it of greater strength. As the +compound does not mix readily, it needs to be thoroughly stirred, and +then quickly applied. The best way is to draw it back and forth a few +times in a syringe, and then apply. + +Water tainted with coal-oil, poured into little holes made in mole +tracks, will, it is said, drive them effectually away. + + + + +INDEX OF FLORISTS. + + +For the convenience of our readers who may wish to procure varieties of +plants of which we have treated in this work, we give the address of +reliable florists who make a specialty of those connected with their +address. All of them will furnish their catalogues free when requested. + + PANSIES. SEEDS FOR THE WILD GARDEN. B. K. Bliss & Sons, New York + City. + + VERBENAS, PETUNIAS, FUCHSIAS. C. E. Allen, Brattleboro, Vt. + + GERANIUMS. Innisfallen Greenhouses, Springfield, Ohio. + + PELARGONIUMS, ORNAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS, GLOXINIAS. John Saul, + Washington, D. C. + + GLADIOLUS, SINGLE DAHLIAS, NOVELTY DAHLIA. V. H. Hallock & Thorp, + Queens, N. Y. + + COLEUSES--NEW HYBRIDS, DRACÆNAS. H. A. Dreer, Philadelphia, Pa. + + CHINESE PRIMROSES, NEW PRIMULA, DOUBLE WHITE BOUVARDIA. Ellis + Brothers, Keene, N. H. + + NEW MONTHLY PELARGONIUMS. John G. Heinl, Terre Haute, Ind. + + WISTARIA. E. H. Ellwanger, Rochester, N. Y. + + AMARYLLIS, RARE VARIETIES. John L. Child, Queens, N. Y. + + LILIES A SPECIALTY. John L. Child; V. H. Hallock & Thorp, Queens, N. + Y. + + CAMELLIAS AND AZALEAS. John Dick jr., 53d st., and Darby Road, + Philadelphia, Pa. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTES. + + +_Vick's Illustrated Magazine_ is the best Floricultural Monthly we know +of for amateurs. We are indebted to it for much of the information we +have obtained respecting the culture of flowers, and have drawn largely +from its pages in this work. There is a finely colored frontispiece in +each number, and it is otherwise fully illustrated. Its entire +arrangement evidences the fine æsthetic taste of its editor and +publisher. It is very low at $1.25 per year. Beautifully bound vols., +$1.75. Mr. James Vick, Rochester, N. Y. + +_The Gardener's Monthly and Horticulturist_ takes a wider range, +treating not only of Flowers, but also of Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, +Natural History and Science, Forestry, etc. The ample Notes pertaining +to the several departments, by its editor, Mr. Thomas Meehan, are of +special value. Published by Chas. H. Marot, Philadelphia, Pa., at $2.10 +per annum. + + + + +"AN ESSAY ON ROSES." + +NOTICES OF THE PRESS. + + +Mrs. M. D. Wellcome of Yarmouth, Me., whose pleasant and helpful "Talks +About Flowers" are familiar to the readers of _The Journal_, has +published in a neat pamphlet, _An Essay on Roses_, which was read before +the Maine Pomological Convention last March, and has since been revised +and enlarged for publication. This essay treats the subject historically +and descriptively. It considers the classification of Roses, tells what +Roses to plant, gives suggestions as to the best mode of culture, and +furnishes a list of the best hybrids and of the best ever-blooming +varieties. Mrs. Wellcome writes with enthusiasm, and from a thorough +knowledge and a considerable experience. All lovers of roses, and all +amateur horticulturists will find the little monograph interesting and +suggestive. + + _Boston Journal._ + +The valuable and instructive _Essay on Roses_ read before the Maine +Pomological Convention by Mrs. M. D. Wellcome, has been issued in a neat +pamphlet.... Our readers who are familiar with Mrs. Wellcome's writings, +will know how to value this production of her busy pen. + + _Portland Transcript._ + +Our well-appreciated correspondent, Mrs. M. D. Wellcome, has published +in a neat pamphlet, an essay upon "Roses."... It is an interesting and +practical little manual, and will prove a valuable aid to young +horticulturists. + + _Zion's Herald._ + +The _Waterville Mail_ says: "Of this essay it is sufficient to say that +it was prepared by a graceful writer,--a well-known contributor to the +literary department of several prominent Journals, and a skillful +florist--and that it secured the approbation of the Convention before +whom it was read, and the representatives of the agricultural press." + +Rev. J. M. Orrock, editor of _Messiah's Herald_, after describing the +work, adds: "The author says in her introduction, 'I have brought you a +bouquet of Roses, and there is little of my own but the string that +binds them.' It is indeed, a pretty bouquet, and we hope many of her +friends will want to see and enjoy it." + +Mr. Samuel L. Boardman Esq., editor of the _Home Farm_, says: "This +little booklet about Roses is just the plain, sensible guide all amateur +growers will be profited by reading. There is just enough of history and +sentiment in its opening pages, ample directions for culture, treatment, +etc., closing with descriptions of the most desirable Roses, and lists +from which to make selections for larger cultivators. Mechanically, the +little book is as delicate as a rosebud; and every lover of this queenly +flower should procure a copy." + +The "Essay" is issued in a neatly illustrated pamphlet of 24 pages, with +ornamental cover. Price 15 cents. For sale by the author, Yarmouth, Me. + + + + +GERANIUMS! + +We offer a fine assortment of Geraniums at =10 CENTS EACH=, for your +selection; or we will send =16 FINE SORTS= of our own selection, all +labeled, prepaid, by mail, for a remittance of $1.25. We have by far the +largest stock of Geraniums in this country. + + +Roses, Ever Blooming. + +We have a fine collection of Roses that we offer, strong flowering +plants, labeled, at =10 CENTS EACH=, your choice; or we will send =16 +FINE PLANTS= of our own selection, prepaid, by mail, for a remittance of +$1.25. + +We also offer a fine assortment of all kinds of flowering plants at the +above low price. Send for a catalogue. + +Address, + + INNISFALLEN GREENHOUSES, + SPRINGFIELD, O. + + +The Latest Novelty in Roses. + +NEW HYBRID TEAS. + +This new class of ROSES combine =HARDINESS=, =CONSTANT BLOOM=, and +=DELICATE COLORING=. They originated in England, and are now offered for +the first time in this country. For full description of these Roses, and +price, send for catalogue. + +E. C. ALLEN, Brattleboro, Vermont. + + +FREE! + +We wish to obtain 25,000 New Subscribers to + +THE FLORAL MONTHLY + +during the next few months, and we propose to give to every reader of +this paper + +_Fifty Cents Worth of Choice Flower Seeds_. + +Our offer is to send, Free of Cost, 50 cents worth of Choice Flower +Seeds to each and every one who will send us 25 two cent postage stamps +for the FLORAL MONTHLY one year. Seeds sent free by return mail. +Specimen copies free. Address + +=W. E. MORTON & CO., FLORISTS=, 615 Congress Street, =Portland, Me.= + +(NATURAL FLOWERS PRESERVED TO LAST FOR YEARS.) + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Punctuation has been standardised, and typographical errors such as +missing or reversed letters have been silently corrected. + +Variations in hyphenation (such as greenhouse and green-house), and +obsolete or variant spelling have been preserved. In particular, +variations in the spelling of some botanical names have been left as +printed in the original book. + +In the Table of Contents, the entry "A Talk About Pansies" was printed +as "Pansies"; this has been changed to match the chapter title as +printed on page 33. + +The following changes were also made: + +Pg 82, Verschaffellii changed to Verschaffeltii: (Verschaffeltii, we +fear). + +Pg 109, Ainwick changed to Alnwick: (a visit to Alnwick Castle). + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Talks about Flowers., by M. D. Wellcome + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40534 *** |