388 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE GERMAN METHOD OF PRESERVING FLOWERS. 



I observe that a lady correspondent in the March number complains she 

 cannot succeed in making things bloom with the German method of submer- 

 sion in chemically prepared water. The ladies of my household have no 

 trouble in producing bloom on apple and other free-blooming things by the 

 following very simple plan. They place the apple twigs or whatever they desire 

 to bloom in clear glass vases, and place the vases where they will get a 

 great deal of sunshine, as in a bay window. Apple twigs cut about March 

 1st, are just about ready to burst into bloom at this date (March 18th). The 

 vases are kept filled with rain water only. I have paid no particular attention 

 to the matter, but think the bright sunshine is quite an important part of the 

 experiment, as they failed last year when they attempted to bloom apple, and 

 in a dark but warmer room. — Gardeners'' Monthly. 



CHEAP WINTER FLOWEES. 



I have said so much about the care of plants that I am sure you will begin to 

 think there is nothing more to be said. Yet there is always something inter- 

 esting about plants. Each variety has a beauty of its own, and while we may 

 admire one flower we may love another. Some varieties give us rich colors, 

 others beauty of form, while others delight us with their fragrance of flower or 

 foliage. Although plants are costly, they are very beautiful, and yet there is no 

 ornament either inside or outside our homes so lovely and tasteful as plants and 

 flowers. The architecture of your house or room is rarely noticed, but the liv- 

 ing arabesque of a thrifty vine over your door or around your window are lessons 

 of taste and beauty. A home is sadly deficient without a few of these simple, 

 yet refining ornaments. But all cannot afford greenhouse plants, and it is for 

 this class that I am writing this letter, for the poor as well as the rich can 

 appreciate the beautiful. If you want something pretty and green in your 

 window this winter, get some small boxes or pots, fill them with two-thirds gar- 

 den soil (sandy) and one-third compost ; then sow a few seeds of mignonnette 

 for fragrance iu one box, in another candytuft for white flowers, and sweet 

 alyssum is also good. For a pretty vine plant two or three seeds of cardio- 

 spermum (balloon vine). For blue flowers sow argeratum, and nothing can be 

 prettier, either in the house or garden, than the saucy little pansy. If you 

 have dielytra (bleeding heart) in your garden, lift a small root and put it into 

 a pot or box, and it will bloom in the house in mid-winter. I had a root in 

 blossom for four weeks last winter, and I will pot a root this month just to 

 have a little spring in my sitting-room this winter. I have taken rooted slips 

 from the prettiest of my verbenas and potted them. Don't think of saving 

 the old verbena root; it don't pay. The verbena is a plant that will spread 

 out, generally covering a space three or four feet square. The branches root 

 to the ground, and if verbenas are wanted for winter take up some of these 

 branches. The striped and blotched petunias are also pretty for a winter 

 plant. I had an oxalis in bloom all winter. They are very pretty little plants, 

 and the bulbs are quite cheap. Another pretty thing in my window was a box 

 of crocus which blossoms a long time. The tiny lilys, as white as the snow 

 that covered the ground. A jonquil also blossomed, but I could not like the 

 fragrance, although others thought it very nice. The snow-drop will also bloom 



