360 STATE FOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



I^LORICULTURE, 



MISSION OF FLOWERS. 



Mr. Hugh T. Brooks, who is known to many Michigan horticulturists, gives 

 the followincr beautiful thousfht concerninsr flowers : 



Never till we fathom the deep mysteries of spirital and material growth, can 

 we understand the full sisfnificance of flowers — the mission of bloom! Swine 

 need only gross food. Offspringof Divinity, illumined by a ray of infinite intel- 

 ligence, we require ethereal nourishment. Why all this brilliancy and variety 

 of color, the sweet harmonies of sound, if they are not to challenge our ad- 

 miration, engage our thoughts, and minister to our necessities I We are spir- 

 itually fed by the grand, the beautiful, and the good in nature. Our souls are 

 enlarged, strengthened and purified by ocean's vast expanse, the serene depths 

 of the blue sky, the shifting drapery of the clouds, the matchless grace and 

 beauty of the floral kingdom. Certainly the bread that nourishes our grosser 

 parts is not more important than that which ministers to our higher faculties. 

 The appetites, lower instincts and passions will control the man, unless his 

 moral sentiments and intellectual perceptions are cultivated by the devout con- 

 templation of God's wonderful works. The mission of flowers, like the angels, 

 is pure. 



PROLONGING THE BLOOM. 



No plant can continue in bloom if nature is permitted to do her work 

 completely, for the going to seed exhausts the energies of any subject, and 

 stops everything else. By constantly removing decaying flowers before a seed- 

 pod can swell, the growth of the plant and the continued development of 

 new buds and flowers upon the new growth are matters of course. Try the 

 experiment upon the China rose. Two cottages, having fine plants covering 

 their fronts, being in the hands of two different persons, frequently exhibit the 

 most striking contrast — one a mass of flowers, while the other is bare ; and 

 those who pay no attention to the cause are, nevertheless, often surprised at 

 the fact. If they look a little further into the matter, they would observe 

 that the one is loaded with hips or seed-vessels, which are swelling in great 

 numbers, while in the other not a solitary berry could be seen. In the one 

 case every bloom was trimmed off as fast as it faded, in the other they took 

 tlieir chance. So it will be found in many other cases. It is only necesary 

 to cut away the dead flowers, and the season of bloom will be prolonged. 

 — The Farm. 



THE YIXCA, 



One of the best bedding plants is the Vinca. Not the periwinkle — Vinca 

 viinor or Vinca major — although both of these old acquaintances are indis- 



