3GS STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



WE WANT MOKE FLOWERING SHRUBS. 



Farmers would have more flowers about tlieirliomesif there was not so much 

 labor connected with them. It took us a half day to weed out the petunia bed, 

 and while we were at work it occurred to us how much easier it would be to cul- 

 tivate flowering shrubs. They could be tastefully set about the door-yards and 

 lawns and in the gardens, and very little labor would be necessary to keep them 

 in order. Strong-growing plants, like Peonies and Hollyhocks, are not much 

 trouble and are beautiful in their time. Perennial plants are what farmers 

 Avant the most. These can be set along the walks and in clumps, and one or 

 two dressings during the summer will protect them from weeds and grass and 

 keep them in thriving order. If the Rural will give its readers a list of hardy 

 perennial plants and flowering shrubs, including Roses, which will bloom dur- 

 ing the entire summer in their order, we are certain the favor will be appre- 

 ciated, and discouraged flower-growers will start anew. For the autumn we 

 must have the Asters, Phlox and Zinnias, but they are not so much bother as 

 many others, and their beauty will pay for the extra care. This might be said 

 of all flowers, if one only had the time to spare. Some flowers we must have, 

 and if we cannot adorn our homes with the pretty annuals, then we will make 

 them as cheerful and attractive as possible with the shrubs. — Col. Curtis in 

 Hural New Yorlcer. 



STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE IN ROSES. 



Mr. H. B. Ellwanger, of Rochester, N. Y., one of our most successful and 

 intelligent rose culturists, says that a rose for general cultivation, which should 

 stand high in the scale toward perfection, should excel in each of the following 

 five points, and in the order named : 



1st. Beauty of color, as that which first attracts us to a rose. 



2d. Beauty of form, without which our eye cannot rest long, but wanders on 

 seekins: a combination of the two in one flower. 



3d. Fragrance, deprived of which no rose can be perfect. Whoever yet saw 

 a beautiful rose without wishing to inhale its odors? Gratification in this mat- 

 ter is ofttimes far more pleasing to us than the mere sight of beauty. 



4th. Profusion and continuitv of bloom. We like our 2:ood tliinsjs in abund- 

 ance, poured out to us with generosity, that we may have to distribute and 

 carry our pleasure to friends. 



oth. Vigor and healthfulness of growth. That will produce strength of 

 plant thriving with a moderate degree of care and attention, and that will en- 

 dure the extremes of summer's heat and winter's cold. 



As the best representatives of tliese several qualities, Mr. Ellwanger gives of 

 the first, Abel Grand and General Jacqueminot; of the second, the globular 

 formed ro?e, Alfred Colomb ; of the third, La France and Louis Van Iloutte, 

 as being alike "supreme in beauty and fragrance;" of the fourth, General 

 AVashington, and of the fifth, John Hopper, General Jacqueminot and Baronne 

 Provost. 



