SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 451 



Southern States would the autumn be sufficiently extended to give a satis- 

 factory length of flowering season after August or September sowing. Our 

 country, extending through BO many degrees of latitude, requires a wide 

 variation of rules for adaptation to different localities, and it is probable that 

 to amateurs in the Northern States no better rule for but one time of sowing 

 can be given, than to plant in the open ground in the spring, as early as the 

 weather will permit. In the extreme Southern States, winter and early 

 spring blooming must be depended upon, to furnish which the seeds should 

 be sown as early in September as is possible. 



Mr. Wm. Falconer, who is always at home in floriculture, and knows a 

 good thing when he sees it, once wrote: My neighbor, Mr. E. L. Beard, 

 an enthusiastic horticulturist, grows the finest pansies I have ever seen. 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society awarded him a silver medal for his 

 pansies. He sows his seed in August, and grows his young plants in cold 

 frames, which arc well wrapped up in winter by a bank of litter with a board 

 over it, around the frames, and straw mats with light wooden shutters over 

 them, over the sashes. His pansies keep growing all writer long, begin to 

 bloom in January or February, arc at their best in March and April, and by a 

 little shading from strong sunshine, and lots of water should they need it, 

 they bear their blossoms copiously until dune arrives, by which time their 

 blossoms, on account of the excessive heat, become too small to satisfy his 

 taste, then every plant is rooted out and thrown away. The soil he uses is 

 fresh loam, with a heavy addition of old rotted manure and leaf mould. 

 One spring, in front of his house, in addition to his beds of spring flowers, 

 were vases filled witli pansies of a size and richness so uncommon as to elicit 

 the admiration of the whole neighborhood, and sow the healthy seeds of 

 emulation. For two months before the advent of geraniums and petunias 

 we can thus enjoy our pansies. Connoisseurs sometimes perpetuate the finer 

 pansies by renewing them from cuttings every year, but so very fine is the 

 Lemoine strain, that pansies from cuttings seem a waste of time. 



Cannas. — Daisy Fyebright writes the American (Jarden that in small 

 gardens, cannas will show to advantage if planted in groups of three or five 

 plants, or grown as single specimens in vases, with drooping plants around 

 the edges. The hotter the season the better they will grow, and will throw 

 up large spikes of flowers during the whole summer, and they will retain 

 their beautiful foliage in spite of winds and storms, until it is cut down by 

 the blackening frosts of the autumn. 



Cannas should be planted in very rich garden soil, and may be set out as 

 soon as danger of frosts is past. They will grow readily from seeds, and 

 some of the handsomest varieties are thus obtained. The seeds are encased 

 in a very hard shell which must be softened by soaking them in boiling hot 

 water for at least ten hours. Four the water over them from the tea-kettle, 

 and set the cup containing them in a warm place, where it will keep quite 

 hot until the seeds are softened ; then plant them in a hot-bed, or in a box 

 or pot of sandy soil, putting a pane of glass over it to retain the moisture. 

 When the tiny sprouts appear, remove the glass so as not to make them wire- 

 drawn. 



A very handsome subtropical parterre can be arranged for a lawn or garden 

 by planting the tall cannas in the centre and the dwarf varieties on the out- 



