SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 453 



Hardy Herbaceous Plants. — E. L. Beard says that it is useless to hope 

 for success with herbaceous plants without, at the outset, making reasonable 

 preparation. Most hardy plants are deeper rooting than bedding plants, 

 and the beds for their reception must be trenched or spaded to a depth of 

 two feet, and well manured. Most herbaceous plants are good feeders and 

 require good soil. Beds must not be located under trees where the roots of 

 the latter can impoverish the soil. The idea that when once these hardy 

 plants are planted they will go on satisfactorily for many years without any 

 further cultivation is one of the greatest delusions possible, for unless the 

 soil is kept in good order the whole thing is a failure, and the vigor of dis- 

 play and bloom ceases to be at its best. 



A large proportion of this class of plants is greatly benefited by being 

 lifted every few years and divided and transplanted. Pyrethrums, phloxes, 

 delphiniums, narcissus, and others feel the good effects of division and 

 transplanting at intervals of two or three years. Many make rapid growth 

 and form large clumps, and these should be lifted and divided in early 

 spring, before active growth begins, and successfully transplanted. This fa- 

 cility is a benefit to the grower, who can increase his stock without cost, and 

 contrasts favorably with the constant labor and expense required to keep up 

 a stock of bedding plants. 



An annual top dressing of well rotted manure or leaf mould is a great aid 

 to most hardy plants, but they dislike the spade, and ought not to be dug 

 about except when lifted or divided. It is well to let the leaves which fall 

 upon herbaceous beds remain there during the winter, this natural covering 

 and nutriment being beneficial. 



A Likeness in Flowers. — Edgar Saunders describes bow the features of 

 Washington were depicted by flowers at the Soldiers' Home, Dayton, Ohio : 



It may be premised the features of Washington, as generally depicted, are 

 so strikingly peculiar that the portrait is more easily produced in plants than 

 most others; and this is how it is done here: First of all, there is a raised 

 mound, with four flat sides, on one of which is set the portrait. The white locks 

 of hair are of echiveria, the curls represented by a few plants of dark oxalis. 

 The face is golden Alternanthera; eyes, echiveria; nose and brow, oxalis; the 

 chin shaded by the same plant; mouth, scarlet achyranthes, while the long 

 vest is echiveria, shaded by alternanthera amcena. The official bars on the 

 shoulders of the coat are golden alternanthera, as are also the shadings of the 

 shirt frill. The body of the coat is of a dwarf dark coleus. On one of the 

 sides of the mound is a white star, with the legend "Washington, 1776." On 

 another "Our Home, 1885." 



Fall Planting of Bulbs. — A writer in our Country Home is responsible 

 for capital counsel with regard to planting bulbs: 



By all means plant some bulbs this fall. In no way can you expend a small 

 amount of money in the garden to make it give you greater satisfaction. 

 Tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, and narcissuses bloom early in the season, before 

 any other plants are large enough or advanced enough to produce flowers in 

 any satisfactory amount. They are so brilliant, and keep their beauty so long, 

 that no garden can offord to be without them.- Two or three dollars will buy quite 

 a quantity of mixed bulbs nowadays, and the mixed collections are quite as sat- 



