SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 455 



bedding out other flowers, the bulbs must be either taken up with large 

 balls of earth and all possible care of the fragile leaves and heeled in to ripen 

 in a shady place; or, without disturbing them, the leaves can be covered 

 with light open mould or sand, and the bedding plants set out in the appar- 

 ently cleared and clean bed. 



Flower Beds.— L. B. Pierce, of Ohio, gives the following practical notes: 

 The prettiest, neatest and most tasteful surrounding for a bed of flowers is 

 a closely-mown lawn. The edges should be sunk at least two inches below 

 the grass, and in large beds the centre can be raised a little. Mounds are 

 never pretty, and rock work requires much more than an average artistic 

 ability to construct or plant in accordance with beauty or the fitness of 

 things. 



The surrounding of flower beds with small boulders, broken crockery, 

 brickbats and the like, is " too utterly utter " for any use, especially if white- 

 washed, but their frequent use has become monotonous, and we would sug- 

 gest to our lady readers that they try the effect of flowers and grass without 

 this border. The best shape for flower beds is round or oval ; beds with 

 acute angles being very difficult to manage. All tall or large growing flowers 

 should be planted at a distance from the walks and given a background of 

 evergreens or shrubbery, if possible, while the smaller and more bushy varie- 

 ties can be planted nearer by. 



AVhere the lawn is to be mowed with a scythe, they should be at least a 

 full swath from paths or other shrubbery. The size of beds should bear some 

 proportion to the flowers and size of lawn. A bed two feet across filled with 

 pansies, double portulacca, or alternanthera is pretty, when a much larger 

 one would be to the contrary. Beds filled with geraniums or coleus and the 

 like, should be sunk sufficient to hide the stems, revealing nothing but the 

 leaves and flowers. 



The prettiest flower bed we saw last season was a bunch of cowslip or marsh 

 mallow in full bloom in a sunken place in the grass by the side of the rail- 

 road. It was about the diameter of a bushel basket, and it suggested the 

 thought, why not in small grounds make a flower bed of a single plant ? A 

 single bushy Happy Thought geranium, or a rich Centaurea Gymnocarpa, 

 well kept, would look infinitely better than the large dishes of hash that are 

 frequently served up under the name of flower beds. 



Native Ornamental Ferns. — Mr. A. A. Crozier contributes the following 

 notes on the ornamental use that may be made of a few of our native ferns. 

 These notes are intended to help those who would grow our native ferns in the 

 climate of Southern Michigan. 



The chief injury to ferns in the garden is from dryness and the breaking of 

 the fronds by the wind. Therefore, select, usually, those with thick fronds, 

 and which grow in dry places. Some of the best are the following: 



Aspleivium Felix-fmmina, the Lady Fern, is one of the handsomest, as well 

 as best, for garden culture. In deep woods it is large and tender, but on the 

 lawn it forms a fine tuft, about a foot high, which stauds exposure well. It is 

 widely distributed, and may be recognized by the elongated, often dark-colored, 

 fruit dots, some of which are curved. 



Osmunda Claytoniana—Ol the three Osmundas, or so-called flowering ferns, 

 this is the best. It may be recognized by having its fruit on a few con- 



