438 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SNOW DROPS. 



These are earliest of all spring flowering bulbs. They are quite 

 hardy; any soil will answer if not too dry. They should be planted 

 early in the fall two or three inches deep, and may be left in the ground 

 for years. Their effect is most striking if massed in beds. To get 

 them to flower in- doors they should have a season of growth during 

 the fall out-doors. Place in pots early, and plunge in cool frame, water 

 well and aid growth as much as possible so as to allure them into 

 blooming by Christmas or later. They are worth thirty cents per dozen. 



GLADIOLUS. 



Some varieties of Gladiolus are fine potting plants and should be 

 treated same as Freesia refracta alba. It is well to bed out the hardy 

 varieties in the fall, as they make finer and earlier flowers. 



IXIAS. 

 These bulbous plants are of gorgeous colors, having flowering 

 spikes of over a foot high, thickly set with star-shaped flowers. Grow 

 in pots or boxes like Freesias. 



SPARAXIS. 



These bulbs form good companions for Ixias if planted in the same 

 pots with them. The colors contrasted make a beautiful display. These 

 should be tried by lovers of flowers. They are treated same as- 

 Freesias. — Southern Horticultural Journal. 



NECESSITY OF A VINEGAR LAW. 



L. R. Bryant, Princeton, said : While pure alcohol and cider vine- 

 gar may be equally wholesome for domestic use, the latter has quali- 

 ties which make it far preferable, such as richness, flavor and aromatic 

 qualities. Such being the case, one would suppose cider vinegar would 

 be used almost exclusively, but not over ten per cent of the vinegar sold 

 in Illinois is made from cider. Probably forty per cent of the whole is- 

 sold as cider vinegar; so three-fourths of the article sold as cider vine- 

 gar is a fraud on the consumer, and an injury to the orchardist, because 

 it lessens the demand for the second grade of apples. These state- 

 ments are founded on chemical investigation. Part of this imitation 

 vinegar is alcohol vinegar, colored and flavored to imitate cider vine- 

 gar, and part of it by test (chloride of barium) will show sulphuric acid. 

 New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Minnesota have strict laws.- 



