154 THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. [JULY, 



tins Polynmia speedily develops itself into a noble object. Tbose who may have 

 visited the Eoyal Horticultural Society's Garden at Chiswick during the past 

 summer could not fail to have noticed a splendid specimen of it in the collection 

 of summer foliage plants grown there, and magnificent groups of it are to be- 

 seen annually in Battersea Park. 



If taken up in the autumn and kept through the winter in a stove, the plants 

 will early in the following spring produce a plentiful supply of cuttings. These 

 strike root freely if placed on a slight bottom heat, and, being afterwards grown 

 and established under glass, may be planted out as vigorous young plants in 

 the various positions they may be intended to occupy, when all danger from frost 

 is over. 



Polymnia grandis is second to no other plant for its dignified and yet refined 

 aspect in the garden. As in most similar subjects, young plants, if well estab- 

 lished before they are planted out, make by far the most handsome plants. 



F. W. B. 



DOMESTIC AIDS TO GARDEN CULTURE. 



<T must be borne in mind that the earth is our only outlet for impurity. 



■JJU We cannot get rid of it in any other way. Diffused through the air, or 



Sm dissolved in water, it speedily returns to us again. Its place and form may 



y be altered, but scarcely its quality ; its poisonous power refuses to be thus 



destroyed. Now, the earth does not simply hold, it likewise purifies sewage, and 



changes the poisonous dead matter into health-sustaining, living substance. Not 



only is the earth the grand deodorizer that never fails, but it is the magical 



evolver of life out of death. It teems with life ; it purifies, utilizes, and glorifies 



death. It converts dead sewage into wholesome food, or weaves it up into the 



warp and woof of lovely flowers. 



The earth and plants together, become the scavengers and purifiers of the 

 world. No other agents can unloose the firm grasp the earth holds over 

 its dead, nor collect the elements of life from the charnel-house of death. 

 Plants are the true resurrectionists. They open and rifle Nature's wide 

 grave of dead matter, and come forth clothed with the beauty and purity 

 of a new life. To keep the world clean is one of their most important 

 missions. They stand, as it were, midway between life and death, and 

 mediate between the two. Animal life pollutes, vegetable life purifies, the world. 

 Our poison becomes their bread ; our waste is their gain. The whole king- 

 dom of vegetables is arrayed on the side of health and cleanliness. Plants 

 crowd around us on all sides, offering us their help as removers of impurities. 

 They are hungry, and are not at all dainty ; they can eat any amount of dirt ;. 

 they slowly consume the largest lumps of solid impurities. They are also thirsty, 

 and will lap up in the greediest manner the whole of our sewage ; they try 

 to reach it from afar, but as they are not endowed with locomotive powers, we 



