if I could not have a few of ray favorite companions around me. I erected a 



small pri'cnhouse (a,a:ainst a western wall), and have now as ^ood a show of 

 plants in blossom as I ever saw in the county of Wicklow, where our eonntry- 

 phicc is situated. I have had some fine Cineraria ])lants, several reniarkahly 

 pood Cytisus, and several fine forced roses. I think, from my observation of a 

 town garden, that the best growing jilants are Roses ; next. Cinerarias and Cyti- 

 sus. Sweet-scented Geraniums thrive very well also. To any one determined to 

 ))ay a little attention to flowers they can have as good a bloom of the above as if 

 they lived a hundred miles from the smoke of a city. I hope to fill my green- 

 house with some rdargoninms I have kept back in a small frame. — Floka. 



Beauty of Flowers. — Who would wish to live without flowers ? "Where 

 would the poet fly for his images of beauty, if they were to perish forever '!! Are 

 they not the eml)Iems of loveliness and innocence — the living types of all that is 

 pleasing and graceful ? We compare young lips to the rose, and the white brow 

 to the radiant lily ; the winning eye gathers its glow from the violet, and the 

 sweet voice is like a breeze kissing its way through the flowers. We hang 

 delicate blossoms on the silken ringlets of the young l)ride, and strew her [)ath 

 with the fragrant bells when she leaves the church. We place them around the 

 marble face of the dead in the narrow coffin, and they i)ecome symbols of our 

 affections — pleasures remembered and hopes faded, wishes flown, and scenes 

 cherished the more that they can never return. Still we look to the far-off 

 spring in other valleys — to the eternal summer beyond the grave, when the 

 flowers which have faded shall again bloom in starry fields, where no rude winter 

 can intrude. They come upon us in spring like the recollections of a dream, 

 which hovered above us in sleep, peopled with shadowy beauties and purple de- 

 lights, fancy broidered. Sweet flowers! that bring before our eyes scenes of 

 childhood — faces remembered in youth, when Love was a stranger to himself. 

 The mossy bank by the wayside, where we so often sat for hours drinking in the 

 beauty of the primroses with our eyes; the sheltered glen, darkly green, filled 

 with the perfume of violets, that shone in their intense blue like another sky 

 spread upon the earth ; the laughter of merry voices ; the sweet song of the 

 maiden — the downcast eye, the spreading blush, the kiss ashamed at its own 

 sound — are all brought back to the memory by a flower. — Miller. 



Observations on Forcing Hyacinths. — To make Hyacinths flower early in 

 December, they should be planted the beginning of August, and the pot ))hitiged, 

 in the open air, to such a dejith that they may be covered with mould to the ex- 

 tent of four inches. They should be taken out again about the middle or end of 

 October, put in warm tan or sand in a hothouse, near the sashes, and kept moist. 

 If treated in this manner, and kept moist and warm, they will not fail to flower 

 about the beginning or middle of December. Many other sorts may be brought 

 into flower about the beginning of January. Those forced Hyacinths which are 

 intended to flower in February and March should be planted in Septeml)er and 

 October, or even about the middle of November, the ])ots being i)lunged iu the 

 open air, and covered with mould. A bed should be made at the beginning of 

 January, consisting of horse dung, four or five feet deep ; it should remain iu 

 that state about a week, and then as much mould added as will cover the pots 

 when they are sunk in it. The pots should be now all put in, and the sash raised 

 four or five inches to admit air both night and day, so that the steam generated 

 by the heat may readily escape. This must not be neglected, even during frosty 

 weather, otherwise they will perish. During a severe frost it may be thought 



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