138 



THE GAEDENEIVS MONTHLY 



[Mat, 



ing in a way to beat all attemiits hitherto made, 

 excepting, of course, those of your obedient ser- 

 vant. — Gardener's Magazine. 



A Hint to Table Decorators. — A splendid 

 subject for table decoration, hitherto (so far 

 as I know) unused, may be found in every gar- 

 den, but its season of perfection is nearly past. 

 It has stared me in the face for years and years, 

 but I never thought of using it until lately, when 

 "stern Necessity's supreme command" led me 

 to hunt for every scrap of suitable stuff on the 

 premises. The new subject is our old friend of 

 the kitchen garden and salad bowl, the Com- 

 mon Sorrel, Rumex acetosa, which now presents 

 huge, ugly, club-like spikes of purplish red inflo- 

 rescence of a comparatively coarse and unat- 

 tractive nature. But, unpromising as it looks, it 

 needs but to be judiciously used, and it becomes 

 a most valuable aid in the light filigree work 

 ■which is so much needed in the dressing of 

 vases, and will take its part admirably with 

 grasses and ferns to make a delicious cloudy at- 

 mosphere around and above gay flowers. Try it 

 and be convinced. Every one of the great ugly 

 bunches will furnish fifty light sprays of grass- 

 like inflorescence of a peculiar color, differing 

 from, yet harmonizing with all kinds of flowers, 

 and so distinct it is when set off with bright 

 green that it might be employed as <he domi- 

 nant furniture in "some instances. — Gardmer's 

 Magazine. 



PoiNSETTlA. — Pnssing by these old friends, not 

 without a word of hearty welcome be it well un- 

 derstood, we come to another plant wliich has 

 been of late years an almost indispensable ad- 

 junct of Christmas decorations, be they of church 

 or hall — the brilliant Poinsettia pulcherrima, the 

 bright scarlet bracts of which give the head of 

 blossoms a flower-like appearance, and serve ad- 

 mirably to lighten up the somewhat sombre 

 masses of evergreen. Not only in England is 

 this beautiful plant regarded as a Christmas 

 flower; in the North of Mexico, where it finds a i 

 place in almost every ga>-den, it is called Noche- 

 buena from its blossoming about the time of the 

 Christmas festival, for which noclie huena, " the 

 good night," is the Spanish name. In the South 

 of Spain it is a very popular flower, and there 

 too, it is connected with a Church festival, being 

 known as Flor de pasqua or Easter-flower. Its 

 name commemorates a French traveler, M. 

 Poinsettc, by whom the plant was introduced to 

 cultivation. He brought specimens to Charles- 



ton from Mexico in 1828, whence they were taken 

 to Philadelphia; and specimens sent from the 

 latter place to Edinburgh flowered in 1835, since 

 which date it has become increasingly popular 

 and plentiful in our stores. There is a variety 

 with white bracts, and a so-called " double-flow- 

 ered " variety has just made its appearance 

 amongst us, and which will, we believe, shortly 

 be illustrated in these columns. With us in Eng- 

 land the plants of the Poinsettia attain compara- 

 tively but small size ; but in India, on the Neil- 

 gherry Hills, where it is grown in gardens, it at- 

 tains the size of a large bush. — Gardener's Chron- 

 cle. 



QUERIES. 



Work on Greenhouse Culturf:. — W. M. G., 

 Kiles, Mich., writes : "Will you have the kind- 

 ness to inform me which is the best authority 

 and most extensive work on greenhouse culture, 

 and where obtained, and the price. I have Hen- 

 derson's Window Garden, iind some other small 

 works, but none of them answer my puri)Ose. I 

 want something that covers more ground, alpha- 

 betically arranged, so that I can refer to at least 

 the majority of plants usually found in a green- 

 house collection, their culture, time of taking 

 cuttings, and general management of each and 

 every plant. I would prefer an American work, 

 as the treatment in different countries is differ- 

 ent. I notice by your advertisements in the 

 Gardener's Monthly that you are a greenhouse 

 man, and being an editor I presume you know 

 what is best for my purpose." 



[Buist's work is the best, and it will probably 

 be the only work of that character for some time 

 to come, as there has been so much progress 

 made of late years in practical floriculture that mi- 

 nute directions, for propagating and managing 

 each particular plant is not called for. Practice 

 has so simplified proi^agating especially that a first- 

 class propagating house strikes anything and al 

 things equally alike. The delicate Heath, or the 

 coarser Camellia, Geraniums, Azaleas, Cactuses, 

 Roses, everything, all are done for in one and 

 the same bed. There is no mystery any more 

 about these things. Good sound sense, with an 

 educated experience, is all that is needed, and 

 when one can do this with one plant he will do 

 with most all. For a knowledge of plant* 



