18t6.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



22t 



younger for my visit. Mr. White's hobby is the 

 geranium. Now that tliis plant begins to ap- 

 proach perfection in symmetry and color of 

 both leaf and truss, it is worthy of devotees. 



I fovind in friend White's collection the excel- 

 lent home seedlings of Mr. Desmond, of this city, 

 one of our thorough workers; also the admirable 

 results of the skill of John Goode, as well as the im- 

 portations from Dr. Dean and others whose names 

 are famous abroad. The best bronze in the col- 

 lection was Marechal McMahon. Close beside it 

 stood that marvellous affair, Happy Thought. 

 AVhose happy thought it is I have forgotten ; but 

 it is probably a quiet conception of nature in one 

 of her happy moods. Flaming grandly in orange 

 scarlet stood No. 1, Roj'al Horticultural Society 

 prize, Sautry. Near it Bichard Dean, Daniel 

 Webster, Pliny, Brindley, Master T. Hammer- 

 sley, Orujan, Charley Casbon, Adalina Patti, Mrs. 

 George Smith, lanthe, Ephraim, Sir John More, 

 Mercy Grogan, and many more, including all 

 the newer and the best of the older names. 

 " Nothing for sale," so that it will do to advertise 

 and praise a good thing for once. 



Chicago never can become really a floral city, 

 owing to its short seasons and its constant winds. 

 We need flowers that come rapidly into show, 

 and do this best while they have a chance. The 

 geranium does well by us, and deserves to be a 

 favorite. But in Mr. White's collection of plants 

 there are some very rare and choice specimens, 

 over which he broods with paternal care. Our 

 happy hour drew to a close with a wish that we 

 had more such genuine sons of Flora in Chicago. 



LILIES. 



BY JOSEPH COBB, PEEKSKILL, N. Y. 



How often is the question asked, " Why is it 

 my lilies do not bloom, but produce a cluster of 

 small setts round the old bulb?" To which I 

 would reply, that j'ou must first learn Avhat is 

 the cause, and then endeavor to remedy it. It 

 may have been bruised at the crown in the 

 transfer, or what is more likely, to have rotted 

 at the nose after planting. Knowledge is power, 

 and so it must be admitted that we cannot pro- 

 duce flowers of any kind without knowing the 

 peculiar character of seed or bulb which pro- 

 duces them, and the exact treatment it requires. 

 Now the general cause of the lily failure is, they 

 are planted without a proper provision for them 

 to be kept constantly moist, without suffering 



from lying in cold, damp, undrained ground, so 

 that if you have a soil that is made good by an- 

 nually manuring, you are not certain of success 

 on lilies, for the under soil may be hard pan 

 clay, or churly, tight-bound gravel, which is so 

 unsuited for them. We will suppose, then, you 

 intend to put in a small gi'oup of lilies (any vari- 

 ety), from one foot to two feet square, or circle; 

 get out the good soil larger than you intend the 

 group to be ; lay that aside by itself Then dig 

 out at least two feet deeper the raw soil ; haul it 

 away and fill the hole with half bricks, old plas- 

 ter, stones, &c., — a few broken bones mixed in 

 would help the lilies too. When filled to within 

 a foot from the surface, a few shovels of chips 

 from the wood-pile, or leaves, or a covering of 

 stable manure put on, would prevent the soil 

 from going down through. Then take your 

 good soil which j-ou first took out, mix a little 

 chicken manure and wood ashes with it, fill up 

 rather above the level of the bed, and plant your 

 lilies, taking care to have them three to four 

 inches from the surface to the top or crown of 

 the lil}'. If your lilies are sound when you plant 

 them, they will keep so, and you will not regret 

 the extra pains you have taken with your lily 

 bed. In the fall cover well with dry leaves, and 

 put brush on to keep them there. 



CURVES, 



BY B. S. OLMSTEAD, LANDSCAPE GARDEN:ER, RYE, 

 NEW YORK. 



I think it was Hogarth who first designated 

 the curving line as "the line of beauty." "Who- 

 ever it was, he enunciated a far reaching truth. 

 Ruskin gives utterance to very much the same 

 thought when he says, " Nature is all made up 

 of roundness, not the roundness of perfect 

 globes, but of variously curved surfaces. Boughs 

 are rounded, leaves are rounded, stones are 

 rounded, clouds are rounded, cheeks are round- 

 ed, and curls are rounded; there is no more 

 flatness in the natural world than there is in 

 vacancy. The world itself is round, so is all that 

 is in it, more or less, except human work, which 

 is often very flat indeed." This, in nature's 

 gentle developments, is obvious at a glance. In 

 her sterner moods, angular lines and sharp sur- 

 faces occur; but they are blended with and soft- 

 ened by the more flowing lines and smoother 

 surfaces, so that it is doubtless true " there are 

 no sharp lines in nature." 



