Ifloral JVoles. 



CeanotluLS thyrsijlora, bearing flowers like an Ostrich feather of a pale blue color. 

 SpircBa callosa, S. callosa alba, the first bearing pink and the latter white flowers, 

 deserve a place here as well as in every garden. 



Belonging to the small tree kind, we recommend Kolreuteria paniculata, or Balloon 

 tree, as some people call it, which bears yellow blossoms on long erect spikes; and as 

 a suitable companion to this t^VawI^ Lagerstremia indica, of which there are three or 

 four varieties, one bearing pink, another purple, and a third bearing scarlet flowers ; 

 we have also got the white flowering kind, but cannot vouch for the latter proving 

 hardy ; in truth, all of the varieties recjuire protection during the winter north of 

 Baltimore, yet there is no plant that will better repay a little care than this same 

 Crape myrtle. The Althea is a very popular tree or bush, and it embraces a great 

 many varieties, both single and double-flowered ; to have these to bloom at the 

 present season they should be headed down or cut back late in April ; but apart from 

 the value of the flowers, there are two or three kinds very attractive by their varie- 

 gated foliage, which latter feature in floricultural productions has of late years 

 claimed more prominence than we think it deserves. While bringing forward to the 

 light the above desirable trees and shrubs, we would, with great respect, remember 

 as seasonable the Virginia and Chinese trumpet flower, the first so well adapted to 

 cover stumps of trees or old walls gone into decay, the last just the thing to plant 

 against a summer house, or as a solitary bush on a lawn, where its robust growth will 

 soon produce a stem strong enough to support its head erect. 



I^loivers for Window Giirdetiing. 



A. correspondent of the Agriculturist thinks that people who live in the country 

 have no excuse for being witliout good food for pot plants. Dead leaves and earth 

 or mould from the woods are always attainable. My advice is mainly for dwellers in 

 cities. 



E'irst, make your calculations a year ahead. You who have not been accustomed 

 to make plans for gardening, in-doors or out, for a month ahead, need not be dis- 

 couraged at this. The amateur and professional florist make their plans for a much 

 longer time. There are very few cities where a bushel or two of dead leaves cannot 

 be gathered in the fall from the many trees that line some streets, or adorn your own 

 or your neighbors' yards ; but don'.t be afraid of getting too many. 



The older and more thoroughly rotted the manure is, the more valuable, and a 

 bushel or two of leaves will go very far — much farther than you think. Put the 

 leaves in a sheltered place, say against your back wall or fence, and put a board or 

 two over the heap, to shed raiu. Then to a bushel of leaves add a peck of loam or 

 garden soil (sods are best), and a half-peck of common sand. Every washing day 

 empty a pail of hot suds on the heap, and stir it as often as possible with a garden 

 fork, hoe, or shovel, or anything else that will mix it up well. Of course, it will 

 fi-eeze up solid many times during the winter, unless kept where it does not freeze, 

 but if you begin now, and stir as often as you can, by next fall you will have the 

 whole thoroughly rotted down. Oak leaves do not rot as quickly as some others, 

 maple, for instance. 



My heap was begun last October, and you cannot now distinguish the least form of 

 a leaf in the mass. Although out of sight, under a flight of steps at the back door, 

 it is perfectly odorless, and is springy and spongy — ^^just what is needed. 



To recapitulate : A bushel of leaves, a peck of loam or sods, a half-peck of sand 

 are all the important ingredients. Whatever you can add in the way of stray bunches 

 of moss, or bones burned in the kitchen fire and powdered, is so much gain. 



When ready for use, sift through your coal sieve (let it be a coarse one), and take 

 one third of the manure and two thirds of the best garden soil you can get, and make 

 your heap for potting. With very few exceptions all plants will thrive in this mixture, 

 and your courage will not be damped by the formidable array of soils paraded as 

 necessary in most works on flowers. Through the winter you will have flowers that 



