£:ditorlal jYotes. 373 



greatest consternation. No one was found so daring as to risk his or her life upon 

 the experiment of eating them. 



CnttUiij Down. Tto-ses in, the I<'nll. 



Mr. N. Ohmer stated at a meeting of the Montgomery (0.) Horticultural Society 

 that in cutting down his roses in the fall he cut them to within ten or twelve inches 

 of the grouud and then covered them entirely with decayed manure, and over this 

 placed a low covering of boards. In the Spring he removes most of the manure, and 

 never gives them water winter or summer. The best time for transplanting roses is 

 in the Spring. 



3Irs. Pierce said that she mulched flowers late in the season with well rotted 

 leaf mould or old hot-bed soil. Tea roses, she finds, can be kept in our gravelly 

 subsoil with good mulching. The best way to mulch was to make a little hollow in 

 the soil around the plant before applying it. 



A Good Flower for Gnrden, Sorders. 



Dr. McCarthy, in an essay read before the same society, recommends the old 

 fashioned double May pink as the best border to beds in which bulbs are planted. 

 Its firm roots keep the margin well defined ; its dwarf habit and bright evergreen 

 foliage make it beautiful throughout the year, while its rich profusion of lovely flowers 

 and its unrivaled fragrance, coming as they do, just as the perfume of the hyacinth, 

 and the radiant glory of the tulip are departing, make it in the hiyhest degree 

 desirable. 



The Enputoriunt as a Giirden Flower, 



Mary Tower, in a short floral paper before the same society says : All professional 

 gardeners, and I may say amateurs too, are charmed by the introduction of a 

 white flower which combines the qualities of being a profuse bloomer, hardy and 

 effective in masses. With this fact in view, it seems strange that we so seldom see the 

 ewpatorium ageratoides cultivated in our gardens. It is common in all our shady 

 woods, blooming during the latter part of August and far into September. The only 

 objection that can be brought forward is its rank growth, therefore re((uiring consid- 

 erable room. I know of no more eff"ective white flower for bouquets and floral 

 ornaments. 



Germination of Frimulii rjaponica. 



English florists find that the Primula Japonica retains its germinating power down 

 to the third season. Seeds which were received direct from Japan by E. Gr. Hender- 

 son & Son, and germinated but small numbers the first year, produced thousands 

 freely the second year, and the same pans still produced the third year from the 

 original sowing. 



An Insect I'alnee, 



Sir John Hill has given the following curious account of what appeared on his 

 examining a carnation : " The principal flower in an elegant bouquet was a carna- 

 tion ; the fragrance of this led me to enjoy it frequently and near. The sense of 

 smelling was not the only one aff"ected on these occasions ; while that was satiated 

 with the powerful sweet, the ear was constantly assailed by an extremely soft, but 

 agreeable murmuring sound. It was easy to know that some animal within the 

 covert must be the musician, and that little noise must come from some little 

 creature suited to produce it. I instantly distended the lower part of the flower, 

 and placing it in a full light, could discover troops of little insects frisking, with 

 wild jollity, among the narrow pedestals that supported its leaves, and the little 

 threads that occupied its center. What a fragrant world for their habitation ? 

 What a perfect security from all annoyance, in the dusky husk that surrounded the 

 scene of action ! Adapting a microscope to take in, at one view, the whole base of 

 the flower, I gave myself an opportunity of contemplating what they were about, 

 and this for many days together, without giving them the least disturbance. Thus I 



