FLORICULTURE. 407 



The plants used for the above work are different colored coleus, 

 edged with any of the following: Centaurea, Cinneraria Maritimi, 

 or Alternanthera of various colors. 



Bedding by massing in color consists in contrasting masses of 

 color in flowers or foliage in anj^ number of shades desired, but the 

 effect is best when but few colors are used in one bed. 



Large beds are verj^ pleasing when formed of one shade, such as 

 scarlet, pink, chocolate or yellow, and contrast nicelj^ with the 

 green of the lawn. Thej^ are inore admired by people of taste than 

 when so many different colors are placed together. 



Among the many plants for bedding, there i& none better for 

 flowering than some varieties of the Geranium; in its almost end- 

 less shades and colors, it certainly seems that the most critical 

 could be suited. 



Pansies, Verbenas, Petunias, Feverfews, Salvias, Caladium, Es- 

 culentum. Lobelias and Cannas, are all used for the decoration of 

 the flower garden and lawn. 



For several years there has been an ever-increasing demand for 

 low-growing, large-flowering Cannas, and certainly there can be 

 nothing more beautiful than a bed of these, with their immense 

 foliage and many flowers of vivid hue. 



THE CHANGING FASHION IN CUT FLOWERS. 



F. G. GOULD, EXCELSIOR. 



We know from historj^ that roses have been considered, and have 

 really, perhaps, stood at the head of the list of flowers for some cen- 

 turies; but in this country, at least, the improvement in fruits and 

 flowers has been stimulated most in the last thirty years. Flowers 

 have not been used for commercial purposes in this countrj- to an}- 

 extent until since the war of the rebellion, thirty j'ears ago, and most 

 of that in the last ten years. Now, the fashion in flowers, perhaps, 

 is governed by the same rules that all of our habits are affected by. 

 Frequently fashion has considerable to do with the demands for 

 flowers of different varieties. I remember distinctly twentj' years 

 ago or more roses, reallj^, had not yet becoine an article of com- 

 merce in this country-. I remember at that date the camelia was 

 the principal flower, and the buds sold for fifty cents apiece. 



Now, the carnation was scarcely known as a commercial flower 

 twenty years ago in this country. About that time, it was beginning 

 to be grown to some extent. Though they have been for centuries 

 one of the most desirable flowers, at first they had but five petals, a 

 single flower, but at that time they had that delicious clove fragrance, 

 and they were not only agreeable to the sense of smell but they 

 were of the quality that lasts— at any rate, they have been regarded 

 as one of the most useful and beautiful of flowers. The fragrance 

 is different, perhaps, from the fragrance of most flowers, even roses, 

 it has a stimulating effect, and a person does not tire of it. They 



