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SONGS OF THE FLOWERS. 71 
additional warmth ; an increase of pot-room contributes to vigour. (See 
our last volume on Azaleas.) 
IN THE STOVE. 
Successive introductions of plants for early bloom should still be 
attended to, as directed last month. See to pruning in such creepers 
as are overgrown, before fresh growth commences. Complete all 
potting as early as possible. Orchidaceous plants, especially, should 
be done at once, in order to obtain as early a growth as convenient. 
Use plenty of charcoal, in lumps, and keep plenty of indestructible 
material round the outside of the pots, to facilitate the passage of both 
air and moisture with rapidity. Increase atmospheric moisture in pro- 
portion to heat and light. Look sharp after insects; the snails, &c., 
are very fond of the young buds at this period, and soon cause great 
injury. Orchids recently imported should have a warm and constantly 
moist atmosphere for a few weeks, until they begin to grow, but no 
water should be applied to them until that period, and then with mode- 
ration. They will fill their pseudo-bulbs by atmospheric moisture 
alone, and all excitement otherwise risks the well-being of the plant. 
MEALY BUG ON PLANTS. 
A CorrEsPonDENT in the Gardeners Journal has applied the fol- 
lowing mixture for destroying the insect on plants, and it has never 
failed to effect it. One pint of neats’-foot oil, half an ounce of soap- 
liniment, and half an ounce of mercurial-ointment, moderately heated, so 
as to blend them together. 
The writer is of opinion that the oil alone would be sufficient. 
SONGS OF THE FLOWERS. 
Fiowers! what numerous associations the word brings to the mind! 
Of what countless songs, sweet and sacred, delicate and divine, are they 
the subject! But the eloquence of flowers is not so generally under- 
stood as it might be by our countrymen ; they do not allow themselves 
leisure to admire sufficiently, or enjoy the beauties of nature. 
Flowers, however, have, and do speak, a poetic language, clear and 
intelligible, in many instances expressive of the intensity of feelings to 
which common language is inadequate. In connection with the mar- 
riage ceremony, our forefathers assembled at day-break crowned with 
flowers ; flowers were strewed in the path of the bride and bridegroom ; 
the house was garlanded with them; singers and dancers appeared 
erowned with oak, myrtle, and hawthorns; the bride and bridegroom 
were crowned with poppies ; and upon their approach to the temple a 
priest received them at the entrance, presenting to each a branch of 
ivy—a symbol of the tie which was to unite them for ever. 
A friend has promised to supply us with one subject for each suc- 
cessive number of our Magazine, the selection being in unison with 
the season in which it appears, and, we believe, they will meet with the 
approval of all our readers. The author prefaces the one which we 
insert in this Number as follows—Connucror. 
In these floral lyrics, a humble attempt is made to give an harmo- 
nious interpretation to the “ language of flowers.” 
