THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE, 33 



AQUILEGIA CANADENSIS. 



HIS elegant but hardy perennial is, as its name implies, 

 a native of Canada, where it usually grows about nine 

 inches high ; but in this country, however, it generally 

 attains the same size as the common Columbine, which 

 it greatly resembles in the appearance of its leaves, 

 though it differs in having its flowers of a different form and colour. 

 It may be easily propagated by dividing the roots either in the 

 autumn or the spring ; or it may be raised from seed, which it 

 ripens in great abundance. In the latter case, however, the seeds 

 should be sown as soon as they are ripe, as otherwise they will be a 

 long time before they germinate. The very graceful, nodding, 

 scarlet and orange flowers, which appear in April and May, are 

 nearly two inches in length, and on each pedicel there are two 

 bracts, so near the flower as to have almost the appearance of a 

 distinct green calyx. 



THE FLORAL DECORATION OF ROOMS, HALLS, AND 



PASSAGES. 



BY JOHN B. MOLLISON. 



?N the floral decoration of our dwellings a great many in- 

 genious contrivances have been brought into repute. 

 In this paper I intend to notice a few of them, and 

 describe their arrangement and practical usefulness. 

 The chief of all decorative inventions is the glazed 

 plant case, or Wardian case. The case in various styles we have in 

 our rooms, on our staircase landings, in our halls and passages, full 

 of tender exotic ferns, hardy ferns, and flowering and fine foliage 

 plants. The inventions next in importance are the hanging baskets, 

 and wall brackets, earthenware and china vases, cut-flower glasses 

 and screens. They are all used for hanging from the windows, on 

 the walls, standing on stair-landings, in passages and vestibules. 



Hanging baskets are very suitable for the cultivation of many 

 plants having slender drooping habits of growth, such as the Con- 

 volvulus mauritanicus, C. tricolor, common Ivy, Lmaria or toad-flax, 

 Creeping Jenny, ivy-leaved Geraniums, Lobelias, Saxifrages, Tracles- 

 cantia zebrina, and Selaginella ; and all ferns, foliage plants, and 

 cut flowers. They can be obtained of various sizes and materials. 

 Those made of galvanized wire are best, for rust is not so liable to 

 disfigure them as when they are only painted, and they are also 

 light in appearance. Baskets made of earthenware are very good, 

 but always heavy-looking. Very pretty rustic hanging baskets are 

 made from wood and virgin cork. Hanging baskets, with zinc 

 boxes fitted inside, having a false bottom and tap to collect super- 

 fluous water, are preferable for indoor decoration. For baskets on 



February. 3 



