The Canadian Horticulturist. 429 



THE ABUTILON. 



[HIS is an interesting genus of annual or shrubby plants, mostly of an 

 y^ ornamental character and widely disseminated, being found in nearly 

 every country, from the West Indies to Siberia, while the difference 

 in geographical range is no less than that of their individual char- 

 acters. The flowers of one species, A. esculentum, are used as a 

 vegetable in Brazil, some of the East Indian species furnish fiber for 

 the manufacture of rope, while the ornamental species furnish some 

 of the grandest objects for the window garden, as well as for the open border. 

 For either place they have no equals when we take into consideration the rare 

 beauty and great productiveness of their flowers. Their mission seems to be to 

 flower, and flower they will under all circumstances — at least as long as they live 

 — and the beauty and number of the flowers are in proportion to the care they 

 receive. 



The only objection there can possibly be to them — if that be an objection — 

 is that they grow too freely, usurping the whole window. To obviate this 

 difficulty, the plants to start with should be small, and kept in small pots without 

 shifting. A 4-in pot is sufficiently large for a plant for the window, and this 

 should be constantly in bloom from the time it is 6 inches high until it dies, which 

 it never will do if frost or famine does not consume it. The ornamental varieties 

 are propagated by cuttings, and, as the branches are all terminal flowering, they 

 not infrequently flower on the propagating bench ; consequently, plants in full 

 flower in 2-in pots are commonly met in the greenhouse. It is well to start 

 with these for window plants in the fall, gradually shifting them into larger pots 

 when the foliage begins to show a starved appearance. But the change must be 

 gradual, at each shift using a pot but one size larger than the plant previously 

 occupied, and they will bloom the entire winter. 



When the weather becomes warm, turn the plants out of the pots into the 

 open border, and their growth will be rampant. With plenty of water and sun- 

 shine, and in a deep rich soil, there will be no limit to their flowers. Upon the 

 approach of frost the plant that a year ago was in a thumb pot will now be a 

 strong shrub, fully 4 ft high, altogether too large for any practical purpose. The 

 skillful hand of the hybridizer has worked wonders with the abutilon. The size 

 of the flowers has been wonderfully increased and we now have a large number 

 of varieties, embracing those with self-colored, variegated, or veined, dark rose 

 or crimson, pure yellow of various forms and shades and pure white flowers. 

 A double type has much of merit as a curiosity. 



HOW TO IMPROVE A LAWN. 



Lawns can be kept green and thickset without the use of stable manure. 

 City and village people who have a few square rods of grass, usually imagine it 

 necessary to keep the plot covered for weeks with highly scented and ill-looking 



