436 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



Rose and the Meadow Lily add greatly to the beauty of the 

 first, and give to the last its peculiar elegance ; the varied 

 shades or mingled stripes of color in the Tulip and the Carna- 

 tion give them their power to excite enthusiastic admiration, 

 and make men " tulip-fanciers," &c. ; and the varied texture 

 of the Iris and many other flowers adds sensibly to their 

 beauty. 



But in choosing flowers for cultivation, we take some that 

 are not beautiful, because they are showy, and others because 

 they are fragrant, and still others because they come so early 

 in the spring as to aiford us the first substantial assurance of 

 its return, or so late in the fall as to postpone somewhat the 

 thought of winter. 



In treating this ornamental department of gardening, the fol- 

 lowing divisions may be named and defined : 



BULBS, among which some tuberous roots, as the Anemone, 

 &c., are commonly placed, are a class generally yielding flow- 

 ers of fine color and texture, and some of them excellent in form. 



ANNUALS are such as either naturally blossom and bear seed 

 and die within the compass of a single year, or are so classed 

 in northern climates because the winter kills them. All these, 

 however, may be made, in a sense, biennials, by sowing them 

 late and wintering the young plants for next year's blossoming ; 

 while some of them, as the Mignonnette, become perennial if 

 propagated from cuttings and not permitted to ripen seed. 



BIENNIALS are such as either naturally form the young 

 strong plant one year, and blossom, bear seed, and die the 

 next, as most garden vegetables, red clover, Canterbury Bells, 

 &c. ; or they are those of which the young plants will bear the 

 cold of winter, but the old plants will not, as certain kinds of 

 Pinks, Snap-dragon, Sweet Scabious, &c. These also may gen- 

 erally be made triennial or perennial by preventing the produc- 

 tion of seed, and renewing them by cuttings or layers. 



PERENNIALS, commonly known as herbaceous plants, are such 

 as have not woody stems, and in climates too cold for their 

 constitution die down in the winter, but spring up every year 



