SCABIOSA, (Mourning Bride,) Nat. Ord. Dipsacea. 



The Scabiosa, called all-the-world-over, Mourning Bride and Mournful Widow, has been 

 so long a popular garden flower that nobody knows where it was discovered or when first 



cultivated. We don't know that we can call it a very 

 beautiful flower, and yet it is an old friend, and we like 

 it, and it gives a great variety of colors, from white 

 almost to black, and it grows freely and healthily, and 

 we always grow 

 it, and always 

 intend to; and 

 it cuts beautiful- 

 ly for large bou- 

 quets, and is an 

 excellent flower 

 every way. The 

 tallest varieties 

 grow eighteen 



inches in height, the flowers being supported on long, 

 wiry stems. The dwarf sorts are about a foot in height. 

 Seed may be grown in the garden or 

 under glass. Plants, if thrifty in the 

 autumn, not weakened by over-flow- 

 ering, often flower the second season. A variety, S. stellata, bears curious 

 seed-pods, shown in the engraving at the right, and these dried, work up well 

 with Everlastings. Indeed, they look much like dried flowers, besides being 

 very singular. There is also a double variety, so called, the plant being dwarf 

 in habit, and the flower smaller and more compact than the old sorts. It is 

 a neat variety and better for bouquets than the old kinds. There is a little 

 perfume to these flowers, and they are known by the name of Sweet Scabious. 



SCHIZANTHUS, Nat. Ord. Scrophulariacea. 



An interesting and beautiful class of plants that may be treated as half-hardy annuals, but 

 that are not often seen in our gardens, and are 

 really better adapted for house culture. They 

 are not exactly of a climbing habit, and yet are 

 so slender that they need support, and when 

 this is provided will grow from two to three 

 feet in height, and bear hundreds of pretty 

 two-colored flowers, looking like little butter- 

 flies. Winds, rain and the hot sun often 

 injure plants in the garden. The seed should be 

 sown under glass, if possible. A really beau- 

 tiful flower for the house. The name signifies cut flower, and it is really interesting and good. 



SENSITIVE PLANT, (Mimosa,) Nat. Orel. Lcguminoscz. 



The Mimosa pudica, called Sensitive Plant from the singularly sensitive nature of the leaves, 

 is really a pretty plant, but its chief merit is in the amusement it pro- 

 vides the children, and in fact, everybody. No one seems to get tired of 

 observing the habits of this plant. When a leaf is touched it immedi- 

 ately begins slowly to close, and if touched near the base of the leaf- 

 stalk, not only will the leaflets close up but the leaf-stalk droop as if 

 broken. Start the seed under glass, and do not transplant to the open 

 ground until the weather is warm. A plant or two reserved for the 

 house will afford a good deal of pleasure during the winter. A very 

 good way is to start a young plant in a pot :n the spring at transplanting 

 time, and sink the pot in the earth to the rim. Before the nights get 

 cool in the autumn, remove the pot to the house, first re-potting into a larger pot, if necessary. 



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