JFlotoers anti Jfrufts of Autumn. 301 



is well to treat them like the lily-stems, and not 

 use the knife on many subjects, except gradually, 

 as the stalks die down. 



The coloring fruits, and the colored berries of 

 many of the shrubs look so handsome at this 

 season they might almost take the place of flow- 

 ers. I question if the dahlia, in all its glory, can 

 compare with many of the American crab- 

 apples, or the double Helianthus hold more of 

 yellow gold than the quince-trees are coining. 

 The colored berries belong more truly to Octo- 

 ber than to September ; they supply us largely 

 with brilliant reds, a color the garden falls some- 

 what short of during the autumn, yellows being 

 the dominant hues. The tall-growing Helian- 

 thus orgyalis, the fathom-high sunflower, is a 

 late arrival a dark-disked, golden-yellow flower, 

 that looks down upon many of its tribe. One 

 never knows at what elevation it will cease as- 

 cending until its sprays of blossoms unfold in 

 late September. It is a lively, medium-sized 

 flower, with delicate, long and very narrow lan- 

 ceolate leaves, possessing what no others of 

 the HelianthecE with which I am familiar pos- 

 sess a pleasant perfume. Its stalks, how- 

 ever, are rather feeble they have so high to 

 reach and its effect is much enhanced by care- 

 ful staking. It is best placed in the shrubbery, 



