STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. g9 



ena, lobelia, tropaeolum, oxalis, silveredge, and scarlet geraniums. 

 If well cared for, and not crowded, they are very handsome. With 

 small beds, flowers can be better accommodated than in large ones, 

 because you can make the soil to suit the plants, and they are 

 easy to keep clean and free from weeds, which is essential to a 

 nice flower garden. 



The beds can hh built up a few inches above the level, and turf 

 put around, which keeps the form of the beds so it is not necessary 

 to make them over every year, only so far as they need lightening 

 and enriching. 



It is difficult to say what shall be put in each bed and border, 

 as every one has a fancy of her own about such things, and there 

 is such a difference in the soil and situation of gardens. There is 

 an almost endless variety of plants, but I think those which I name 

 are the most reliable. In some seasons rare plants do very well, 

 but our early frosts usually cut them off before we are repaid for 

 our labor. The single petunia is not cultivated as much as it 

 should be. It blooms eai'ly, and is bright with flowers all sum- 

 mer, and after the first light frosts. In this State seeds do poorly 

 if put in the open ground before June. If you have no hot-bed, it 

 is well to start in boxes, in the house, such plants as zinnia, aster, 

 balsam, petunia, lantana, helitrope, verbena, and all bulbs. If 

 carefully transplanted, they do better and have larger flowers than 

 if allowed to grow where the seed is dropped. Geraniums, lauta- 

 nas and helitropes, do better to remain in the pots, and be sunk 

 an inch below the surface; we get less root and more flowers. 

 September is the time to start geraniums from cuttings for the 

 next spring. Before the frost comes, the old plants can be taken 

 from the ground. After the earth is dry slip off the pots, wrap 

 the plants carefully up in thick paper, with the earth about the 

 roots, and hang in the cellar. If set out early in the spring in a 

 warm room, they will be ready for the garden in June, before the 

 other flowers come. Flowers should be watered every night at 

 sunset, unless there is rain. 



I send you this very simple plan for a flower garden, hoping it 

 will meet your approbation. 



