354 



XEW ENGLA2sT) FARRIER. 



Aug. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FLOWER GAEDENING FOB AUGUST. 



'■By the brea'h offlcwcrs 

 Thon calleftTipfrom city thror g-i and carpp, 

 Back to tbp woodB, the birds, itie mountala Btreams, 

 Thut si g of Thee. And Thou bildtst 

 The Iil'trt of ihc field with placid Btrile 

 Keprove nian's feverish etrivingp, and infuse 

 Through ti» own Btul a more unworldly Life 

 "With their tcft to!y breath." 



"We trust that many of our readers will this 

 month reap the reward of all their labors, in 

 the sweet fragrance and brilliant colors of 

 liowers which their own hands Lave planted 

 and cultivated. Gray, the poet, was also a 

 fckilful gardener and naturalist, and he ob- 

 serves that the chief enjojment cf life exists 

 in "having always something going forward." 

 "Happy are they," he sa;>s, "who can create a 

 rose tree or erect a honeysuckle." It is the 

 daily growth cf each plant and flower which 

 constitutes the chief part rf the delight cf the 

 amateur gardener ; the fragrance and beauty 

 cf the "bright consummate flower" form the 

 crowning gratification. There is a pleasing 

 pride in walking out in the morning with a 

 tlower cf one's own raising, spa'ikling in the 

 bultcn-hole. It mentally elongates a man's 

 vertical longitude, and is a most honest and 

 desirable kind of pride — a piide that keeps a 

 man from saloons and the destruction which 

 walke'h in the darkness. The creation cf a 

 beautiful object is certainly a great fact to be 

 justly and honestly proud of, and the lowest 

 intellect can produce liowers which even Solo- 

 mon in all his glory could not eclipse ! The 

 love of liowers seems a naturally implanted 

 passion, without any alloy or debasing motive. 

 We cherish them in jouth, and the love of 

 them is not lost when age has whitened the 

 hair and palsied the hand. Summer flowers 

 are harbingers of good will, and we love to 

 distribute them with lavish hands, to both 

 young and old,— delighted to delight others 

 wiih the harvest of beauty our grounds con- 

 tain. There is constant occupation in ama- 

 teur gardening. Nothing looks more unseemly 

 and slovenly than weeds and untrained plants. 



Tall, growing plants must be carefully 

 trained to stakes, which should be straight and 

 strong enough to support the plants. Much 

 taste and judgment can be exercised in staking 

 plants tlleclively. The stake should always 

 be put at the back of the plant, so as to be 

 conceah d by its foliage, but in some instances 

 where the plant has several stems, the stake 

 should be placed in the middle, and the stems \ 

 tied round it, not in a bunch, as we often see 

 them, but each stem titd separately to the 

 stake, taking care to arrange them gracefully, 

 and allowing the leaves and flowers to hang in 

 their natuial position. Verbenas, if planted 

 in mixed borders or small gardens, should bfe 

 tied up, giving a stake for each shoot, and 

 training them in the shape of a fan. "Wh^n 

 the plant is in full growth and (lower, the out- 

 epread shoots will produce a fine tllect. 



Mignonette can be sown in pots, at this sea- 

 son, for winter blooming, and can be kept in 

 bloom throughout the year. The soil should 

 be light, sandy, not rich, otherwise it grows too 

 rank, and loses, in a degree, its delicious odor, 

 which constitutes its charm. If old stalks are 

 cut off before the seed pods form, new blos- 

 soms will put forth, and the blossoming con- 

 tinued for a long time. 



A correspondent inquires "how to raise a 

 Micjnonette tree.'''' It takes two years to pro- 

 duce a fine specimen. The seed mu.'t be 

 planted in a five or six inch pot, wiih a goodly 

 mixture of sand in the soil. Plant three or 

 four seeds, lest one should not germinate ; but 

 do not allow but one to grow. As soon as a 

 latfral or side thoot appears, nip it off, and 

 throw the whole strength of the plant into the 

 main shoot. Continue this process for a year, 

 not allowing any buds to form, and tying the 

 main branch to a stake. When the plant is 

 six to tight inches high, the side shoots may 

 be allowed to grow, and the tree formed in 

 a graceful shape. It is well to allow the 

 branches to grow in a fan shape. The soil 

 may be enriched once a month with guano 

 water, or weak manure water, and the blos- 

 soms will form thickly and continue in bloom 

 all the season, making a most beautiful plant 

 for a "Window Garden." Mignonette does 

 not require much sun-light, but loves the 

 shade. A stiff piece of copper wire makes 

 the best stake for a "tree," and it must be 

 tied to it when the plant is two inches high, 

 tying it loosely, with a worsted thread. In 

 pinching off the side shoots, the leaves nearest 

 the stem must be left, as a plant breathes 

 through them — they are its lungs. When the 

 pot is full of roots, shift it to one a size larger. 

 The side shoots must occasionally have their 

 ends pinched off, to force them to form a 

 bushy bead often or twelve inches in diame- 

 ter. When this is accomplished, you will have 

 a "tree" of delicious fragrance, which will 

 perfume a large room. By pruning the 

 "trees" and shfting into larger pots, as they 

 require it, these plants will last several years. 



Tulips and Hyacinth roots should be taken 

 up in this month. Many growers of these 

 flowers allow them to remain in the same 

 place three years, but it is much better to take 

 them up every summer, when their leaves are 

 quite decayed, but not before, and keep them 

 until the last of October in a dormant state. 

 They are u.-ually propagated by offsets, which 

 should be removed from the parent bulb at the 

 time they are taken from the ground. They 

 can be raised from seed, but as ihey will not 

 flower for seven or eight years, this mode 

 cf culture is employed only by rich amateurs 

 and florists for the purpose of obtaining new 

 varieties. Bulbs are storehouses of prepared 

 pulp, laid up by the plant for its use the fol- 

 lowing summer, so the larger and fuller the 

 bulb is, the more beautiful will be its flower. 



