THE FLOWEE-GAEDEN. ^3 



Anemone. — This is a very beautiful flower, and worthy of great pains. 

 It is raised from seed, or from pieces of the roots. Sow the seed in 

 spring. The plant does not blow the first year. The root, which is 

 tuberous, is taken up in the fall, dried in the sun, and put by in the dry 

 till spring, when it is put into the ground again. And, during the 

 summer, it sends out young roots, which must be taken off and planted 

 out to become flowers. There is a great variety of colors and of sizes 

 of this flower. 



Adonis. — Herbaceous plants with showy flowers, natives of Europe, 

 of easy culture in any common soil. The most ornamental species are 

 A. vernalis, the spring-flowering Adonis, a perennial with bright yellow 

 flowers, which is quite hardy, and is easily increased by division of the 

 root; and^. awtiimnalis, the common annual _;?o» ^c?orais, or pheasant's 

 eye, with dark crimson flowers. All the species will grow in any com- 

 mon garden soil ; and the annual kinds should be sown in autumn, as 

 they will stand the winter in the open air — or early in spring, as they 

 are a long time before they come up. The seeds will keep good several 

 years. 



Althea frntex. — It is raised from seed, or from suckers. There are 

 several sorts, as to colors. They should be mixed to make a variety. 

 Save the seed in November or December. The pods are full. Sow in 

 the spring. Seed produces the handsomest shrub ; and it is to be got 

 almost anywhere. 



Auricula. — This plant may be raised from seed, but the flowers in such 

 cases are generally unlike their originals. The auricula is also propa- 

 gated by division of the root, or by cutting off slips which have gener- 

 ally some roots attached, and are put at once into small pots. The 

 season for performing the operation is shortly after the flowers have 

 gone off, or, if they are left on, immediately after the seed has 

 ripened. 



Arbutus. — A pretty evergreen, well known and easily obtainable. 



Aster, China. — An annual, bears great quantities of seeds and is 

 sown early in the spring. There is a great variety of colors, and pro- 

 fusion of blossoms. It yields no odor, but a clump of it is very beau- 

 tiful. 



Azalia. — That little American honey-suckle that impedes our steps 

 when shooting on the skirts of woods. . It however, blows profusely, 

 though it has no smell like the English honey-suckle. 



Balsam is an annual and a most beautiful plant, with great abundance 

 of flowers. Sow when you sow melons, at a distance of four feet; 

 leave only one plant in a place; let the ground be rich and kept clean ; 

 it will blow early in July, and will keep growing and blowing till the 

 frost comes, and then, like the cucumber, it is instantly cut down. I 

 have seen balsams in Pennsylvania three feet high, with side-branches 

 two feet long, and with a stem much bigger than my wrist, loaded with 

 beautiful blossoms. Plant, branch, leaf, flower ; all are most elegantly 

 formed, and the colors of the flowers extraordinarily vivid and various. 

 There are, however, some more double than others, and some variega- 

 ted. The seed of these should be sowed, and it comes in great abund- 

 ixHce. The flower of the balsam has no smell. 

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