REMARKS. 



Window Gaedens. — Very pretty ones can be made of boxes covered with 

 rice matting, or art matting banded with bamboo, or with bark of the Cali- 

 fornia Fan palm, banded with stems of the palm leaves. I furnish bamboo, 

 and palm bark for the purpose, or boxes made up on application. 



Great care should be exercised in setting out plants. Many choice 

 things are lost by not being planted firmly in the ground. Never set out a 

 plant when the soil is too wet, or it wdll pack; it should be mellow and 

 crumbly. The roots of plants should be spread carefully, if without soil; if 

 balled, they should be loosened a little around the ball to induce them to 

 grow T outward. After pulverizing the soil around the plant, press it firmly 

 with the foot, after which, water thoroughly and deep. When the water 

 has settled around the plant cover with dry soil. Watch the plant carefully 

 until well established and see that the soil does not become porous through 

 evaporation and the air dry up the roots. Small plants should be carefully 

 shaded till established. 



When plants from pots are set in the ground; the outer roots should be 

 loosened to grow into the new T soil, which, if packed against a ball of matted 

 roots, will prevent growth and cause the plant to die slowly. 



Everyone who cultivates a garden should have some favorite flower, 

 and bring it to its highest state of perfection; learn how to hybridize, and 

 bring into existence new varieties of the old favorite. 



It is a very pretty idea to have a little white garden off by itself, where 

 white flow T ers are cultivated only, and if there is room and time, a pink, red, 

 or blue bed in proximity will add greatly to the efect. 



Cacti feom Seed. It is a delight to watch their growth from the time 

 that the seed sprouts, until it develops into a spiney ball or column, and 

 sends out its satiny blossoms. Cactus seeds are all sizes; from the size 

 of a small pea to a grain of mustard seed. They should be planted in pots, 

 half-filled with pot. sherds or gravel, with a couple of inches of sand. The 

 seeds should be planted on top of the sand, and well watered and kept cov- 

 ered with glass. They generally sprout within ten days or a mouth. It is 

 surprising to see the size of a plant that has come from a very small seed. 

 They are beautiful little things; the most delicate colors, pale green, soft 

 pink or pale yellow, and pure -white: round or oval, dotted over the surface 

 of the ground, resembling gems. 



Seeds of Cereus start with two fleshy loaves, between which appears 

 the soft spine, and in a short time rises the little column which becomes the 

 plant. Cereus Colubrinus and C. Triangularis grow very fast and form 

 quite large plants in a few months. Tin* plants should be pricked out of 

 the sand into cigar-boxes, or pots, the soil a mixture of sandandloam. Care 

 should be taken that the seedlings do not damp oil' by being kept too wet, 

 nor should thev ever be allowed to become drv. 



