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ladies' flower gardener. 



sion of handsome flowers. The ground should be well dug the 

 latter end of September or October, or even in November, and if 

 the soil is not sufficiently fine, let it be dug over a second or third 

 time, and neatly raked with a very fine-toothed rake. 



Stony ground requires riddling well, and great care must be 

 taken to keep it neat by picking up the little stones which con- 

 stantly force themselves to the surface after rains. Nothing is so 

 unbecoming as weeds and stones in parterres, where the eye seeks 

 flowers and neatness. 



Almost every plant loves sand ; and if that can be procured, it 

 enriches and nourishes the soil, especially for bulbs, pinks, carna- 

 tions, auriculas, hyacinths, &c. Let it be mixed in the proportion 

 of a third part to the whole. 



If the dead leaves are swept into a mound every autumn, and 

 the soap suds, brine, &c, of the house be thrown upon it, the 

 mass will quickly decompose, and become available the following 

 year. It makes an admirable compost for auriculas, &c, mixed 

 with garden or other mould. 



If the ground be a gravelly soil, the flower-garden should not 

 slope, for stony ground requires all the moisture you can give it, 

 while the sloping situation would increase the heat and dryness. 

 A moist earth, on the contrary, would be improved by being 

 sloped towards the east or west. 



The south is not so proper for 'flowers, as a glaring sun withers 

 the tender flowers ; but the north must be carefully avoided, and 

 shut out by a laurel hedge, a wall, or any rural fence garnished 

 with hardy creepers, or monthly roses, which make a gay and 

 agreeable defense. Monthly roses are invaluable as auxiliaries of 

 all kinds. They will grow in any soil, and bloom through the 

 winter months, always giving a delicate fragrance, and smiling 

 even in the snow. Monthly roses will ever be the florist's de- 

 light : they are the hardiest, most delicate-looking, and greenest- 



