THE FLORAL IVORLD. 



IS 



plants. After roses are well started 

 they will do in any kind of ground, 

 with a little care, but they do vastly 

 better in good ground with moderate 

 care. My garden spot is good to begin 

 with. The old, settled roses I dig 

 about and mulch with good stable ma- 

 nure twice a year, fall and spring, and 

 prune either in fall or early spring, 

 and they certainly pay well. My 

 mosses and other spring roses are solid 

 masses of bloom. After cutting each 

 day all I wish for the house, and giv- 

 ing to all who come, I snip off all the 

 full blown ones, leaving them on the 

 ground. Keeping the open roses cut 

 off is a three-fold good. It prolongs 

 the blooming season, preserves the vi- 

 tality of the plant, and serves as a fer- 

 tilizer. Of course, these older bushes 

 don't need watering. The younger 

 roses, not fully settled in their new 

 quarters, receive the same attention, 

 with the additional care of stirring the 

 soil and mulching throughout the hot 

 summer, and watering whenever need- 

 ed with suds fi?om the weekly wash, 

 which also enriches the ground. The 

 cuttings receive the same treatment as 

 the young roses, except that the soil 

 must be kept moist, and they must be 

 protected by evergreen boughs or glass 

 jars, summer or winter. 

 Georgia. Miss M. E. Greene. 



SUCCESS WITH HOUSE PLANTS 



When some one writes to banish 

 the roses, heliotropes and lantanas to 

 the cellar in winter, I wish they could 

 see mine. Of course, I must have 

 bulbs, too, but can not dispense with 

 the others, even if they do require 

 daily care. I always think those 

 who would replace them with bulbs 

 must have a tinge of "that tired feel- 

 ing." My heliotropes and lantanas 

 are green from the roots up, and there 

 is no day during winter that I could 

 not cut a bouquet of roses. 



I obtain small rose plants or root 

 cuttings in early spring, pot in small 



pots to suit their size, in a compost 

 of good garden loam, well enriched, 

 shifting to larger pots when their 

 growth requires it, and keeping the 

 buds picked off during summer. The 

 buds in winter come on new branches. 

 When the blossoms fade cut the 

 branch back severely. This will pro- 

 mote more new growth and more 

 buds. A south window suits them 

 best. As to the heliotropes, I use 

 either young or old plants and pot in 

 pure leaf mold, well enriched, and 

 provide extra good drainage, for they 

 are hearty eaters and always tnirsty. 

 They should never be allowed to dry 

 out enough to wilt, though the soil 

 should appear rather dry before wa- 

 tering; then water copiously. If an 

 old plant is used, I take it up in Sep- 

 temuer and cut it back severely and 

 keep it in a cool, dark place for sev- 

 eral days, then bring gradually to the 

 sunshine. Heliotropes want all the 

 sun to be had, but the pots should be 

 so placed that tne sun can not strike 

 them. 



In other ways I care for these 

 plants just as I do my other house 

 plants, of which I have told before. 



Ohio. Annice Bodey Calland 



GERANIUMS 



Probably the geranium is more com- 

 monly grown in American dwellings 

 than any other plant, and, in all its 

 varieties, is one of the most satisfac- 

 tory among house plants, being ad- 

 mirably adapted for either window, 

 parlor, green house or garden culture. 

 But very frequently we see poor and 

 ugly specimens of worthless varieties. 

 If some taste be given to the selection 

 of pretty varieties and some care to the 

 growing, the satisfaction derived from 

 geraniums will be greatly increased. 

 They are among the easiest plants to 

 grow from slips. They must have at 

 least two joints, and three would be 

 better, the cutting being just at the 

 third. They are less ap'*" to damp or 



