THE FLORAL JVORLD 



3 



soil becomes dry. Wlieii the bulbs are 

 all growing finely, accustom them 

 gradually to the light. Then give 

 them a sunny window and plenty of 

 water, and in a few weeks they will 

 begin to bloom. Give liquid manure 

 or some prepared fertilizez after the 

 buds show. In the spring, when the 

 plants cease blooming and the foliage 

 begins to turn yellow, gradually re- 

 duce the supply of water until the soil 

 becomes dry and the tops are dead. 

 Then set the pot away until August, 

 when the bulbs may be taken up and 

 repotted. They increase so rapidly 

 that there should now be enough bulbs 

 for two or three pots, and the largest 

 bulbs will be found on the bottom of 

 the pot. 



New York. Mary E. Sheldon. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



I have found chrysanthemums re- 

 markably satisfactory flowers for any 

 one who has but little time for gar- 

 dening. I got small roots of hardy 

 sorts after they were done blooming 

 in the fall and planted them in pots. 

 I watered them for about two weeks, 

 until they seemed established, then 

 cut the tops off close to the ground, 

 covered the earth with about one- 

 fourth of an inch of sand and put 

 them in the cellar. Nothing more was 

 done for them until toward spring, 

 when they each sent up a number of 

 strong shoots. Then I watered occa- 

 sionally and put them in the best 

 light in the cellar, where they re- 

 mained until about April 1, when they 

 were set out close to the house on the 

 southeast side in ordinary garden 

 soil. I never watered tliem except 

 during a drouth, gave them no fertil- 

 izer and no further attention what- 

 ever, but in the fall I had just as fine 

 plants as one could wish, covered 

 with blossoms from October first until 

 the last of Novemt>er. 



D. C. Mrs. E. O. Reynolds. 



THE DAHLIA. 



A hedge of well-grown dahlias is a 

 thing of beauty. Give them rich, deep 

 soil, and they bloom freely. The 

 flowers always carry me back in mem- 

 ory to my mother's old-fashioned gar- 

 den growing near the well, with the 

 old oaken bucket ipossed over. 



A great improvement has been 

 made in the gladiolus, double holly- 

 hock, zinnia, and the dahlia since that 

 period. The flowers of the latter, 

 when flrst introduced, were single,, 

 with a yellow disk, and dull scarlet 

 rays, unlike the beautiful double vari- 

 eties now in cultivation. The dwarf 

 pompon varieties, with small flowers, 

 are very pretty and ornamental, if 

 planted in beds and pegged down as 

 they grow. 



The dahlia takes its name from Dr. 

 Dahl, a pupil of Linnaeus. It is a na- 

 tive of Mexico, where it grows in 

 sandy meadows, at an elevation of 

 five thousand feet above the sea, from 

 whence the first were introduced into 

 England by the Marchioness of Bute, 

 in 1789. 



Dahlia imperialis is a tall-growing 

 species, which sometimes attains the 

 height of ten feet. There are two va- 

 rieties, one with white flowers, the 

 other with a red spot at the base of 

 each ray. 



Neb. Mrs. Harriet W. Leighton. 



HYDRANGEA OF UNUSUAL SIZE. 



I feel that as I am so much bene- 

 fited by reading the little magazine 

 each month, it would be selfish for me 

 not to give a few of my successes and 

 then ask for help. I planted an "Otos- 

 ka monstrosa" hydrangea last fall in 

 well-rotted cow manure. After cutting 

 away one-half of the roots, I put it in 

 the pit and only watered it when it 

 needed it until February, then I gave 

 it water every other day, as the buds 

 had begun to appear. I didn't have time 



