THE FLORAL WOBLD 



5 



PETUNIAS. 



If some of the flower lovers will try the 

 petunia in their hot, dry rooms, they will 

 have a plant that will not disappoint them, 

 as it will bloom and bloom. One might 

 get a paper of mixed seed and sow them 

 in the spring and pot them in the fall. I 

 have a pot full that I brought into the 

 house in August, which were in bloom 

 when I took them up, and they have 

 bloomed ever since and are putting out 

 new bloom all the time. To show you 

 what rough treatment they will stand, I 

 found the plants neglected but in bloom. 

 After taking them up I wanted the pot 

 for another plant, so reset them in the 

 ground and again took them up and 

 potted, and they are blooming now. 



Mrs. Emma Ankney. 



South Dakota. 



WINTER CARE OF ROSES. 



Last fall I had a few roses which I trans- 

 planted in small boxes, and after watering 

 them well I put them in a shady place for 

 a few days. I then put them on a table 

 near a south window up-stairs, where 

 there was no fire near, and by spring they 

 had grown to be nice plants. I then put 

 them out in the garden, where they have 

 been blooming all summer, and are still 

 full of buds and blossoms, (on the 23d of 

 September). I think they are now large 

 enough to remain out doors. I think all 

 flower lovers should have a few Chinese 

 primroses for winter blooming. Last 

 winter I had five windows filled with 

 them. They looked like one large bouquet 

 from December to April, in different 

 colors of pink, lilac, red, white and yellow 

 center. 



Pennsylvania. Alice Fulmer. 



Three years ago I bought eight rose 

 bushes from a florist and potted them in 

 soil made of three parts loam and one 

 part manure, allowing a teaspoonful of 

 bone-dust for each plant. I set them in a 



shaded place for a few days, then gradu- 

 ally brought them to the light, then all 

 the sunshine they could get from a suoth 

 window. They began to bloom in Novem- 

 ber and until the following June were 

 never out of bloom — some bushes having 

 fifteen roses at one time. 



In June I put them in the garden to 

 rest, or grow, keeping the buds pinched 

 off. In September of each year I lift and 

 repot in fresh soil as before, and they are 

 ready and willing to begin their winter 

 work. So much for the outline, but the 

 " doing well " depends largely upon the 

 care they receive during the winter. I 

 shower mine once a week, or oftener, to 

 keep down the little red spider that is so 

 troublesome. After they begin to bud I 

 give them manure water once a week, 

 and feel well repaid for my trouble. 



Michigan. M. B. Booth, 



THE PEONY BANKSII. 



A banksii peony growing in the open 

 garden disappointed me in the size and 

 quality of its flowers. I removed it to a 

 light place where the house would shade 

 it after ten o'glock. The top soil was 

 rich loam, its feet penetrating stiff clay 

 from the cellar. It made strong growth, 

 but the stems were so crowded all its 

 flowers could not reach out to the light. I 

 filled in amongst them with rich earth, 

 bending the outer ones as flatly as possi- 

 ble without breaking them, placing a 

 stone on each to keep it in position, filling 

 in more earth, and gave a heavy coat of 

 manure every fall, covering the tops with 

 evergreen branches through the winter 

 and until danger of late spring freezing is 

 past, as this sometimes injures the buds, 

 which start into growth so early. The 

 result was that every branch rooted freely 

 and made strong upright growth with a 

 large double flower on the tip of each 

 branch, presenting a half-sphere of im- 

 mense flowers — 160 by actual count — and 

 literally carpeting the ground with their 

 rosy petals when they faded. 



Indiana. Sarah A. Pleas. 



