6 



THE FLORAL WORLD 



and they seem to be the purest emblems 

 expressive of sympathy, either of grief or 

 joy — they voice our best feelings. 

 Indian Territory. Mrs. Lou Hall. 



[ Kindergarten workers in the lower districts o 



our large cities find most excellent use for plants 



flowers and seeds in seeking just the results you 



mention] . 



» > > ^> 



SOME ADVICE FROM EXPERIENCE. 



Last summer I thought I would try 

 salpiglossis as I had read so much about 

 their beauty. I procured a packet of 

 mixed seed and sowed them in a box in 

 the house. They came up nicely and I 

 had a quantity of healthy plants to set out 

 when the weather became settled. 



In due time they burst forth into bloom. 

 Such marvels of coloring I never saw. 

 We were enraptured by them. But, alas ! 

 One wet sogg}^ night I was passing by the 

 border and an offensive odor rose to meet 

 me which I had never noticed before. 

 On investigating I found that it issued from 

 the hearts of those lovely salpiglossis. 



I was commanded to root them out, 

 which I did after a succession of rainy 

 days made them an unbearable nuisance. 

 Wet weather renders them positively mal- 

 odorous, for in dry weather they are prac- 

 tically scentless. Put them out of the \y3.y 

 of 3'our nostrils if you wish to enjoy their 

 beauty. Mrs. W. J. Dougherty. 



Minnesota. 



[Numbers of otherwise beautiful flowers have 

 this undesirable feature. The arum draconculus, 

 a gorgeous purple-flowered calla, has a most un- 

 bearable odor, while the flower of the well-known 

 stapelia is far from pleasant in this respect ] . 



BATHE THE FLOWERS. 



I have some three hundred window 

 plants which do nicely for me in a soil 

 one part good garden soil, one part leaf 

 mold, and one part sand-clay for cacti. 

 Ferns and begonias fill the north win- 

 dows, fuchsias and palms the east, gera- 

 niums, abutilons, primroses and amaryl- 

 lises the south, while to the west are 

 roses and bulbs. I water them when they 

 seem dr}-, and every two weeks I fill a 

 bath-tub nearly full of water as warm as 



would be comfortable to bathe in, and lay 

 my plants in this, allowing them to stay 

 about one hour, then refill until all are 

 washed. I know of no one else doing 

 this, but the plants like it and the para- 

 sites do not. I have given this treat- 

 ment for three years and have hardly 

 seen a red spider or any other pest. Once 

 a week I give liquid fertilizer. I think 

 plants could not do better. They bloom 

 winter and summer. 

 A^ermont. Mrs. E. J. Peck. 



[ Your collection is really unusually large, and the 

 methods employed in their carearequite practical, 

 though the time you keep the plants submerged 

 seems rather long. The "red-spider," however, 

 would certainly be destroyed] . 



MY HOUSE PLANTS. 



How gloriously the sun shines through 

 my plants. "What delight it brings. There 

 are eucharis, poinsettia, palms, fuchsias, 

 oxalis, begonias, geraniums, colers, roses, 

 ferns, calocasias cacti, amaryllis and 

 others, the tropic and temperate zones 

 blended in one gorgeous mass of beauty. 

 Problems of soil, heat, moisture, sun- 

 shine, light and air ha\-e been mas- 

 tered. They feed upon me and I up- 

 on them, for the poison I exhale they use, 

 and I need the oxygen they yield. 



The water used upon them makes the 

 house air wholesomely humid and health 

 increases. Those who come and go need 

 no spur to conversation, for the grace and 

 variety and beauty and thrift of the flowers 

 overflows, and the words that we speak 

 are of things that elevate and spiritualize 

 the body and mind. How many blossoms 

 have been sent to place in hands whose 

 work on earth is ended, and by their 

 sweet perfume and beauty to comfort 

 those who mourn. When I meditate up- 

 on the mysteries of their life and growth 

 and lovliness, my soul is lifted up and I 

 praise Him who created them and me. 



Illinois. Ada H. Kepley. 



[One of the plants that you mention, the poin- 

 settia, attracts quite a littleattention at this season 

 of the year, many of them being displayed in the 

 windows of the florists' stores in the cities. The 

 brilliancy of the poinsettia reminds one of the lo- 

 belia cardinalis]. 



