BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



41 



All arc not Coffee-beans, which look like them. 

 Good imitation specimens are now being manufactured in 

 Philadelphia and Trenton, being composed of rye flour, 

 glucose and water. The soft paste is then moulded and 

 carefully dried. When mixed with real coffee, even 

 the expert eye and tongue may be deceived. The bogus 

 beans can be made at a cost of $jo per 1,000 pounds. 

 The business of coffee adulteration has become quite an 

 industry, and it is estimated that American consumers 

 pay out every year $13,000,000 for roasted and ground 

 beans, peas, rye, etc. 



Foliage -Beets in the House. — A week before frost 

 I took up some foliage-beets and potted them, putting 

 several into a large wooden lard-pail. The experiment 

 promises well. They stand in the vestibule and already 

 attract favorable comment. — W. O. E., Ottt., Ciuiada. 



Vines Beautify Rural Homes. — In the selection of 

 kinds, a great deal depends upon location, soil and the 

 grower. For the busy housewife, the self-climbers 

 would prove most satisfactory, such as wistaria, Japan 

 ivy, climbing hydrangea and Virginia creeper. But for 

 an all-purpose vine, embracing so many of the good 

 qualities — vigorous growth, dense foliage, ease of culture, 

 and lasting fragrance — under good treatment the cinna- 

 mon vine fills the bill. It must be trained to go where 

 you want it, but in an almost incredibly short time it 

 sends out long runners, covered with beautiful glossy 

 dark-green, heart-shaped leaves clear from the ground, 

 and the leaves do not whip about in the wind like those 

 of some other vines. It is the easiest-grown of all 

 vines, its tubers remaining all winter in the ground. 

 The blossoms are white, feathery and fragrant. As the 

 blossoms fade, little bulblets form just beneath the 

 flower. These bulblets produce a beautiful vine the first 

 year, but will not blossom until the third year from 

 planting. It is an old vine, yet but little known in a 

 great many localities. — Mrs. John Gaillard, Fa. 



Plants for Unsightly Places. — Not long ago I 

 passed a tannery, and was surprised and pleased at the 

 attempt made to make the front inviting and pretty. 

 There was quite a stretch of grass kept soft and vel- 

 vety, and beds of flowers well cared for. There were 

 zinnias, asters, balsams and other common sorts ; but 

 what a change they made in what is so often a disgust- 

 ing kind of business ! Ampelopsis Veitchii sticks closely 

 to a wall and seems made to cover these huge, ugly fac- 

 tory buildings. School-house yards, especially in the 

 country, are the most forlorn-looking places. And who 

 has not been caught at some out of the way railroad 

 station for an hour or two, waiting ? And what a dis- 

 mal place ! Not a pretty thing to look at, far or near. 

 But vines upon the house, and the grounds laid out in 

 well-kept flower-beds, would have made the waiting 

 more endurable. In England and France the stations 

 are made lovely, prizes being offered to the superin- 

 tendents for the handsomest one. How much might be 

 done in these dingy, untidy streets where the workmen 

 crowd together. Window-boxes, vines and even tiny 



Garden-Roller. 



flower-beds are better than none. I saw an attempt to 

 make something of a small space in a row of balsams 

 planted in a place about three inches wide between the 

 house and the sidewalk. But the worst of all bad-look- 

 ing places is often that about a florist's establishment. 

 I passed one yesterday — the outside littered with broken 

 pots, weeds and dirt piled up close to the door for con- 

 venience. The proprietor was so busy laying out other 

 people's grounds that he had no time for his own, and 

 yet it would have been a good investment to have made 

 his own surroundings beautiful. — Sister Gracious. 



A Good Garden-Roller is made of a belt-pulley — 

 mine being iS 

 inches in diam- 

 eter with a 10- 

 inch tire, and 

 framed as shown 

 in sketch. I t 

 rolls the rows, 

 leaving the 

 spaces between 

 loose.— W. W., 

 D,is iMoiaes, Iowa. 



Health and the Plant-Shelf. — "Take away those 

 geraniums," said one of our neighbors as she entered 

 the room where one of the family was sick with scarlet 

 fever. "Don't you know they will kill the patient?" 

 " Not if I know it," said I ; " those plants are going to 

 help her get well." And so it proved. Believe it or 

 not, but soon after the sick child was able to leave her 

 room, spots came out on the geranium-leaves, and the 

 plants died : did they take the disease ? Most of us 

 have nice pianos in the sitting-room, and also furnace- 

 heat, or a big base-burner. This makes a dry air, and 

 the health of the piano is broken. Perhaps the sound- 

 ingboard cracks or a string breaks, Now, even a few 

 plants in the room would make moisture enough to keep 

 the piano in good shape. Furthermore, plants are good 

 barometers. If, with all your care, they droop, be as- 

 sured that the air is too hot and dry for you and the 

 children. Going from a room with such a high temper- 

 ature into the open air, a heavy cold may be the result. 

 But busy mothers say, "I have no time to fuss with 

 plants, and they are apt to be dirty and make litter." 

 True enough, you must have the dirt, and perhaps use 

 the brush-broom a little more. And as for extra work, 

 there are plants made to fit the case of a busy house- 

 keeper. The tradescantia, or Wandering Jew as some 

 call it, is beautiful, and grows in all the shades of green, 

 brown and red. It simply needs watering every morn- 

 ing, and an occasional thorough sprinkling at the 

 kitchen sink. These are lovely for sitting-room win- 

 dows. — Sister Gracious. 



Fruit in Utah. — Our fruit-crop was very large. The 

 trees were loaded down with apples, pears, peaches, 

 plums, and apricots. But-few cherries or quinces are 

 raised here yet. This is a fine fruit country. There is 

 no insect or disease here yet to hurt the fruit. I came 

 here three years ago for my health, and went into raising 



