12 



COLOR FOR WINTER'S RELIEF. 



bloom and fruit, with jessamines, noyas, etc., fill a 

 house with delicious and healthful odors ; but you can 

 do quite as well without the expense, as follows ; 



Lift in October or November as many short stocky 

 lilacs, syringas or mock-oranges, deutzias, bush or 

 Tatarian honeysuckles, Spuua pyunifolia, and other 

 early-fiowering common shrubs, as you can care for ; 

 place them in your cellar in cheap boxes or in half kegs ; 

 water very little. About three weeks before you desire 

 a blooming of either sort of shrubs, bring up to your 

 kitchen window, or conservatory if you have one, as 

 many as you choose. As the buds start, simply water 

 profusely, and give all the light you can. You will 

 shortly have May in January or February, Nothing 

 can be more delightful. The lilac is the best of all 

 forcing-shrubs, and is quite as sweet as when blossom- 

 ing out-of-doors, 'Deutzia gracilis is very pretty in 

 clouds of white, but it is not sweet. Mock-orange is 

 liable to drop some buds, but is very sweet and lovely. 

 The yellow currant or native ribes is another first-rate 

 shrub for the purpose. 



When they have finished flowering, set the bushes 

 back in the cellar till spring, only do not let them dry 

 up nor over-water them. In April or May set them in 

 the ground, and in two years they can again be used for 

 forcing. In order to have short, stocky bushes one 

 should take suckers from established shrubs and set 

 them in a row in his garden, and trim them down. Of 

 course a full-grown lilac tree will not serve our pur- 

 pose ; nor will shoots without flower-buds. A three- 

 year-old bush will have flower-buds as a rule. How 

 can you be sure about it ? By the shape of the buds ; 

 they are rounder and larger than leaf-buds. 



My next plan for winter flowers is to make for in- 

 doors window-boxes that just fit into the windows, and 

 are seven or eight inches deep and ten or twelve wide. 

 These are filled with good soil and sand, and planted 

 with tulips, freesias, etc. I do not prefer hyacinths for 

 windows, because as soon as the tip-flower begins to 

 fade it sends out a rotten odor which is unwholesome. 

 But the tulip is not a sensuous flower at any stage ; and 

 there are just as sweet tulips as there are hyacinths. 

 The freesia is simply a noble flower. Its fragrance is 

 delicious. Its bulbs are small and can be planted with 

 the tulips. I am far from being captivated with the 

 sacred narcissus, or Chinese flower, that so many are 

 growing just now. It is not pretty ; but there are pretty 

 jonquils, and not one is finer than our common daffodil. 

 Von Sion. It is easily forced. So is our lily-of-the- 



valley. Window-boxes will do for all of these. They 

 must have plenty of light and water. They will fail if 

 set back from the glass. 



I do not feel quite content without a few pots of 

 lilies. Candidum will do ; and there is nothing in the 

 garden better than the common tuberous-rooted or 

 lemon lily. This sort sends up stem after stem of 

 fine, delicate yellow flowers that fill the house with per- 

 fume. The orange-colored is a less handsome sort, and 

 less sweet. These I place in pots in the cellar for a 

 few weeks, and bring forward as wanted. Liliu?n longi- 

 Jiorwii and L. Harrisii, or Easter lily, or Bermuda, should 

 also be freely potted. You can buy them at wholesale 

 in lots of fifty or twenty-five so cheap that you can 

 afford to plant all you have room for or care to have. 

 Plant one bulb in a six-inch pot. Get them well-rooted 

 in the cellar before they are brought to the light. This 

 will require from three to four or five weeks. They can 

 stay longer in the cellar if you desire. Bring up a few 

 at a time and then water them freely and regularly. In 

 the cellar water sparingly. I also pot a dozen or so of 

 Lilitim aurattim, but they are not so sure of giving in- 

 variably good results. 



If you do not desire to spend any money on winter 

 plants, you will, of course, take the lemon lily, which 

 almost all people have in their gardens. Dig up a big 

 bunch and cut it into pieces small enough for twelve- 

 inch pots. Do not crowd too much. Most people 

 have also the little white candidum lily. This can be 

 forced very nicely with care, but should be near the 

 glass. Other sorts do quite as well. 



When bulbs or tubers are through blooming, they 

 can be replanted in the garden, and will recuperate in 

 a couple of years, but must not be kept in pots two suc- 

 cessive years. 



A very charming winter flower, apart from these, 

 is the double-flowering rubus or blueberry, which 

 some call the bridal rose. Another is the white 

 hellebore or Christmas rose. This, however, will blos- 

 som out-of-doors until heavy snows, and may be dug 

 out of the snow for Christmas. Then, if you intend to 

 keep a fe\y pots, keep sweet flowers in preference to 

 showy ones. They generate ozone and help to purify 

 the atmosphere of your rooms. I prefer tropaeolums, 

 heliotropes, and the- old-fashioned rose- and apple- 

 scented and pennyroyal geraniums. These are out of 

 style, but ought to come back ; they have never gone 

 from those who love real merit. 



Oneida Co., N. Y. E. P. Powell. 



