296 



BUDS, BLOSSOMS. FRUITS. 



horses, rough boys and other nuisances to invade and 

 misuse the grounds up to the very doorsteps. Also, the 

 absence of a fence gives an unfinished and incomplete 

 effect. It destroys all sense of privacy, security and that 

 most essential feature of a home, an air of repose. Both 

 practicability and poetry are apparently banished from a 

 home where there is no fence or some kind of an in- 

 closure surrounding it. The fence need not necessarily 

 be high, ugly or forbidding, but surely a low pretty fence 

 or hedge adds much to the comfort, protection and ap- 

 pearance of a house-garden or dooryard, even if the 

 latter is but a strip of turf. The lack of a fence would 

 also be considered an architectural mistake, for ,it is said 

 by those who have studied such matters that a house close 

 to the street needs the fence from which to rise, as from 

 a support and base, as much as a statue needs a pedestal. 

 Without the fence, the house instead of looking like a 

 settled homestead, looks like a building that has been 

 moved from its place and dumped down anywhere. The 

 fence takes away from the feeling inside the walls of 

 being all outdoors." 



Table Decoration. — Low bowls are very desirable 

 for flowers on the table. A quaint china bowl, such as 

 most families have brought down from their grand- 

 mothers, has an air which suits the modern idea of deco- 

 ration. Every flower should be fresh and perfect, and 

 old-fashioned flowers are preferred for such arrangement. 

 A fanciful device, quite easy to arrange, is a sheet of 

 looking-glass fringed with grasses. Lying upon this are 

 water-lilies among their leaves. For this arrangement 

 it is necessary that the lilies have short stems. Often 

 low banks or mounds of flowers are raised, as of lyco- 

 podium, in which tulips are stuck as if growing. The 

 foundation for theb:ink can be made of damp moss, thus 

 keeping the flowers perfectly fresh. Simpler designs suit 

 better the taste of most people. The placing of small 

 bouquets at each plate is a graceful attention, and one 

 usually appreciated. A few flowers in a wine-glass of 

 water are also often placed beside each plate or those 

 of guests. In selecting flowers for this purpose, or for 

 table decoration of any kind, highly perfumed ones are 

 not desirable, as their odors, combined with the heat and 

 light, and the steam of food, are apt to be sickening. 

 For this reason ferns are always in favor, and the bright 

 colors of the geranium lend a cheerfulness to a dining- 

 table not easily obtained in neutral tints and shades. — 

 Mrs. L. H. Gale. 



Xerophyllum asphodeloides. — It is a singular fact 

 that a plant of such marked beauty as the " turkey's- 

 beard " or Xerophyllum asphodeloides, should have re- 

 mained so long unnoticed in this country. It is eminently 

 suited to landscape-planting or wherever permanent ef- 

 fects are wanted. Its fine evergreen foliage in winter is 

 very pleasing, and when it is topped by the tall spikes of 

 creamy white flowers in June, the effect is beautiful be- 

 yond description. A good-sized clump will have a spread 

 of foliage two to three feet across. Individual leaves are 

 often three feet long by less than one-twelfth of an inch 

 wide, and rise in graceful curves with the tips drooping 



to the ground on either side. The flower-spikes appear 

 in June and remain beautiful a long time, as a single 

 spike will often produce flowers for the space of a foot 

 or more, growing upward as they successively expand. 

 When planted in masses, with a background of ever- 

 greens, they produce an effect of more than common 

 beauty. In England the xerophyllum is taking a high 

 place among hardy plants, where it has been fully tested 

 and its great value unquestionably proved. It has twice 

 received special distinction from the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, once by a first-class certificate, and again by a 

 special award of merit. If spikes of this flower are cut 

 and placed in water they will keep for two weeks, and what 

 could be finer for drawing-room decoration than a pitcher 

 filled with these soft, white blooms? — F. L. Bassett. 



Truck-Growing for Wealth.— The ordinary condi- 

 tions of success must be met if we expect to succeed in 

 any business. The city man who undertakes to grow 

 fruits must compete with practical men who possess the 

 necessary knowledge, experience and mechanical dex- 

 terity. To succeed, even the practical man must have 

 the right soil, in the right locality. He must have capi- 

 tal sufficient to start his business and to wait a few years 

 for results. He must have persistent pluck to cultivate 

 the soil, to care for his plants, and to fight weeds and 

 insects month after month and year after year, without 

 receiving much income from his fruits. What city busi- 

 ness is likely to bring wealth to an impecunious, inexperi- 

 enced man ? If there is such a business in the city the 

 country man cannot compete in that respect with the city 

 man. The rich man who wishes to reduce his capital 

 may safely resort to fruit-growing. If he does a good 

 share of the manual labor he will be likely to eat straw- 

 berries that cost five cents each, with a good appetite. 

 Many farmers fail as fruit-growers. Inexperienced city 

 men need not expect to increase their capital in this busi- 

 ness. — E. MoRDEN, Ontario. 



Growing Lima Beans for Market. — This section, 

 called ' ' the home of the Lima bean, " lies along the shore 

 of Lake Erie where the pound-nets are lifted and tons of 

 small fish are discarded every day. An enterprising 

 gardener conceived the idea of trying fish as a fertilizer 

 for his beans and it proved a success. These fish are 

 mostly perch, weighing one to three pounds. When the 

 ground has been made ready for the beans the rows are 

 marked out with a horse and marker. In every check- 

 row- a hole is dug with a hoe, a fish planted and covered 

 with dirt and poles placed in position to mark the spot. 

 This is done about a week or ten days previous to plant- 

 ing the beans, which are dropped upon the soil directly 

 over the buried fish. Planted in this way they make a 

 strong growth, but the leaders are not allowed to grow 

 higher than six feet and all runners are broken off every 

 week, no vine being allowed to encroach on its neigh- 

 bor. This causes them to form pods from the ground 

 upward, early in the season, and the crop will all be 

 marketed by the time the first frost falls, while with 

 other treatment they just come well into bearing before 

 frost cuts them down. — Mrs. John Gaillard, Pa. 



