BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



623 



had given me. The berries are uniformly large-sized, 

 surpassing any berry with which I am acquainted. I am 

 inclined to think that this berry will really be a favorite 

 with strawberry growers. In addition to these varieties 

 I am planting the Haverland and Warfield. The War- 

 field came to me so highly recommended as an improved 

 Wilson that I am testing it freely, but, so far, I have not 

 seen any great advantage in it over the Wilson. The 

 picking season was at one time a great bugbear, but 

 lately I have found a good way of accomplishing this 

 work. An Indian reserve, forty miles away, furnishes 

 an abundant troop of squaws and Indians, and although 

 many of the latter are lazy, the former are excellent 

 at either picking or hoeing. They want little accommoda- 

 tion — an old shanty to sleep in, an old stove outside to 

 make tea on, and a few other things, and they are ready for 

 work. Some are pagans, and some are Christains. The 

 latter are far the most manageable and pleasant to deal 

 with, being perfectly honest and trustworthy. — L. 

 WooLVERTON, Ontario. 



Copying Nature. — The valuable papers on arranging 

 home grounds which have appeared in American Gar- 

 dening from time to time were brought to the writer's 

 mind very forcibly during a recent visit to Chicago, where 

 a week was spent within a two-minute's walk of Lincoln 

 Park. A daily stroll in the park was a matter of course. 

 The park is still in its infancy in many respects, but a 

 keen eye might pick up valuable hints. Frequent rains 

 had made the grass a continuous carpet of richest green, 

 and the people, being deprived of other parks by the 

 great Exposition, resorted there in countless throngs, 

 especially on Sundays. But what we wish to speak of is 

 the unconscious hints they gave as to the way a great 

 public playground or a small restful home should be 

 arranged. Some excellent effects in carpet bedding, if 

 anything of that sort ever is excellent, were to be seen ; 

 but they attracted only a passing interest from the crowds 

 of all nationalities who, singly, in detached couples or in 

 groups strolled here and there, or lounged about on the 

 fresh grass. On the other hand, the beds of pansies, 

 scattered without regard to orderly arrangement, brought 

 their tribute of delighted "Oh's!" from the small and 

 the great alike, from the white-haired Swede, the brown 

 German and the swarthy French ; all hovered over them 

 and commented on their beauty. Nor was this all, for 

 the display of lilacs on the carelessly arranged bushes, 

 bearing their great clusters of white, lavender or purple, 

 were the delight of all, to the utter neglect of the ginger- 

 bread work of the carpet-beds. The writer also noticed 

 with pleasure that the trees bore the same testimony as 

 the flowers. There are many places where the trees, 

 magnificent specimens too, are in rows ; and any tree in 

 the row would shelter a small picnic ; but not there were 

 the loiterers to be found, even though no warning to ' 'Keep 

 off the grass" punctured the stroller's conscience. Oh, 

 no ; but go where a careless, irregular group of maples 

 overhung the water or sheltered a bit of grass. The 



warning sign was often present, but without avail. It 

 was in such unconventional nooks that you would find 

 the people who were resting ; even the group of park 

 laborers, with their noonday lunch, sought shelter, not 

 always in the nearest place, but almost invariably in the 

 place nearest to Nature. There they would sit, munch- 

 ing their coarse bread and cheese, with a bit of meat, 

 gazing with eyes full of pleased content at the beauties 

 about them. Resting against a boulder, book in hand, in 

 a contented attitude, you would find the young lady, 

 glancing up occasionally to let her eyes fall on a pleasant 

 vista, here a bit of greensward, with its outlines broken 

 by irregular groups of shrubbery ; there a pair of lofty 

 trees standing in an easy attitude with clasped hands ; 

 yonder a bit of water. Walk the park through day after 

 day, and it was the same ; wherever you found people 

 resting, taking comfort, it was in one of these natural 

 nooks, except on days when there were not enough of them 

 to go round. No more powerful demonstration could have 

 been given the writer than that thus unconsciously given 

 by the people, that the way to make any spot attractive 

 is to entirely discard all straight lines and angles, and in 

 our planting and arranging to copy nature as far as in us 

 lies. — D. W. Farnsworth, Mich. 



Flowers for Perfume. — (Page 426). — Certainly the 

 perfect garden should have both fragrance and brilliancy 

 of color. But many of us who are approaching the ' ' seer 

 and yellow leaf" do miss the old-time favorites. Among 

 them, what has become of the roses which used to grow 

 in old gardens in Maryland and Virginia, called Sweet 

 Monthly, and what are their proper names ? There were 

 two varieties, white and pale rose ; and although many 

 years have passed since I saw them, their fragrance has 

 never been forgotten. I should like to add them to a 

 small collection of over one hundred varieties, I now 

 have, mostly those introduced of late years, but which 

 contains a few old ones. Among them. Monthly cabbage 

 or Madame Newman, a pink rose with the real rose per- 

 fume, a constant bloomer and hardy in this latitude. 

 Then there were Felicite Perpetual and some Scotch roses, 

 and a dwarf pink rose called Stanwell, a constant bloomer, 

 and fragrant. All were well worthy a place in any col- 

 lection, but are not listed in the gorgeous catalogues 

 which come to us in such profusion every year. Among 

 old-time hardy herbaceous plants was one which grew 

 green stems four or five feet high, covered all summer 

 with round, double, golden-yellow flowers, smaller than 

 the perennial sunflower ; its name I do not remember 

 ever hearing, but am surprised that it has not been 

 brought out as a novelty by some enterprising florist. I 

 am glad to know that the old-time perennials are again 

 finding favor. With plenty of these, and with hardy 

 shrubs and roses, we can dispense with "horticultural 

 embroidery," although a few geraniums do not come 

 amiss, and some begonias for window plants, even 

 though they do not possess the great charm of the rose, 

 rich fragrance. — Saint Louis. 



