BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



68. 



known as H. maximics or altif alius. This large-flowered 

 variety bears its leaves and flowers on much longer stalks 

 than the ordinary kind, and is admirable for cut-flower 

 uses. Both this and other kinds will be much whiter 

 when grown under glass than when exposed to all the 

 inclemencies of the winter. The leaves, when protected 

 against the injurious influence of bright and cold morn- 

 ings, will preserve their freshness, and thus form an ap- 

 propriate background for the flowers. A cool, shady 

 frame just kept above freezing is the best place in which 

 to grow these plants. If grown there in a mixture of 

 well-manured, fibrous loam and leaf-mold, and shaded 

 on bright days, the flowers will be well developed, fine 

 in texture, and pure white. On rainy days, the glass 

 should be kept on, as, also, in very cold weather, but 

 otherwise protection at night is sufficient. Christmas 

 roses can be forced to good advantage, but it must be 

 remembered that they will not stand excessive heat or 

 too dry air. Forty degrees is about right for them, and 

 a light sprinkling overhead on bright mornings will 

 serve to freshen the foliage and develop the flowers. 

 For forcing, it is best to set plants in large pots early in 

 autumn, and keep them in a cool, shaded greenhouse 

 . until they flower. The plants can then be used for 

 house-decoration, and, under ordinary circumstances, 

 will keep in perfection many weeks. //. cokliicus, II. 

 Olympicus, and all varieties of //. oricntalis, especially 

 //. antiquoriim and H. gitttatus, are also admirably 

 adapted for forcing, and will flower somewhat later; 

 forming beautiful substitutes for the Christmas rose later 

 in winter. — N. J. Ross. 



Making the Window Gay. — I am a busy woman, and 

 must choose for my window-plants those that will stand 

 more or less neglect. As plants resent being taken from 

 hothouses to cool ones, I find it better to purchase from 

 a cool greenhouse. Grouping and selection depend upon 

 individual tastes, of course. I like to plant in each pot 

 of ivy a tall Begonia rubra ; it will thrive and send out 

 scarlet clusters of bloom all among the ivy leaves. Be- 

 gonias, as a rule, are good house-plants, if the windows 

 are not too sunny. The rex varieties do not thrive well 

 if crowded by other plants, but if given plenty of room 

 they spread out their fine leaves in glorious array. Cac- 

 tuses are great standbys, as they will submit to being set 

 in any out-of-the-way corner until February, and need 

 little water until then. When brought to light and given 

 water oftener, they will soon bud. Take out about an 

 inch of earth from the top of cactus pots and fill in with 

 well-decayed fertilizer ; this will advance the cactus 

 blooms, and cause them to be larger. Three constant 

 blooming plants are primulas, cyclamens and Impa- 

 tiens suUani, the Zanzibar balsam. The bright pink 

 blossoms of the latter enliven the window all winter, be- 

 sides keeping the plant " a thing of beauty " throughout 

 the summer. For baskets and brackets, oxalis, kenil- 

 worth creeper, tradescantias and othonna all are good. 

 Then, if you have a fern or two, some pink or white bou- 

 vardias, and palms for odd corners where there is light 

 in the room, your sitting-room ought to be gay and 



bright all winter. Lovely ornaments for brackets or 

 tables can be made by filling with water some pretty 

 glass or china jars and inserting therein cuttings of ivy 

 or tradescantia. They will grow all winter,, and can be 

 enlivened with a rose or pink occasionally, when required. 

 Get a few hyacinths, tulips, and other common bulbs, 

 pot them in small pots and leave them in the dark till 

 well up, then bring them to the light a few at a time, and 

 you will always have a bright bit of color among your 

 plants. Of course, all plants want care, but not half so 

 much as is usually supposed. They ought never to be- 

 come dry enough to wilt, nor yet be deluged with water. 

 Every plant does not need water every day. You will 

 soon find out which are the thirsty ones. Do not keep 

 turning plants all the time ; they grow up scraggly. 

 Where two or three grow well together, let them alone, 

 and don't fuss over them too much. Keep the foliage 

 clean with a hand-sprinkler, which makes little mess if 

 you have an oil-cloth under your stand. — M. L. P., 

 Brooklyn. 



Whittier and Tennyson. — Richer harvests than those 

 of fruit and grain are gathered in every year by a keen 

 sickle that does not always wait for the autumn ripening. 

 Ninety-one garnered from among our loved and famous 

 folk a rich, full sheaf, but left no gaps more widely and 

 sincerely mourned, upon both sides of the ocean, than 

 those so lately filled by Whittier and Tennyson. 



The lives of the two singers seem to have been as dif- 

 ferent as their songs. Whittier's early life was spent in 

 a New England village, at farm-work, shoemaking and 

 " schooling," and later his fancy set in rhyme Quaker 

 history, Indian superstition, stirring war songs, and all the 

 beauty that only a beauty-loving eye can detect in nature. 

 New England can count scholars and philosophers among 

 her poets, but none of them ever came so near to her 

 rugged old heart as the simple, plain, sweet, strong man, 

 who, as a "bare-foot boy," studied nature among her 

 hills, breathing the pure, invigorating air of her country 

 life into his soul, and breathing it out again in the pure 

 music of verse that was never obscured by the least 

 shading of pedantry. Amid the pomp and glitter of the 

 English court its chosen poet, in walk and conversation, 

 as well as in rhyme and theme, must ever support the 

 dignity of th*-^ laurel wreath. Perhaps the bright songs, 

 the merry jests and the simple, natural, rippling verse 

 which delight us so in Whittier's poetry might have seemed 

 out of place from one in the long line of poets that 

 handed the laurel down from Edmund Spencer and 

 "rare Ben. Johnson." Certainly some of the subjects 

 which Whittier has handled with inimitable grace must 

 have seemed clumsy in Tennyson's hands. Imagine the 

 poet-laureate of England singing about a pumpkin ! Yet 

 Whittier's poem is a pretty, graceful bit of jest and 

 imagery, and this is one reason why he is so dear to all 

 classes of people ; because he found nothing in any 

 phase of home-life too homely to set to music. More 

 than all our other poets, he has given to common, every- 

 day life an ennobling touch and interpretation. Upright, 

 patriotic and talented, he seems to have had the rare 



