BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



741 



better for being garnered before they are fully matured. 

 Capture the snow-white filaments of the silkweed for 

 light effects, and the frosted, blue-tinted berries of the 

 green-brier or smilax for various combinations. 



Several kinds of purple grasses, lingering late, are com- 

 mon about the fields. Innumerable seed-pods, burs and 

 berries, bronzed and tinted with the September sun, and 

 others ripened into richer brown by late frosts, are of- 

 fered as rewards for delightful strolls and are reminders 

 of summer for the winter fireside. — Kate Clement. 



My University. — It is 100 feet long and 50 feet 

 wide. A high fence shuts in three sides, and the house 

 the fourth. Inside the fence there are long beds with 

 walks between, and here I took my summer course. I 

 began with weak lungs and a disposition to headache. At 

 the end of the term I was as brown as a bun, my lungs 

 were sound, and I had not the slightest fear of cholera or 

 grippe. This was a successful hygienic course, and would 

 have well paid for the two hours a day of regular work. 

 But there were more lessons. I had a grand study of the 

 clouds, and the soil was a part of the practical instruction. 

 With light spade and hoe, I worked out plenty of prob- 

 lems. But my greatest delight and despair were the rose- 

 buds. It seems as if there isn't a noxious bug or worm in 

 heaven above or earth beneath, but will feed upon rose- 

 leaves or buds. Hand-picking, syringing, digging about, 

 all these come into the daily lessons, and the rule to be 

 learned by heart is, " The price of lovely roses is eter- 

 nal vigilance." A course of hydropathy came with four 

 weeks of dry weather. Every day the gallon water-pot 

 was filled and emptied on the beds, and once a week 

 there was a grand review with a 50-foot hose. What 

 were the pleasures of any summer university career ? I 

 had lots of pleasant chats with other plant-students over 

 the fence. I rescued some exquisite roses from their 

 many enemies, and graced many of our humble feasts 

 with them. I gave away quantities of flowers, and 

 later, supplied all who asked for them with seeds and 

 cuttings. I had such 

 an amount of quiet 

 happiness during my 

 university course that 

 I shall hope for anoth- 

 er next year. — Sister 

 Gracious. 



Useful Garden 

 Tools.— The illustra- 

 tion represents two 

 implements which we 

 have found very use- 

 ful in the berry-patch 

 and garden. We had 

 them made by a coun- 

 try blacksmith, after 

 models of our own. 

 They cost little, as we 

 put the handles on 

 ourselves. We have used the hook to cut out old canes 

 from several acres of raspberries, and think it is just 



Two Useful Garden Tools. 



the thing to use as a pruning-hook for briers. It makes 

 a long, drawing cut, and the work is very easy, as the 

 blade, being thin, slips nicely through the canes. The 

 handle was made from an old hoe-handle. 



The other implement is a spud for cutting thistles. 

 It is made of steel, about one-fourth of an inch thick, 

 and the edges are left of that thickness coming to a 

 point about an eighth of an inch below the cutting edge. 

 This prevents the spud from slipping off large roots.— 

 A. E. Barnes, Indiana. 



Planting Bulbs in Lawns. — Have you ever planted 

 small early spring bulbs right in the sod ? Perhaps 

 the labor of taking up sod, set- 

 ting the bulbs, and replacing 

 the sod was too great for plant- 

 ing extensively in this manner. 

 Yet nothing can make a 

 brighter and more picturesque 

 appearance in early spring 

 than crocuses, scillas, snow- 

 drops, &c., scattered promis- 

 cuously over the lawn. Their 

 flowers will all be gone before 

 the grass needs cutting, and 

 these bulbs once planted are 

 good forever, increasing in 

 beauty from year to year. 

 Good mixed crocus bulbs can 

 be had for about 50 cents a 

 hundred, so the cost is trifling. 

 My device for planting them 

 is shown in the accompanying 

 cut. It is a piece of brass or 

 iron pipe, of an inch in di- 

 ameter and 18 inches long. 

 B, marked by dotted lines is a 

 piece of wood yi of an inch 

 in diameter and about 20 inches long. The lower end 

 of A is sharpened, as shown in cut. C is a round 

 wooden top for B. The rod B is taken out of the pipe, 

 which is driven into the ground the required depth, 2 to 

 2 '2 inches, and pulled out with a core of sod in it. Drop 

 the bulb into the hole, set the pipe in, and press sod 

 back in place with the rod. This is a simple and truly 

 "labor-saving" device. — Hugh C. McLean. 



Twenty Against Five. — In riding through a good- 

 sized village the other evening, we counted 20 farm 

 houses with great, staring, sun-swept verandas, and only 

 five that had any pretentions to shade from trees or 

 vines. Now, if there is a class that needs a cool, pleasant 

 place to sit in, it is the farmers' wives and daughters ; 

 but you rarely see them outdoors just for rest. "But," 

 said a lady, "we have no money to spend on vines or 

 trees. We all have a mortgage on the house, you know, 

 and no time to sit outdoors, even if we were so inclined." 

 Well ! there is something wrong in having to work from 

 dawn till dark. Perhaps, if you took the time, the added 

 rest would brighten your eyes and brains, and the mort- 

 gage would be cleared off. But why should anyone say 



Crocus and Small Bul 

 Planter. 



