BODS, BLOSSOMS, fRilTS. 



685 



But recently the Buffalo Board of Park Commissioners 

 voted an appropriation for securing and running a range 

 of greenhouses for growing tender bedding plants for the 

 parks. We venture to prophesy that the superintendent 

 will grow a large stock of bedding plants, and giv e the 

 public some excellent illustrations of how effectually to 

 use this class of flowers in lawn embellishing. Now 

 if the Buffalo park board will make an appropriation 

 for stocking up their parks with a fine collection of 

 hardy perennial flowering plants, we shall see such an 

 exhibition of sensible flower gardening as is all too rare 

 in this country. This intelligent park superintendent is 

 capable of great things in such directions. 



A Blue Chrysanthemum.— It will be remembered 

 that such a one of bright hue was exhibited in Phila- 

 delphia a year ago, but it was made of paper. John 

 Thorpe, our leading chrysanthemum authority, believes 

 that a genuine blue chrysanthemum is among the near 

 possibilities. While the old botanists averred that we 

 could not have blue, yellow and red in the same species, 

 the case of the hyacmths sets that theory at naught, and 

 gives Mr. Thorpe reasonable grounds for expecting the 

 addition of a good blue to the many gorgeous colors now 

 found in the autumn queen. Commenting on the orig- 

 inal colors of the chrysanthemum, he says these were very 

 limited. There were a pale yellow, a white, and a \ery 

 weak lilac shade, and from these have been raised all the 

 colors and shades now seen in this flower. This has 

 been accomplished by very slow and persistent selection 

 and cross-fertilization, and from sports. It is worthy of 

 notice how intensified the yellows have become, and how 

 many shades of this color there now are. The lilac has 

 become pink, of pure shading ; then, as to red, Culling- 

 fordii often presents us with nearly a pure tone of red. 

 The most pronounced purple we have to-day is from the 

 lightly-tipped, incurved Princess of Wales, being a sport 

 named Violet Tomlin. It is really purple. Now we 

 cannot get purple without blue, and to those who are at 

 work in this field of development, a blue chrysanthemum 

 would not be such a great surprise. 



My Cellar Work-table. — Happy is the lover of 

 plants who has a good cellar ! New uses for it will be 

 found every year. I have driven nails into the rafters, 

 and hung upon them baskets containing dahlia tubers, 

 oxalis bulbs, etc. They are out of the way, free from 

 frosts, and always come out in the spring in good con- 

 dition. Ferns will make excellent growth in the cellar, 

 particularly when you take your fern-case apart, as is 

 necessary once a year. I have my table in the cellar, and 

 often pot my plants there, and work over the plants that 

 will be moved into the north bay window and covered 

 with glass in October. I never saw an amateur but had 

 great trouble with Begonia rex. They are lovely at 

 first, and it is a constant temptation to you to buy one, 

 but in a few weeks the leaves droop, and perhaps an 

 ugly snail will riddle them with holes, and you give up 

 in despair. But try the cellar. I have a glass globe 

 on my cellar table, into which, when the gold-fish died, 

 I put earth mixed with sand, and cutting a gash or two 



in the leaf, laid it flat on the top of the earth. Had you 

 watched it with me patiently, you would have seen the 

 roots form, and learned how to raise a Begonia re.\ 

 yourself. Another plant that grows beautifully in the 

 cellar is the maranta. Its leaves are beautiful, and its 

 flower delicate. I shall keep my fern-case darlings in 



Cell.ar Work-tahle. 



the cellar until they are well established and can be 

 removed to their true home, the dining room, where 

 they will delight our eyes all through the winter. — 

 Sister Gracious. 



Express Companies and Fruit Growers. — Much 

 complaint is heard again about the unsatisfactory service 

 and the high rates charged by the express companies 

 and other carriers. We believe these complaints are not 

 without foundation. The mass of fruits produced this 

 season gives to the transportation companies a vast 

 amount of business and a large income. The carriers 

 ought to be thankful for this, and try to cooperate with 

 the growers to their mutual advantage. Instead of doing 

 this, they take every possible temporary advantage that 

 the situation and the great demand for shipping facilities 

 afford them, and exact the old rates, based upon fairly 

 high fruit prices, and upon the well-known principle of 

 "what the traffic will bear" for service that is char- 

 acterized by hurried and rough handling, and lack of all 

 reasonable care and decency. The prices obtained for 

 the fruit grower's products this season do not give him 

 much comfort. The margin between actual expenses 

 and selling price goes almost entirely into the pockets of 

 the carriers and adds to their wealth and influence. The 

 fruit grower's labor receives little reward. In many in- 

 stances even now it is a serious question with the latter 

 whether he should let his products go to waste or ship 

 them to market merely for the benefit of others. We 

 believe the transportation companies are making a great 

 mistake in not showing more willingness to divide the 

 profits of the large fruit crop with those who produced 



