126 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[July, 



HEAET'S-EASE, 



While o'er my life still hung the morning star, 



Dreamy and soft in tender-lighter! skies, 

 While care and sorrow held themselves afar, 

 And no sad mist of tears had dimm'd my eyes, 

 I saw Love's Roses blowing, 

 With scent and color glowing, 

 And so I wished for them with longing sighs. 



The brightest hung so high, and held aloft 

 Their crimson faces, passionately bright; 



The gay, rich golden ones escaped me oft, 

 And hedged with sharpest thorns the lofty 

 white ; 



From all my eager pleading 

 They turned away, unheeding; 

 Aniony Love's Eoses none were mine of right. 



Yet, of sweet things, those Roses seemed most 

 sweet 



And most desirable, until a voice, 

 Soft as sad music, said, "Lo! at thy feet 

 A little flower shall make thy heart rejoice. 

 And so, the voice obeying, 

 I saw in beauty straying 

 A wealth of Heart's-ease, waiting for my 

 choice. 



Great purple Pansies, each with snowy heart, ' 



And golden ones, with eyes of deepest blue; 

 Some "freaked with jet," some pure white ones 

 apart, 



But all so sweet and fresh with morniug dew 

 I could not bear to lose them, 

 I could not help but choose them, 



For sweet Content sat singing where they 

 grew. 



So, now, Love's Roses shake their scented leaves, j 



But tempt me not to their enchanted quest; 

 1 gather Heart's-ease set in dewy leaves 

 And am content— for me it is the best. 

 Be glad if, sweet and glowing, 

 You And Love's Roses blowing — 

 I sing through life with Heart's-ease at n 

 breast. 



— Christian Union 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Pansies. — My Pansies have bloomed splen- 

 didly all spring, but now they dwindle down 

 and fade ; what can I do to save them ? is a 

 question asked almost daily. 



By cutting the tops off and shading the 

 plants during the hottest part of the day, 

 they will, with proper care, bloom again 

 during autumn, and if special choice strains 

 are to be, preserved, they may be propagated 

 by cuttings ; but for general purposes this 

 plan is hardly worth the trouble. The best 

 and only sure way to secure a good show 

 of Pansies every year is to raise them from 

 seed every year, like annuals. It is con- 

 trary to the laws of nature for a plant to 

 bloom perpetually, as much so as it is for a 

 hen to lay eggs every day the year round. 



If flowers are desired very early in spring, 

 the seed should be sown during this month, 

 and, for a succession, additional sowings 

 should follow in August and September. .The 

 soil should be deep, mellow, rather sandy 

 and moderately rich ; if of excessive fertility, 

 a luxurious growth of foliage, detrimental to 

 the production of best flowers, will generally 

 be the result. A partly shaded situation, 

 sheltered from the midday sun, is most de- 

 sirable. Pansies require free circulation of 

 air and will not thrive under the drip of 

 trees, nor in bright sunshine. A border on 

 the north side of a building where they can 

 be protected in winter is most suitable. 



TWO MODEST FLOWEES. 



CANDYTUFT. 



There are always some persons in every 

 neighborhood who seem to make but little 

 bustle, and we are quite likely to undervalue 

 them because they are too modest to have 

 anything to say about their own merits. But 

 when they are gone we miss them, and find 

 out how much regard we had for them with- 

 out knowing it. The Candytuft is like such 

 persons. It is of use in many ways in the 

 garden, but is too modest to be self-assert- 

 ing, as many less meritorious flowers are. 

 The principal colors are purple and white. 

 The white is much used in making bouquets. 

 Both are valuable for borders. It is ex- 

 tremely hardy, and can be sown at any time. 

 It begins to bloom early in the season, when 

 the plants are small, and it continues to 

 flower until frost. 



It is one of those plants which will do well 



EW CARMINE CANDYTUFT. 



under almost any circumstances, but the 

 better chance you give it, the better satisfied 

 you will be with it. It is such a sturdy little 

 plant that most persons seem to have the 

 idea that it does not require any care, but 

 can take care of itself. This it will do, to a 

 certain extent, but if you keep the weeds 

 down among it, see that the soil is mellow, 

 and remove seed-pods occasionally, you will 

 be well repaid for all your labor. Some vari- 

 eties bear their flowers in flat or slightly 

 rounded clusters, others in pyramidal form, 

 while the white variety, called Rocket, grows 

 in long spikes. By a judicious pinching-in 

 the plants can be kept compact, and the 

 effect will be much finer than if the branches 

 are let straggle at their own will, though it 

 is not a plant that annoys one very much in 

 this respect. 



SWEET ALYSSUM. 



A lady said to me, last year: "I select a 

 good many of my flowers as I do pieces of 

 music from a publisher's catalogue, by the 

 name. If it pleases me, I send for it. Some- 

 times I get something good, and sometimes 

 not. Last summer I sent for a package of 

 Sweet Alyssum seed, simply because the 

 name pleased me. I got a treasure. The 

 plant is just what I have been wanting this 

 long time. Not showy at all, but lovable, 

 because of its charming and modest air." 



She described the merits of the Sweet 

 Alyssum very well. It is not the plant per- 

 sons who care only for color-effects would 

 like, but for those who are fond of quiet 

 and unobtrusive beauty it is a plant I can 

 unhesitatingly recommend. Its flowers are 

 small and white, borne in clusters. It has a 

 delightful fragrance. It is very useful in 

 bouquet-work. 



It is also excellent for use in the house 

 during the winter. It will stand the air of 

 our dwellings better than most plants, and 

 bloom nearly all the time. It is as desirable 

 as a basket-plant as the Oxalis is, and the 

 two can be grown together with good effect, 

 the pink of one contrasting charmingly with 

 the white of the other. It is a good plan to 

 give the plant a thorough sprinkling, when 

 grown in the house, at least once a week, to 

 prevent the red spider from getting a lodg- 

 ment on it. It is very useful in the garden 

 as a border-plant. I saw some beds of pink 

 Geraniums, last year, with this for a border, 

 and the effect was fine ; also, some ribbon- 

 beds in which Sweet Alyssum was used 

 with Ageratum and rose-colored Phlox Drum- 

 mondii, and I admired them greatly. 



E. E. Rexford. 



STAETING DELICATE SEEDS, 



A correspondent of the Country Gentleman 

 gives the following as the best plan for ger- 

 minating small and delicate seeds he has 

 yet tried : "Fill a common flower-pot with 

 fine loam and scatter the seeds over the 

 surface, which should be first finely pulver- 

 ized, and by jarring the pot settle the seeds 

 well among the particles of soil. Do not 

 press or pack the surface or any other part of 

 the soil, but settle moderately by jarring the 

 pot. Set the pot in shallow water, in a 

 warm, sunny window or planthouse, and 

 keep sufficient water at the base of the pot 

 to keep the surface of the soil wet. 



" Treated thus, nearly, if not quite all, good 

 seeds will grow, even those that remain in 

 full view on the surface. No glass need be 

 laid on the top of the pot to prevent drying 

 of the surface of the soil ; for, by capillary 

 attraction the surface will be kept suffi- 

 ciently wet, if enough water is kept at the 

 base of the pot. No care need be exercised 

 to prevent baking of the soil or washing out 

 of the seeds, as when water is applied directly 

 to the surface." 



COLOES IN THE ELOWEE GAEDEN. 



Discords which should be avoided, says 

 the London Garden, are : red-green, yellow- 

 purple, orange-blue, brick-red-blue, orange- 

 olive, purple-citrine, green-russet. These 

 last three are beautiful as Nature uses them, 

 with the two tints shading into each other ; 

 they are objectionable only as patches of flat 

 color placed together. Scarlet and blue are 

 passable, but not good. Red and yellow 

 should never be placed together, but may 

 shade into each other. Red, blue, and yellow 

 are bad, also orange, green, and purple ; 

 green and purple are passable. In the dis- 

 cords of two colors, the two colors act as 

 foils to each other; thus, although orange 

 and blue discord, to look at blue is a good 

 preparation for seeing orange, and vice 

 versd; so that in arrangements which cannot 

 be seen together, but will be seen in succes- 

 sion, these colors should follow each other. 



