154 



QUESTIONS BY AN AMATEUR. 



ious tastes. Undeniably, roses are the most popular 

 of all flowers for cutting, and are used for all pur- 

 poses where flowers can be used ; orchids are beau- 

 tiful and fashionable, but expensive. 



In the making of "designs" one must be gov- 

 erned by the purpose for which the piece is intended. 

 For funerals, it was once the custom to use nothing 

 but white flowers with some green, but now, when 

 the selection is left to the florist, bits of suitable 

 colors are introduced. One of the most beautiful 

 inexpensive floral designs we ever saw, was a cross 

 made wholly of smilax for green, the edges filled in 

 with blue ageratum and the center packed close with 

 white carnations. In large designs, caUa, Harrisii 

 and candidum lilies are used with good effect. 



Taken as a whole, the selection of flowers for 



ordinary purposes is, in reality, largely a matter of 

 individual taste, as florists who supply this trade 

 can fully testify. The wealthy mourner demands 

 the most beautiful floral offerings to lay at the bier 

 of a loved one. The poorer people have perhaps 

 but a sprig of syringa to lay before their dead, but 

 are happy in being able to have even this. Attempts 

 have been made to taboo flowers from funerals, but 

 they have failed simply because nothing can ade- 

 quately fill their place. 



" Who can paint 

 Like Nature? Can imagination boast 

 Amid her gay creations, hues like hers? 

 And can he mix them with that matchless skill, 

 And lay them on so delicately fine. 

 And lose them in each other as appears 

 In every bud that blows?" 



K. 



QUESTIONS BY AN AMATEUR. 



ANSWERED BY AN "OLD HAND" AT THE "PLAY WORK" PLANTS FOR AN EXPOSED POSITION — HARDY FLOWERING 



AND HERBACEOUS PLANTS OVER-SHADED CHRYSANTHEMUMS CHOICE LILIES. 



I am a subscriber to and constant reader of The 

 American Garden, but a beginner at gardening, full of 

 zeal and ignorance. "Were I the only one of this sort, I 

 would not trouble the paper with this letter, but I know 

 at least thirty just such persons who would be helped by 

 what would help me. 



1. Could there not be a department for us ignoram- 

 uses, where we could learn to manage our little gardens 

 without emptying our purses every year into the pockets 

 of the nurserymen ? 



2. My house faces the north, and there is in front a 

 little garden upheld by a stone wall two or three feet 

 high. The soil is gravelly and dry. It gets the sun 

 morning and afternoon. What list of hardy perennials 

 and annuals would prefer such a situation, and what list 

 of such plants will submit to these conditions, though 

 not preferring them ? 



3. What drooping plants would grow on the edge of 

 my stone wall to fall over and conceal it, and what 

 climbers, either perennial or annual, would do best in 

 this cool and shady position ? A nurseryman to whom 

 I applied for advice, as well as plants and shrubs, set out 

 twenty-five roses, all perfectly hardy, he assured me. 

 The next summer one alone survived, and it has not yet 

 blossomed. This was but a sample of his supplies. 



4. The directions in most books on gardening are not 

 sufficiently elementary for beginners. For instance, I 

 have been struggling to raise chrysanthemums for two 

 years past ; have bought healthy plants, which all 

 dropped their blooms and were devoured by aphides 

 in spite of tobacco smoke, showering and the most ap- 

 proved insecticides. Meantime, I have read English 

 and American periodicals diligently, seeking light, and 

 wishing I lived far enough in the South to raise these 

 charming flowers out of doors, but convinced that great 



skill must be necessary to raise them at all in this cli- 

 mate. Last week a lady told me they were perfectly 

 hardy here, and that the roots survived our coldest win- 

 ters. Not a hint of such a thing has my reading fur- 

 nished. Now, it would be very pleasant if the Garden 

 would give a list of a dozen good and hardy chrysanthe- 

 mums, with plain directions for starting and cultivating 

 them in our gardens. 



5. I trust my suggestions here will not be thought im- 

 pertinent. In the multiplicity of species given in the 

 catalogues, one gets bewildered. I should rather have 

 the six best sorts of lily, iris, clematis, narcissus, etc., 

 pointed out, than to be left to my own devices and dis- 

 couragements. C. M. B. 



Cainhyidge, Mass. 



ANSWER BY THE EDITOR. 



1. Yes, that is just what we want to do — to give infor- 

 mation that will enable our readers to manage their 

 fruit, flower and vegetable gardens, so that they will be- 

 come both pleasant and profitable. The only way we 

 can do it is for our readers to state their necessities, to 

 ask for what they want, and they will be answered by 

 the specialists we employ for this very purpose. We can- 

 not promise to be always correct, as there may be condi- 

 tions of climate and soil we do not clearly understand ; 

 but we will promise materially to assist all who apply, 

 and that without other motive than to impart informa- 

 tion, the only article we have to sell. 



2. Your location and soil is about as poor for a first- 

 class garden as it is possible to picture, but if grass or 

 plants of any kind will grow, flowering plants will. 

 Next to the house, or between the house and the path, if 

 such there be, we should say plant native ferns, and es- 

 pecially the maiden hair, Adiauliini pedainm, also clumps 



