THEY SAY. 



499 



northwestern areas of the United States and British 

 America. Again in 1854-5 I prepared a quarto volume 

 at the War Department giving the first isothermal and 

 rain charts for the continent. 



Still more fully in my climatology of the United 

 States, 1857, I asserted the productive capacity of the 

 interior climate, and in the concluding chapter, p. 529 to 

 534, I assert that on an area of 500,000 square miles of 

 plains and their woodland borders, all the grains of the 

 cool temperate latitudes can be produced abundantly, 

 I sustain Lord Falkirk's claim that the northwestern 

 area will support 30 millions of people. The fullest 

 claim now made does not exceed my claims made first 

 in 1853, and in 1854-5, s^d again in 1857. And in these 

 works, each a large volume, I published the most com- 

 plete records of climatological observation yet publish- 

 ed in this or any other country. — Lorin Blodget, Phil- 

 adelphia. 



Native Plants in Cultivation. — The North Ameri- 

 can wild flowers, as a rule, are looking well under culti- 

 vation in our grounds this season. The trilliums, es- 

 pecially T. grandijloi-um, T. sessile, T. nivtrle, 7'. di-eitum 

 and T. erectumvzx. album have bloomed very freely. T. 

 stylosum is somewhat new to us, but as far as we have 

 been able to study its nature, we think it bids fair to take 

 a front rank in this family of our North American flora. 

 The leaves of the flower are beautifully tinged with 

 rose. It is probably perfectly hardy here in New Eng- 

 land. T. sessile, var. Calif orniciim is a rank grower, 

 with large green leaves. It looks somewhat like our 

 eastern species, T. grandiflorum. Violas have bloomed 

 very nicely this season, especially V. Canadensis, I'', 

 pedata and V. pedata var. bicolor. The latter has shown 

 large and fine bloom. Shor/ia galacifolia has bloomed 

 here a number of years in our sandy loam soil, and is, 

 without doubt, perfectly hardy here. Silene Virginica, 

 one of the most showy of our North America perenni- 

 als, is in full bloom. The flowers are rather large, scar- 

 let in color, and a long time in bloom. The California 

 brodiaeas and calochortuses are coming into bloom. — 

 GiLLETT & HoRSFORD, Mass., June. 



Pansiesand Mignonette. — For autumn flowers, sow 

 pansy seed in any partially shaded spot — it will be better 

 if in some low damp soil — and transplant about the first 

 of September. Pansies make a far more pleasing sec- 

 ond crop than rag-weed or purslane, which you will 

 surely have unless you give the ground some useful 

 work to do. Pansies, by common consent, are called 

 spring flowers, when, in fact, they can be had in the 

 greatest profusion and luxuriance in autumn ; and what 

 is more beautiful in the garden than pansies in Indian 

 summer ? They are as bright and cheerful then as in 

 June. The handsomest pansies 1 ever gathered were 

 from self-sown seed, having hid itself in a lily bed, 

 where it grew uncared for, unnoticed and unmolested, 

 until all the other flowers had succumbed to frost. Give 

 the pansies a fair chance and there are no plants that 

 will repay so liberally for all the attention they have 



received. There is no flower in the garden that speaks 

 to us so plainly as does the pansy. Its broad, full, 

 cheerful face is all expression. 



The mignonette is a fitting companion for the pansy. 

 It is modest, sweet and retiring. For saucer bouquets, 

 pansies and mignonette blend most happily together. 

 Make rich any vacant place you may have, work the 

 soil deep, then sow the seed any time in July or early 

 August, and after your fair-weather friends have been 

 frost-bitten, the Frenchman's "Little Darling" will 

 show you a friendship that the frost only sweetens. 

 There are many varieties of mignonette listed in the 

 seedsmen's catalogues, as there are of all popular flow- 

 ers. For the open border we prefer Golden Queen, but 

 you cannot go astray in planting any of the popular 

 kinds. One important consideration must not be over- 

 looked, viz.: If you wish mignonette in perfection, the 

 soil in which it is grown must be worked deep, must be 

 very rich, moderately heavy and moist. — C. L. A. 



Destroying Weeds in the Lawn. — I have tried sev- 

 eral methods of clearing our lawn of dandelion and 

 dock, and find that nothing is so effectual in totally de- 

 stroying them as a small quantity of turpentine poured 

 upon the plants. I had dug these weeds out quite 

 clean, but they came up again stronger than before. I 

 then experimented by applying carbolic acid, kerosene 

 and turpentine. Kerosene had but little effect upon 

 them, while the acid and the turpentine destroyed them 

 outright. As turpentine is much the cheaper of the 

 two, it was given the preference, and I am now using it 

 upon all weeds that are hard to kill as soon as they are 

 discovered, and am well pleased with the result. A tea- 

 spoonful of turpentine is sufficient to destroy almost any 

 weed. — John F. Rupp, Shireniayistown, Pa. 



How to Make the Artillery Plant Shoot.— The 



artillery plant, or pilea, is cultivated partly for the reason 

 that it possesses the peculiarity of forcibly shooting its 

 pollen into the air like the discharge of a miniature can- 

 non, and yet I find few people who have ever seen this 

 bombardment actually take place . I have been producing 

 this discharge of late by syringing plants when the sun 

 is shining on them brightly. The plants are well bud- 

 ded, and this slight showering causes the flowers to 

 burst open, and the anthers shoot their pollen in every 

 direction in the most interesting manner. Our com- 

 mon wild nettle ( Urtica gracilis), with which the artillery 

 plant is closely allied, often behaves in the same man- 

 ner. — L. H. Bailey. 



Pensacola in August. — One of the most delightful 

 and unique places in Florida, or the south, is the city of 

 Pensacola. Even Tallahassee and St. Augustine cannot 

 excel it in the beauty of its gardens and streets. The 

 fences are covered with semi-tropical shrubbery, while 

 gardenias and camellias grow profusely around the 

 houses. Figs and pomegranates are at home here, the 

 bright red fruit of the latter contrasting finely with its 

 dark green foliage ; and there seems to be no limit to 

 the growth of the Scuppernong grape. The fruit of 



