329 



them in a cold frame, kept them moist, shaded, 

 and the closed frame, and now the 21st of Septem- 

 ber, they are literallj^ covered with roses and buds, 

 only two dying out of the lot, throwing up around 

 the centre are fifteen, some twenty, branches about 

 two feet high, with a fine vigor, the sides of the 

 branches are hterally covered with beautiful trusses 

 of flowers from the ground up to the point of the 

 stem. In conclusion I may say, that anyone visit- 

 ing Pittsburg will be well repaid by calling only just 

 to Fee these novelties, and they may rest assured 

 that they will meet with a welcome reception. 



BY J. M., PHILADELPHIA. 



The season is again at hand when those who have 

 experimented with Geranium growing, can form a 

 good idea of the relative value of the kinds that are 

 obtainable for bedding. I have found this flower to 

 be about my main reliance in the past summer, for 

 a continuous effective show of bloom in the flower 

 garden, and can truly say, I know of no other flower 

 approaching it in general usefulness, both as a bed- 

 der and Pot plant. It is not with us now as in 

 former years, when about a dozen varieties was the 

 limit of their number, but we can select from per- 

 haps fifty diiTerent forms of leaf and variety of 

 colors, more than I think could be found amongst 

 any other class of bedding plants. Of various bed- 

 ding plants, growing in my beds the past season, 

 the Geranium alone presented a creditable appear- 

 ance, at all times commanding admiration for their 

 variety and beauty ; even during the unprecedented 

 wet, early summer months, when other things were 

 mostly without bloom, they still looked well. The 

 Verbena formerly ranked first as the most useful 

 beclder we had, but of late years, the attacks of rust 

 and Red spider have become so destructive as to 

 much im.pair its usefulness, so that it is with plea- 

 sure we turn to the Geranium, as a better substi- 

 tute, being free from the attacks of any insects or 

 blight, and luxuriating in our dry warm climate in 

 summer. 



In the November No. ol the Monthly for 1866, I 

 made some remarks on this class of flowers, and on 

 looking over it again after another year has passed 

 away, I find Kttle to alter or retract. I then spoke 

 unfavorably ot " Lord Palmerston" as a bedder, and 

 cannot now recommend it, except for Pot culture in 

 the shade. It is a good flower, but cannot compare 

 with " Stella" or " Cybister" as bedders. The two 

 last are very alike in color,both being a vivid scarlet, 

 the latter has longer and narrower petals than 

 "Stella." I mentioned in my former notice as a 



bedder "Beaute de Suresnes," I now think it 

 unworthy of a place as such, flowering too sparingly 

 to be of any value. Of some newer ones, flowering 

 last season, were "Indian Yellow," the flowers of 

 which will require a powerful microscope to discover 

 in them the yellow, " Magenta Queen, " a good kind 

 of the color indicated by its name ; "Orange Nose- 

 gay," a good orange, but not so good as "Orange 

 Queen," a most profuse flowering sort with deep 

 brick red flowers and shiny green leaves. " Earl of 

 Hardwick," a cherry colored nosegay, not a large 

 truss, but a profuse bloomer, and distinct. " Mrs. 

 Caleb Cope," a deep peach-colored nosegay, profuse 

 of bloom and distinct ; "Fiorence," a Salmon, re- 

 markably fine formed petals, and "Mountain of 

 Snow," the last a vigorous growing white flowered 

 kind. I should also have mentioned " Duchess" a 

 fine rosy lake, which with "Earl of Hardwick and 

 Mrs. Caleb Cope," I think are the best three of the 

 whole. 



AT KNOX'S AND ALOM^ THE SOUTH 

 BYW. H. L., SANDUSKY, OHIO. 



It is written Pan is dead, and Bacchus with his 

 frenzied troop no longer haunts the burdened vine- 

 yard or finds generous cheer at the wine vats. Well, 

 though sung of old, wander a half day in the August 

 days along the verduous slopes and breezy hill-tops 

 of Knox's Fruit Farm, and you will stoutly deny it. 

 This is Arcadia restored, and the reign of the Merry 

 Monarchs. Here are orchards wide-spreading, ap- 

 ple and peach ; acres of vineyards in vast blocks 

 to right and left, walled up in parallel masses of 

 greenery ; squares also, including acres of strawberry 

 vines full of vigor, when not only thirty and an hun 

 dred, but even " 700" fold is yielded to the skilful 

 husbandman ; and, an opposing slope, looking away 

 from the noonday sun, are fields of Raspberries and 

 Blackberries ; and, in nursery rows stretching far 

 and near, numberless as leaves in Vallambrosa, fine 

 young vines, vineyards, yet to be, "for the mil- 

 lion." 



Will the reader forgive so much of the merely 

 fanciful in note:, otherwise studiously didactic? 

 Such a vision, bursting in almost at a glance, exalts 

 the mind, and mammon finds his devotee sadly un- 

 faithful in telling over his beads of gains and losses. 



One thing we may remark here. The bird's-eye 

 view along these hill-sides has a tale to tell in its 

 own decisive way. Wherever there are Concords, 

 the trellises are banked up with bright foliage — no 

 breaks to pain the qjq. Half-naked rows, or sickly 



