wrong, you will not only lose the seed, but the benefit of experience. It will not help the 
matter to say that seeds of your own growing came up in the same beds, unless you had just the 
same varieties. As a general rule, the finer the varieties of flowers the less vitality in the seeds. 
One may grow almost anywhere and anyhow, another require the most favorable circumstances 
for its germination. This is particularly the case with most double flowers, even of the same 
species or variety. A single Aster will give more seed than a hundred of double, and the seed 
will be larger, and produce earlier, stronger plants, and will grow under unfavorable circum- 
stances, M^here the seed from the double flower would decay. Hence, if there happen to be 
three seeds from a single plant in a package, and all should grow, these three plants would produce 
flowers before any others, and those not acquainted with the facts would say at once, " all my 
Asters are going to be single." If, thi-ough a bad season or soil, all the Aster seed from the 
double flowers had died, and only the more robust from the single flower lived, of course, the 
complaint is, " I had only three plants from a package of seeds, and that was plenty, for they 
were very poor flowers." A beautiful flower is often obtained at the sacrifice of the vigor, and 
not unfrequently the constitution, of the plant. After laboring long and anxiously to secure 
some desired improvement, it is not uncommon, just as success seemed about to crown our 
labors, to find all our hopes blasted on account of some defect in the plant — a grand flower 
secured and a healthful plant ruined. 
THE LAWN AND GARDEN, 
Man may be refined and happy without a garden ; he may even have a home, I suppose, 
without a tree, or shrub, or flower; yet, when the Creator wished to prepare a proper home for 
man, pure in all his tastes and made in His own likeness. He planted a garden and placed this 
noblest specimen of creative power in it to dress and to keep it. A few suggestions on the 
Improving of Grounds and the Adornment of Rural Homes may be useful, and prevent a great 
many expensive and troublesome mistakes. 
MAKING LAWNS AND WALKS. 
In the first place, the space in front of the house, and generally the sides exposed to view 
from the street, should be in grass. No arrangement 
of beds, or borders of box, or anything else, will 
look so neat and tasteful as a well kept piece of 
lawn. It can also be kept in better order at less cost 
than in any other w^ay. Mixed beds of flowers or of 
shrubbery in the most conspicuous part of the garden 
are always unsatisfactory. Get a good plat of grass, 
and dry, neat walks, and all other things will soon 
WALK STAKED OUT. follow wlth but little trouble. 
The very first thing needed in improving ground is to obtain good drainage. Have good 
drains made to carry off all waste water from the house and surplus water from the soil. These 
can be made of stone, laid in any way that will leave an open and secure space for the water to 
pass through, though where drain tile can be obtained they are as good as anything and 
usually cheaper. The drains should be from two to four feet deep. Have the work well 
done, for this is the foundation of all improvement, and 
the correction of any failure is made only with a good deal 
of trouble and expense. This secures a dry soil at all seasons 
of the year, and a healthy growth of plants or trees. 
The next thing is to prepare the soil and make the 
walks. Make no more roads than are absolutely neces- 
sary, as many walks divide the lawn and greatly disfigure 
it. Of course, there must be a bold walk to the front door, 
and one passing from this to the rear of the house, and in 
general no more will be necessary. These must be planting for curved walks. 
made in the most convenient places — in those one would naturally take in going from one 
place to another. The curved line is the line of beauty, yet we often see attempts at curved 
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