SCABIOSA, (Mourning Bride,) Nat. Ord. Dipsacece. 
The Scabiosa, called all-the-world-over, Mourning Bride and Mournful Widow, has been 
so long a popular garden flower that nobody knows where it was discovered or when first 
cultivated. We don't know that we can call it a very 
beautiful flower, and yet it is an old friend, and we like 
it, and it gives a great variety of colors, from white 
almost to black, and it grows freely and healthily, and 
we always grow 
it, and always 
intend to; and 
it cuts beautiful- 
ly for large bou- 
quets, and is an 
excellent flower 
every way. The 
tallest varieties 
grow eighteen 
inches in height, the flowers being supported on long, 
wiry stems. The dM'arf sorts are about a foot in height. 
Seed may be grown in the garden or 
under glass. Plants, if thrifty in the 
autumn, not weakened by over-floM^- 
ering, often flower the second season. A variety, S. stellata, bears curious 
seed-pods, shown in the engraving at the right, and these dried, work up well 
with Everlastings. Indeed, they look much like dried flowers, besides being 
very singular. There is also a double variety, so called, the plant being dwarf 
in habit, and the flower smaller and more compact than the old sorts. It is 
a neat variety and better for bouquets than the old kinds. There is a little 
perfume to these flowers, and they are known by the name of Sweet Scabious. 
SGHIZANTHUS, Nat. Ord. Scrophulariacecc. 
An interesting and beautiful class of plants that may be treated as half-hardy annuals, but 
that are not often seen in our gardens, and are 
really better adapted for house culture. They 
are not exactly of a climbing habit, and yet are 
so slender that they need support, and when 
this is provided will grow from two to three 
feet in height, and bear hundreds of pretty 
two-colored flowers, looking like little butter- 
flies. Winds, rain and the hot sun often 
injure plants in the garden. The seed should be 
sown under glass, if possible. A really beau- 
tiful flower for the house. The name signifies cut flower, and it is really interesting and good. 
SENSITIVE PLANT, (Mimosa,) Nat. Ord. Legtiminosce. 
The Mimosa pudica, called Sensitive Plant from the singularly sensitive nature of the leaves, 
is really a pretty plant, but its chief merit is in the amusement it pro- 
vides the children, and in fact, everybody. No one seems to get tired of 
observing the habits of this plant. When a leaf is touched it immedi- 
ately begins slowly to close, and if touched near the base of the leaf- 
stalk, not only will the leaflets close up but the leaf-stalk droop as if 
broken. Start the seed under glass, and do not transplant to the open 
ground until the weather is warm. A plant or two reserved for the 
house will afford a good deal of pleasure during the winter. A very 
good way is to start a young plant in a pot :n the spring at transplanting 
time, and sink the pot in the earth to the rim. Before the nights get 
cool in the autumn, remove the pot to the house, first re-potting into a larger pot, if necessary. 
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