210 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
the plant out of the old pot with its ball of 
earth, and place it in the new pot, and fill in fresh 
earth between the ball and the pot, giving the 
pot an occasional "jounce " to settle the earth. 
Water and shade for a few days and the plant 
will soon go on and make a new growth. It 
oftentimes happens that a plant gets in a bad 
way when the pot is large enough ; the soil gets 
sour, as the gardeners say, which is due to 
abundant watering with insufficient drainage. 
In this case turn the ball of earth out of the pot 
and put it into a pail of water. Then prepare, 
the same pot, if large enough, or one of suita- 
ble size, b}' putting in some coarse fragments of 
pots or crockery, beginning with pieces half an 
inch across, and adding gradually smaller frag- 
ments, making the top layer of the size of peas 
or smaller. At least an inch of this material 
should be at the bottom of the pot, and over 
this a little moss to keep the earth from working 
in among it ; now add the coarser lumps of the 
potting earth and then some of the finer. By 
this time the earth around the roots of the plant 
will be in the condition of mud, and with a few 
shakes may be readily washed out. Set the 
roots in the pot, first pruning off any unhealthy 
looking ones, and add earth gradually, working 
it in among the roots and thumping the pot oc- 
casionally to settle it. The plant is to be 
shaded from the hot sun until well established. 
Bouquets and Bouquet Making. 
— • — 
To a lover of flowers nothing can be more 
beautiful than a bunch of them bound together 
in such a careless way that each flower has suf- 
ficient, freedom to show its own peculiar habit. 
We prize such a bouquet, whether culled in our 
own garden or the gift of a friend, and we 
place it in water and enjoy its beauty until the 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
ARTIFICIAL STEMS FOR FLOWERS. 
last flower fades. This is the bouquet as we 
find it with those who have flowers in plenty, 
and among all flower lovers in the country — 
the real thing. The city bouquet from the flo- 
rists is no more like this than a 5th Avenue 
residence is like a country farm-house. In one 
of these natural lovable bouquets there are 
flowers enough wasted, by being covered and 
out of sight, or in their yet undeveloped buds, 
to make a half dozen of the fashionable sort. 
The city florist, when he sells flowers, is very 
careful not to sell buds and stems at the same 
time. In the free way of cutting flowers with 
their own stems, there is involved a loss of fu- 
Fig. 3. — MANNER OF MAKING A BOUQUET. 
ture bloom which he can ill afford, so the flow- 
ers are gathered stemless, and the want of their 
natural stalks supplied by means of art. With 
most bouquet makers the next thing in import- 
ance to flowers is a broom — a regular corn broom, 
and this, both brush and handle, is worked up 
into ' the most costly bouquets. The broom 
splints are broken apart and each separate 
flower is mounted on a broom-corn stem by 
means of a few turns of a thread-like annealed 
iron wire as in fig. 1. Sometimes strong elastic 
grass stems are employed, or pine is split 
into slivers and used instead of broom-corn, and 
frequently a coarser wire is used for the stem 
and is attached to the flower by running it 
through the lower part or the flower-cup, and 
twisting it below, as seen in fig. 2. A sufficient 
number of flowers being prepared in this way, 
the bouquet is then to be made up, and here is 
where the broom-handle comes into play. A 
piece of the stick of convenient length for the 
center of the bouquet is cut off. As it is cus- 
tomary to use a rose, camellia or other large 
flower for the center, that is fastened to the end 
of the stick by running a wire through the 
flower cup and fastening its ends to the stick by 
means of small twine as shown in fig. 3. Then 
the bouquet is gradually built up by adding the 
other flowers, and securing them in place by 
turns of small twine. Fig. 3 shows two of the 
small flowers attached in this way. The shape 
of the bouquet is governed by desire of the 
customer, a flat or slightly convex surface in 
which the flowers are all upon nearly the 
same level being the commonest form. Any 
desired shape can be given, and the bouquet 
will be flat or pyramidal according to the point 
at which the artificial stems are tied to the cen- 
tral support. All this artificial work is concealed 
by an edging of some kind of green — and the 
extreme of elegance is to have outside of this a 
white paper cone, bordered on its edge by a rich 
fringe of white silk. Bouquets made in this 
way, may sell from $5 to $20 or more, according 
to the season and the flowers used in making 
them. Flowers treated in this unnatural man- 
ner will keep much longer than one would sup- 
pose. Of course it is useless to put bouquets of 
this kind into water, but an occasional sprinkling 
will keep them fresh for some days, and if they 
are put under a glass shade, their beauty can 
be prolonged for a much greater time. 
Tree Labels of Zinc, Slate, etc. 
It is some time since the Agriculturist published 
the recipe for the ink which is used upon zinc 
tree labels. It has a chemical action on the 
metal and is indelible after remaining on a 
short time. Attach the labels to the trees or 
plants with copper, or better, with lead wire. 
Ink. — Verdigris and sal ammoniac equal parts, 
lampblack enough to give blackness; rub well 
together and add water to bring it to a flowing 
consistence. Use a quill pen for marking. 
The same zinc labels may be used, written 
upon with a soft black-lead pencil. The zinc 
quickly oxydizes, except where the writing pro 
tects it, so the mark soon becomes indelible and 
more distinct than at first. Some specimens of 
slate labels have been for some lime upon the 
Exhibition Tables of the Agriculturist office. 
They were sent out from Germany as samples, 
but in sufficient quantity to be thoroughly tested 
by Mr. Fuller, through whom we received them. 
They are of all the usual shapes'for tree and 
plant labels; round, oval, and oblong for attach- 
ing by wires to the plants, and straight slips for 
setting in pots or in the open ground, and of va- 
rious sizes. They are written upon with the 
common carmine (wax) pencils, and the mark 
thus made, it is said, when exposed to the 
weather, will last for an indefinite period. 
>•-■ — m + m — .-a. 
Strawberries Again. 
Are the readers of the Agriculturist tired of the 
often repeated injunction to plant strawberries? 
If they are, let them provide themselves with a 
good strawberry bed at once, for it will be reit- 
erated at proper seasons until we are assured 
that the majority of families in our immense par- 
ish have strawberries of their own raising, and no 
longer need to be "put up" to it. Spring is 
the best time to plant, according to some culti- 
vators, while others prefer autumn. Plants well 
set in September will fruit next year; indeed 
they may be put out in August if the month 
does not happen to be too dry. Attention is 
called to the matter now, that a place may be 
selected and prepared in time for the proper sea- 
son for planting. Any good, deep, well worked 
soil, which is not too stiff with clay, will grow 
good strawberries. Plow or spade deep, and if 
the soil is not rich, add muck, leaf mold, cow- 
yard, or any not over-stimulating kinds of ma- 
nure. As to varieties, Triomphe deGund, Wilson, 
and Austin may be named among the standard 
ones. Jenny Lind, Bartlett, and Early Scarlet arc 
among the well tried sorts which are favorites 
with many, while there are numerous varieties 
which give great promise, but which have yet 
to stand the test of extended and continuous 
cultivation. Unfortunately we go to press about' 
the time our Strawberry Show opens, and the 
results of that can not be given this month. 
There is no doubt that this, and other exhibi- 
tions to be held this season, will do much to- 
wards increasing our knowledge of the more re- 
