13 
TIME 
A touch of the ornate, like a ribbon on a 
good bonnet, is not in the least objection¬ 
able. Let all the girls study botany. It is 
healthful, pleasing and useful. The princi¬ 
ples of horticulture are the principles of 
botany put into practice. Farmers study 
agriculture, why should not their wives 
and daughters study horticulture? If any 
employment is feminine, it would seem 
that this is. If any is healthy, this must 
be. If any is pleasurable, none can be 
more so than this. A rich bed of strawber¬ 
ries, a bush of blackberries or currants, a 
boYder of flowers produced by one’s own 
hand, what can well afford a more rational 
satisfaction? We say to all our country 
sisters, have a garden, if only a small one, 
and do your best with it. Plant it with 
what pleases you best, with a good variety, 
and see what you can do with it. What 
woman cannot raise beets, tomatoes, 
melons, onions, lettuce, and furnish her 
own table with them? What woman can¬ 
not plant a raspberry, currant, or gooseber¬ 
ry bush, and tend it well? Come, good 
woman, study your health, your usefulness 
and happiness, and your childrens also. 
DOUBLE PORTULACCA. 
GERMAN ROCKET LARKSPUR. 
The Flower Garden. 
To have beautiful flowers and a profusion 
of them, plant your plants and seeds in 
rich soil, as a rule. There are only a few 
plants that do better in poor soil than in 
that is well enriched, prominent among 
which are the different varieties of Amar- 
antlius. The soil should be frequently stir¬ 
red during the growing season, and especi¬ 
ally soon after every shower. Finely 
breaking the surface with a hoe or small 
rake,after it has been beaten down by the 
rain, will enable it to retain moisture much 
longer than if left to become hard, as it will 
do if thus worked. Without proper cul¬ 
ture and attention weeds will be certain to 
put in an appearance in flowerbeds, vases, 
hanging baskets, grass' plats etc. Their 
presence will never be tolerated by any cul¬ 
tivator who has regard for neat and taste¬ 
ful appearances. Provide strings, stakes 
or trellises to climbers and top-heavy plants 
and to guide the young tendrils of climbers 
that are stretching out for support, which 
they perhaps cannot reach. Dahlias 
should be provided with strong stakes early 
in the season, if their breaking down 
would be avoided. The season of out door 
flowers can be extended almost every year 
by protecting the plants during the first 
frosty nights. Usually after first frosts 
the weather becomes warm and pleasant. 
