148 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
An Impromptu Flower Garden. x 
Many a person in our oities and towns, would 
like to have a flower garden if he could buy one 
ready made, or could produce one instantaneous¬ 
ly by the mere wave of his hand. For such per¬ 
sons we shall not now attempt to provide. Then, 
there are others, Very fond of flowers, who yet 
imagine that it requires several years and a good 
deal of money to create a garden; and they 
therefore shrink from the Undertaking. For such 
persons we feel sympathy, and wish now to 
Speak a few comforting words. 
It will, indeed, require several years to es¬ 
tablish a garden, complete in all its appoint- 
t meM:.s--its soil brought into perfect tilth, and its 
plants, shrubs, and vines into large and vigor¬ 
ous growth. This must be so, from the neces¬ 
sities of the case. But something, yes, much 
can be done in a single year. Let us see: 
Suppose yOu have a piece of ground thirty or 
■forty feflt square. It is now in grass. If you 
•can hot break it up yourself, put one or more 
: 8 t 0 fft irishmen into it, and let them spade it up 
thoroughly, and clean out all weeds, grass, and 
stones. Spread two or three inches thick of old 
manure over the surface, and work it in. And 
if you have a few loads of sand and leaf-mold 
from the woods, that may well go in. Rake the 
ground perfectly smooth. 
Perhaps you are a rectangular person, and 
would like to make your garden beds into squares, 
triangles, parallelograms, etc. If so, the work 
is easily done. Perhaps you prefer curved and 
flowing lines, something after the style of the 
sketch in the opposite column. The shape 
is not very important; but, that our talk may 
go on, we will suppose that you adopt this one 
as your pattern. Get a dozen or two short 
Stakes, and lay of? your beds. Allow three or 
four feet width for the walks, and from four to 
•six feet for your beds, just as your space will per¬ 
mit. Work your beds into the required shape, 
throwing the surface soil of the walks upon the 
beds. The graveling of the walks and the bor¬ 
dering of the beds with box, grass, tiles, or some 
other simple edging, may be done now or after¬ 
wards, as you please. 
How shall the beds be planted ? A great num¬ 
ber of methods suggest themselves, but we will 
propose a very simple one: In the middle of 
the ova) bed in the center, sow a circle of Morn¬ 
ing Glory seeds, using those of various colors 
and shades. Set up a cedar pole in the center, 
bight feet high, and when the vines appear, 
train them on stout strings to the top of the 
pole. The remainder of this bed may be de¬ 
voted to verbenas. In setting out these, you 
will, of course, take pains to arrange the colors 
so as to harmonize well. Set them eighteen 
inches or two feet apart, and by mid-summer 
they will cover the entire bed. 
The four beds next around the oval, may be 
planted in cither of two ways. Each bed may be 
devoted to one kind of flowers and of one color 
alone, or it may have a mixed assemblage of 
sorts and colors. For example: one might be 
given up to scarlet or crimson Petunias, another 
lo white Candytuft, another to Drummond 
Phlox, another to Portulaccas; or these might 
be planted indiscriminately, and others added to 
them, such as Asters, Marigolds, Scabious, Core¬ 
opsis, Balsams, Sweet Williams, etc. The first is 
more indicative of art, and is veiy striking; the 
last is more natural, and affords a greater varie¬ 
ty of flowers. 
The large, outer bed should he planted with 
some reference to the future, as well as the pres¬ 
ent. On the back side, tall shrubs may be set, 
also roses, and flowering vines. So arranged, 
they will not obstruct one’s view of the plants in 
the front of the bed: they will also serve to pro¬ 
tect the whole plot from severe winds and 
from outside intrusion. In the April Agricultur¬ 
ist, page 114, we gave a list of good shrubs, from 
which selections might be made for this border. 
Next before these shrubs, we would set Dahlias 
and Gladioli. The foliage of shrubs and vines 
behind would set off the brilliant colors of these 
flowers with fine effect. The splendid autum¬ 
nal show made by the Dahlia is well known, 
but it hardly eclipses the vivid beauty of the 
newer Gladioli. Unfortunately, these last are as 
yet scarce and expensive, but the older sorts, 
(gandiemsis, jloribunda, etc.,) are cheap and very 
fine. 
Next before these, but at intervals of five or 
six feet, we would set out choice biennial and 
perennial herbaceous plants. On page 146 
will be found a list and brief description of 
several of these plants. “ But where are we to 
get all these fine things ?” you ask. We reply, 
you are very unfortunate if you have not won 
the friendship of several gardening neighbors 
who would gladly supply you with many of the 
seeds, shrubs, and plants we have referred to. 
You may pay them something for these articles, 
if you please, but they would doubtless feel bet¬ 
ter compensated if you would only appreciate 
their gifts enough to take good care of them. 
But whatever you cannot get from such friends, 
you can buy at the seed stores and nurseries. 
The buying will not beggar you. If necessary, 
deny yourself those Havanas in which you too 
often indulge; give up that second cup of strong 
old Java which shatters your nerves; wear that 
same old hat or coat a few months longer before 
getting new ones; or in some other ways, econ¬ 
omize a little, and the garden will not lighten 
your purse a single grain, but it will lighten your 
heart and your eye very much. 
But we had not quite finished that outer bor¬ 
der. Set out a few biennial and perennial 
plants this year, leaving room for others to be 
added at a future time. Between these, set out 
annual flowers of the taller kind, such as Lark¬ 
spur, Salpiglossis, Scabious, Marigold, Asters, 
etc. In front, along the inside margin of the bed, 
set the lower growing annuals, such as purple 
and white Candytuft, Portulaccas of various 
colors, Drummond Phlox, Alyssum, India Pink, 
Clarkia, dwarf Convolvulus, Gilia tricolor, 
Mignonette, Nemophila, etc. These, well man¬ 
aged, will give an air of finish to the whole 
garden. 
From the foregoing, it appears that one can 
get up an extemporaneous flower garden which 
will afford a good deal of enjoyment ibe first 
year, Of course, it will improve every subse¬ 
quent season. To make such a garden requires 
zeal, and resolution, and work, but not a great 
deal of money. Whoever has land enough at 
control, can have such a garden as we have de¬ 
scribed, and a better one, if he only tries. But 
if he is satisfied with our general plan, and will 
follow it out for this Summer, we promise, (if 
he read the Agriculturist faithfully,) to give him 
many new hints during the year for the further 
embellishment of his garden next season. 
Perfecting the Lawn. 
The lawn is supposed to be already made: it 
was made last year, or several years ago. But 
it was finished in some haste, without full and 
clear knowledge of the best mode of doing the 
work, or of what constituted perfection in a lawn. 
In some places, the soil is thin and poor, and 
the grasses have succumbed to the hardier weeds 
and mosses. Tufts of coarse orchard grass and 
of red clover protrude here and there. In many 
places, the grading of the surface is imperfect, 
leaving abrupt elevations lfere, and depressions 
there. Dock and thistles and plantain have in 
some places usurped the room of the fine lawn 
grass and white clover. 
Then, there are too many flower beds cut 
out in the grass. A few, at intervals along the 
margins of the walks might answer, but ten or 
a dozen in a small lawn} break it up and destroy 
its breadth. And then, it requires much work 
to keep so many beds in perfect order; and noth¬ 
ing less than absolute neatness can be allowed 
on a conspicuous lawn. Furthermore; there 
are too many shrubs and trees in the middle por¬ 
tion. The walks and carriage roads were thor¬ 
oughly made, but tin) margins have not been 
nicely rounded and kept trim, as first laid out. 
The grading of the soil near the walks was not 
as well done as it might have been. 
Now, we are going to begin this month by 
putting these things right. Those spots with 
meager soils must be well scarified with an iron 
rake; some fresh grass seed must be scattered 
over them, and the whole enriched with a dress- 
Fig.1. 
ing of old manure. Those tufts of coarse grass 
and those weeds must be dug out, one by one, 
and—what is very important—those inequalities 
of the surface must be carefully remedied. To 
do this, the sods must be taken off both from the 
high and the low points. The soil must be re¬ 
moved from the first and spread over the last, 
bringing both to a perfect level with the rest of 
the lawn, and then the sods replaced. A day or 
two of labor, as may be necessary, in doing this 
work, will do more than any other one thing to¬ 
wards perfecting a lawn. 
As to some of the numerous flower-beds, we 
will remove the plants to a less conspicuous 
place, and cover the patches with sods. But 
here, a hint or two must not be forgotten. The 
soil of the flower beds being quite rich, will give 
the turf a more rampant growth than the rest of 
Fig. 2. 
the lawn; therefore, let the top spit be removed, 
and poorer soil returned; then lay on the sods. 
And in choosing sods, be careful to get such as 
contain grasses similar to those of the lawn; 
else the patch-work will be unpleasantly con¬ 
spicuous all Summer. Those trees and shrub* 
