176 AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. rw, 
Culture of Flowers. 
Farmers seldom devote much time to planting 
ornamental trees or to flower-gardens. To clear 
up the land of its forest trees and stumps and 
stones, to fence and to manure, these are the 
great objects of the farmer’s life. Trees are 
sometimes set out, but 
they are chiefly such as 
bear fruit. Of course, 
these fundamental and 
practical things should 
be looked after first; but 
when these have been 
attended to, why not add 
other things attractive to 
the eyes of visitors and 
to the family, both the 
young and old 7 Shade- 
trees, shrubs, vines and 
flowering plants make 
one’s house look better 
and enhance its value. 
Let the farmer begin 
his improvements by 
making a first-rate kitch¬ 
en garden. Stock it well 
with asparagus, rhu¬ 
barb, currants, gooseber¬ 
ries, raspberries and 
grapes, and let it abound 
with beets, onions, let¬ 
tuce, radishes, tomatoes, 
melons, and a multitude 
of other good things 
which such a garden can 
be made to yield. The 
comfort and healthful¬ 
ness of such a garden 
will naturally lead on to 
something else. At least, 
if the farmer have a sen¬ 
sible wife and intelligent 
children, he will not fail 
to gratify them with 
some flower-beds. At 
first, it may be only a 
border next the patch of 
beets and onions; but 
with improving taste, he 
will indulge them with a 
flower-plot by itself. And 
pray, what will it con¬ 
tain ? Why, of course, 
those old favorites—li¬ 
lacs, roses, honeysuckles, 
flowering almonds, and syringas, among the 
shrubs ; and columbines, larkspurs, monks-hood, 
pinks, pajonies, foxgloves, etc., among the herba¬ 
ceous perennial plants ; and then will be added any 
quantity of annuals. Good so far. 
And it won’t be long before the sensible man 
will wonder that he had neglected, for so many 
years, to give his family this source of enjoy¬ 
ment. How happy my wife is of late, he will say 
to himself, I verily believe she has grown ten 
years younger ; and my daughters, how charm- 
'■igthey look with their hair and their bosoms 
cecked with flowers of their own raising 1 My 
money-loving neighbors tell me that fine gardens 
don’t pay. Perhaps they don’t in dollars and 
cents, but they do in something far better. The 
song of the robin don’t pay, nor does a fine 
landscape, nor does the ruddy hue of my boy’s 
cheek and lip, or the kiss of my bright-eyed 
daughter ; but I value them none the less. 
Sensible mar. you are on the right track. 
Money-value is not the highest standard by 
which to estimate many things. Try them rather 
by their tendency to improve the character, and 
to promote real happiness. Pure pleasures, 
cheap enjoyments, those which leave no sting be¬ 
hind, and which add to our knowledge and im¬ 
prove our hearts, are most truly desirable. Let 
A BOUQUET OF SUMMER FLOWERS. 
• 
it never be forgotten that our minds receive a bias 
for good or evil, from the occupations of our hands. 
And can any harm come from the culture of flow¬ 
ers 1 What a dreary place would this world be 
without them ! It would be as a face without a 
smile, a feast without a welcome.” 
How many things in a flower-garden to inter¬ 
est young and inquisitive minds. For example, 
note the convolvulus closing its petals at the ap¬ 
proach of a storm ; the tulip and many yellow 
flowers shutting up in hazy weather ; the Mexi¬ 
can tiger-flower, the morning-glory and others 
open in the morning and shut at noon ; the 
evening primrose open at sunset; the sensitive 
plant shrinking at the slightest touch ; the Frax- 
inella, in a warm, damp evening, emitting a gas 
which will ignite if a match is applied, and burn 
for some time without injury to the plant, etc. 
For the man of business, nothing can be more 
refreshing than the garden. To the student weary 
with brain-toil, what a relaxation ! To the child 
what a feast of the senses ! To the mother, wha* 
place more suitable for instructing her house¬ 
hold in lessons of beauty and virtue 1 
--- m a ^--- 
Management of Dahlias. 
As the first of the present month is an excel¬ 
lent time for setting out dahlias, we will say a 
few words about their 
culture. This plant is 
not fastidious about soils, 
yet it succeeds best in 
good garden mold, not 
very stiff with clay, nor 
very light and porous, 
with sand. It is a rank 
grower and feeder, and 
needs some degree of 
moisture at the roots in 
mid-summer. Deep 
trenching at the outset, 
and mulching in hot 
weather, will supply 
this necessity. 
Propagation .—If one 
has a fancy for raising 
new varieties, he can do 
so by sowing seeds. In 
this way, he will get 
some flowers the first 
season, some good, oth¬ 
ers bad, and indifferent. 
Only a few out of a hun¬ 
dred seedlings may be 
worth preserving, but it 
will be very pleasant to 
watch their wonderful 
sporting from a single 
packet of seeds. 
A more common way, 
however, is to propagate 
by cuttings from, or di¬ 
visions of old roots. Set 
the roots into a half- 
spent hot-bed, and the 
buds will soon push out. 
When they have made a 
few inches’ growth, cut 
them off close to the tu¬ 
bers, and pot them, and 
they will grow like any 
cuttings. As soon as 
they are well-rooted, 
they may be transplant¬ 
ed into the open garden. 
The old roots may be re¬ 
set in the hot-bed, and a 
new crop of cuttings obtained. In this way a mul¬ 
titude of plants may be had in one season from a 
single root. For nurserymen who wish to prop¬ 
agate largely for sale, this is an excellent mode. 
Still another method, and the more common 
one for amateurs, is simply to divide the last 
year’s roots, in the Spring, and set out every 
tuber that can be got off in connection with a bud 
at the crown of the root. [And here, let us cau¬ 
tion the inexperienced against -the mistake of a 
friend of ours, viz.: roughly breaking off the mere 
tubers and planting them, but throwing away the 
neck or crown of the root, which alone contains 
the buds from which the plants grow !] If the 
old roots are set in any warm place, the first 
week in this month, and covered with a little 
earth, they will soon show their buds. Now, cut 
carefully between, with a sharp pruning knife, al¬ 
lowing one bud to each tuber. Then, set each 
piece of root in the garden where you wish it to 
grow, planting them three or four feet anart. and 
