VOL. XX.VII. No. 14 
WHOLE No. 1340. 
PRICE SIX CENTS, 
*•4.03 PER Y EA R. 
[Entered accordlrg to Act ol Congress, in the year 1S7S. Dy toe Rural PupitsDing Company. in tne i>t»ice of the L'r nnun of Congress at WasniiKTon.l 
[ wither and have not noticed the ensuing 
spring that there was any deficiency in bloom 
or vigor, which would tend to prove that the 
bulbs mature before the leaves tegin to de¬ 
cay. Of course, it is well that they should 
be planted deep—say four inches for Tulips, 
six for Hyacinths—and this, if the soil is 
loose, Is in no way disadvantageous. 
But many deem it necessary to dig up their 
spring bulbs ns soon as they have ripened, 
separate them and store them away in a cool 
closet to be replanted not until fall. We 
know of no benefit arising out of this practice 
and prefer to leave them in the ground until 
fa’l and then to dig them up, separate the 
increase aud replant nt once. 
Hyacinths, when once planted, need never 
bedisturbed. Beautiful as are their bouquets 
of bright flowers the first season, they are 
noticeably inferior the second, and well-nigh 
worthless the third. The best plan is to pro¬ 
cure new bulbs for the third season, while 
the old ones are left to rot in the ground. 
It is never too late to plant Tu’lps and 
Hyacinths up to the time that the ground is 
so frozen that It cannot be penetrated. We 
recall a present of about one thousand of 
these bulbs made by a seedsman friend after 
the sea-on of sales had passed. Without 
deranging the original packages in which 
they were imported, we i laced them under 
a northern shed which merely protected 
them against snow and rain. A reason of 
very raild weather so softened the ground 
that we were enabled to plant them during 
February, though in a very rude manner. 
We found upon opening the packages that 
many were badly sprouted, a few decayed, 
yet a majority bloomed as satisfactorily as 
if they had heen planted in the fall. 
THOtrr WATERERof England which, accord- 
irg to the Gardeners’ Chronicle, is the most 
beautiful that has yet appeared. It asks us 
to imagine a blossom of the high-colored type 
of Lillum NpecioHum increased in size, so that 
the segments, straightened out, measure 
nearly fourteen inches across, and give to 
this grand flower the coloring and rich spot¬ 
ting of the plant just referred to—while tuf- 
fused with rich, rosy crimson, and having 
deep crimson spots freely distributed over 
the colored portion—ami “ some idea may 
be formed of this splendid Lily. To these 
noble proportions and this charming coloring 
it may be added that the scent is delightful, 
nio f e delicate than that of L. auratum, and 
more approaching the sweetness of L■ vpe- 
cioHUvx. We have seldom seen a more m ig- 
nifleent flower/’ 
TRITOMAS.-XNIPHOFIA MACOWANI 
T. tjvaria is one of the most attractive of 
our late blooming plants, and, under the 
euphonious nornen of ** Red-hot Poker,” is too 
well known to need any detailed account. 
“ Red-hot ” the inflorescence certainly loo’.is 
to be, though we think that “Rocket.,” or 
“Torch,” might be appropriately substi¬ 
tuted for the surname of “ Poker,” to which 
we fail to detect any resemblance. The de¬ 
gree of Trltoma uvzria’x hardiness—a pre¬ 
viously not very well delermmed point—was 
fixed beyond question by last winter. Those 
planls which were heavily protected passed 
through it safely, while others all perished. 
A novelty In the way of Trltoma* is Knl- 
pho.fia Macowanl. The London Garden- 
era’ Chronicle, from which we copy the ac¬ 
company ing illustrations, describes it as 
having been raised from seed sent from 
South Africa. It flowered for the first time 
in September last, and was shown before a 
Floral Committee and gained the highest 
award that body could 
make to It—a first-class 
certificate. Dr. Hooker 
describes it as having a mV. f-N 
stem as thick as the flfb 
thumb at the base; SlwI/ir 
leaves, one to 1>£ foot *v 
long, sub-ercct; scape, ' j .11 
as long as the leaves, or > L 
longer; raoerre, throe 
to five inches long; ft', 
flowers, yellowish, pass- 111 
ing into bright orunge- I i] 
red. The Chronicle con- &{ * fv* 
eludes that “as a low- f 
growing plant for the 
front portion of a flower ; 
border, or for pot cul- 1 1 
tine, this dvvarf-babited 
species of Eniplirfia yj ’ A l ( 
will prove to be an ac- m jjif 
In the engraving Fig. 
1 represents the natural f 
Bize of the flower; Fig. : i 
2, a section ol leaf en- jrj 
larged; and Fig. 8, the jLj*. til [ 
plant one-third the nat- V S ! L ■ P '< 
ural size. ' 
A NEW HYBRID LILY 
Many beautiful Lilies lmve been produced 
by crosses between L. miration and the xpe- 
cio8um», though we are not aware that any 
of these new varieties have yet, been offered 
for sale. It requires a number of years— 
probably eight or ten—to produce bulbs from 
one seed in a, sufficient quantity to place them 
in the market; so that after the announce¬ 
ment of a new hybrid or cross-breed Lily, we 
must wait patiently for a long time before 
we can hope to procure it. 
The latest novelty among this beautiful 
class of plants is one flowered by Mr. An- 
DOUBLE BALSAM 
How to secure Double Balsam year after 
year, from our own seeds, is a question that, 
has been well discussed though by no means 
determined. Let our flowers bloom evpr *o 
double one season, the seeds saved from them 
or from those that mature seeds will ns a 
rule, prove single, or but 
semi-douile, the tuc- 
ceeding year. 
It is generally suppos¬ 
ed that age in Balsam 
seeds is conducive to tho 
transformation of sta¬ 
mens into petals. Atrial 
of our own during the 
present summer does 
not tend to corroborate 
this opinion. The seeds 
were saved five years 
ago from the strain 
known as Smith’s Prize 
and planted beside the 
same strain purchased 
last spring —the latter 
notieeubjy superior. 
It is a common error t 
however, in collecting 
seeds, to select those 
_____ pods which contain the 
^ " 1 greatest number. The 
fully double flowers, in 
which both pistils and 
stamens have expanded 
« into petals are of course 
S sterile. But the nearly 
fl double flowers often 
ij form one and two seeds, 
U usually email and shriv- 
I eled, and these are the 
I very ones wc should col- 
I lect — though by their 
S imperfect appearance 
^ f the very first to be re- 
jected as worthless. 
We have also noticed 
\ that a strong, healthy 
\ germination of the seeds 
\ which would seem to 
\ favor a perfection of 
flowers, is not always 
N. conducive to that mul- 
^ tiplication of ihe petals 
which in Balsam is just, 
ly considered its chief 
beauty. On the contra¬ 
ry, drawn, sickly young 
plants which we judged 
might better have been 
thrown away, produced 
the largest, fullest inflo- 
r T . A TJ ro-TT T > rescence. e. s. c. 
HYACINTHS AND 
TULIPS. 
We have heard the 
objection offered, that 
after they have bloomed 
the beds present an un¬ 
sightly appearance for 
the rest of the season. 
This objection need not 
exist. We may plant out 
our house plants or seed¬ 
ling annuals just the 
same a3 if the bed were 
prepared for them 
alone, and as soon as the 
leaves of the spring 
bulbs begin to wither— 
until which time they 
are rather ornamental 
than otherwise—we may 
cut them off with a pair 
of shears close to the 
ground. In fact, we 
have cut them off before 
they hare begun to 
f’wwwww-r 
