1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
855 
THE GARDEN 
MIGNONETTE IN WINTER. 
A N important winter crop to the flor¬ 
ist is mignonette, and though his 
mode of culture may he somewhat modi¬ 
fied by the amateur, this favorite flower 
may be freely grown by one with a 
window garden only. The greatest 
defect in house culture of the mignonette 
is excessive heat, for this plant loves a 
cool temperature, as may be noted by 
its stunted growth in hot weather. 
For winter culture, mignonette is 
sown about the middle of August in 
seed pans or trays. When it has made 
two or three leaves (besides the cotyle¬ 
dons), it is pricked out and transplanted 
into the bench or bed in its permanent 
home. This is a cool house, and a deep 
bed, such as is used for violets, is always 
preferred to a shallow bench. The 
young plants are put in rows about 
eight inches apart, and, perhaps, about 
four inches apart in the rows, but they 
are afterwards thinned out. They are 
planted more thickly at first in case of 
loss from insects or accident. From the 
time the mignonette is transplanted 
until frost, precautions are taken to 
avoid the attacks of grasshoppers and 
caterpillars, both of these being very 
fond of the succulent mignonette. As 
prevention is better than cure, the ven¬ 
tilators are all covered with mosquito 
netting; this keeps out both grasshop¬ 
pers and the small white butterfly, 
parent of the green caterpillar. The 
grasshopper is a most voracious feeder 
and has a habit of nipping off the most 
promising shoots, but the caterpillars 
are likely to get a good start unobserved, 
and will soon ruin a fine bed. If they 
once get in, hand-picking and a dusting 
of white hellebore powder must be re¬ 
sorted to, but they should never be 
allowed to get in. 
The temperature of the mignonette 
house is about the same as for violets, 
falling as low as 40 degrees at night, 
with abundant ventilation. As the flower 
spikes appear, the strongest central 
stem is selected, and the others carefully 
pinched off, leaving but one flowering 
shoot to each stalk. This might seem 
an unnecessary proceeding, in the case 
of an inexpensive flower, but the best 
market of the great cities demands a 
thick heavy spike, with a stem 12 to 18 
inches. Some of the Machet varieties 
of mignonette are grown, but several 
of the specialists have their own par¬ 
ticular strain of seed, produced by con¬ 
stant selection. It must be admitted, 
however, that, as a rule, these colossal 
varieties of mignonette are not as fra¬ 
grant as the little, old-fashioned garden 
form. 
Sown about the middle of August, 
thinned out to give abundant space, and 
kept in a light, airy place, the mignon¬ 
ette will give winter bouquets to the 
window gardener. It is not likely to do 
well in the always too warm living 
room, but space might be found in a 
cool bedroom or sewing room, where the 
temperature is about 40 degrees at night, 
and 50 to 60 degrees in the day. The same 
locality will be desirable for violets, 
primroses, and parsley. e. t. b. 
seek to bring on the callas here, for 
though they grow fairly in a cool place, 
they are tropical plants, and luxuriate 
in heat and moisture. Coleus, which is 
an indifferent house plant at best, loses 
its gay coloring in a cool room, and 
heliotrope simply stands still and longs 
for its Peruvian home. Some carna¬ 
tions, however, will do fairly well if 
light be abundant. For this purpose, 
stocky, stout-growing varieties should 
be chosen. Minnie Cook, a very pretty 
striped carmine and white, does well ; 
so does Little Gem, creamy white edged 
and marked pink. These are both com¬ 
pact growers, making shapely pot plants; 
very tall, straggly growers are not rec¬ 
ommended for this purpose. Lizzie Mc¬ 
Gowan is, perhaps, the best white; Wil¬ 
liam Scott a good pink. It should be 
easy enough to keep aphis or greenfly 
off the carnations ; if they appear use 
tobacco water. A midwinter top-dressing 
of loam enriched with bone dust will 
encourage them. Carnation growing, 
as practiced by the experts, is a very 
serious undertaking, and the high-grade 
flowers we see in the city stores are pro¬ 
duced with infinite care. If we want 
the large, long-stemmed flowers, even 
in the window garden, we must disbud ; 
that is, we must retain one flower only 
to the stem, the other buds being gently 
rubbed out as soon as they show. 
Several varieties of primrose will do 
well in a cool room. The pretty little 
yellow English flower, the primrose of 
the poets, will bloom about February. 
The Obconica primrose (Primula obcon- 
ica), may be brought on here and trans¬ 
ferred, if desired, when its profusion of 
pale mauve flowers is in full glory. It 
is a most useful and attractive plant for 
greenhouse or window, easily grown 
and sure to bloom, but it has one very 
bad fault. Contact with it, in many 
cases, produces a most irritating erup¬ 
tion, similar to that caused by Poison 
ivy. Every one does not suffer in this 
way, but after seeing some very bad 
cases of poisoning from it, we think its 
effect should be ascertained before grow¬ 
ing it freely. 
Violets, pansies, English daisies and 
mignonette are four charming plants 
for the cool room. Some very fine large 
double English daisies may be obtained, 
pure white, pink-tipped and crimson, 
and though our hot sun makes them 
most unhappy in the summer, they are 
admirable in a cool place during winter 
and spring. The same may be said of 
pansies, which should have been sown 
last August. e. T. R 
GENERAL NOTES. 
The outdoor roses should now be all 
snug for winter. Where their hardiness 
is doubtful, lay them down, covering 
with sod, as before recommended. If 
they are in a locality where they should 
bear the winter satisfactorily, mulch the 
surface of the bed with short, well rot¬ 
ted manure. 
Mealy bug is quite often seen on such 
plants as coleus and the like, when in¬ 
doors. This is easily removed by hard 
syringing, but if it seem persistent, 
kerosene emulsion should be resorted to. 
This is made by adding one pint of kero¬ 
sene to two quarts of milk, and beating 
together until thoroughly mixed. Dilute 
with two gallons of water before using. 
The callas which were repotted and 
started in September, should be making 
a strong growth now. and may need a 
little encouragement. Room should have 
been left for a top-dressing, about one 
inch in depth, consisting of a compost 
liberally enriched with well-rotted cow 
manure. Later on a weekly portion of 
liquid manure will be advisable. 
.PLANTS FOR A COOL ROOM. 
W INDOW plants suffer far more 
from an overheated room, varied 
by occasional draughts of cold air, than 
from a temperature evenly cool. Still, 
the house plants are usually selected 
more in accordance with their owner’s 
taste than with suitability to their loca¬ 
tion, and we see many unhappy house 
gardens in consequence. 
A cool, light room makes a good re¬ 
serve garden in which to grow and bloom 
plants to be brought afterwards into a 
more conspicuous place. We should not 
MOTHERS .—Be sure to use “ Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup ” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best — Adv. 
Holes in Your Health. 
What does that mean ? Sup¬ 
pose you are taking in money 
all day, and drop it into a 
pocket with holes ; you will 
find yourself a loser instead of 
a gainer by the day’s business. 
Same with your health. You 
eat and drink and sleep, yet 
lose instead of g.ain strength. 
There’s a hole in your health. 
Some blood disease, probably, 
sapping your vitality. You 
can’t begin, too soon, to take 
the great blood purifier, 
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla. 
The Modem 
STOVE POLISH. 
DUSTLESS, ODORLESS, 
BRILLIANT, LABOR SAVING. 
Try it on your Cycle Chain. 
J. L. PRESCOTT & CO., New York. 
Shop 
Any kind of meat, cooked or uncooked, for 
Sausage, hash or mince-meat; lobster and 
chicken for salad; tripe, codfish, etc., with the 
Enterprise 
NEW 
MEAT CHOPPER 
In two pieces—can be 
taken apart, cleaned 
and put together as 
easily as you can wash 
a dish. No parts to 
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No. 2 , $ 1 . 75 ; No. 4 , $ 2 . 25 . 
Pays for itself. Useful 
every day in the year. 
Ask your dealer. 
Send two 2 c stamps for 
the “Enterprising 
Housekeeper,” 
200 recipes. 
The Enterprise M’f’g C«. of Pa., Phila., Pa. 
Makers of the Enterprise Raisin Seeder 
The best lamp - chimney 
word in the world is “ Mac¬ 
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French or Flemish or Dutch. 
But get the shape that is 
made for your lamp, “ pearl 
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us send you the Index. 
Geo A Macbeth Co 
Pittsburgh Pa 
SAVE * YOUR FUEL 
By using our (stove pipe) RADIATOR. 
With its 120 Cross Tubes, 
ONE stove or furnace does the work of 
TWO. Drop postal for proofs from 
prominent men. 
TO INTRODUCE OUR RADIATOR, 
the first order from each neighborhood 
filled at WHOLESALE price, and secures 
an agency. Write at once. 
Rochester Radiator Company, 
27 Furnace Sc.. ROCHESTER, N. t. 
SOLD!%v 
UNDER A 
POSITIVE GUARANTEE 
to wash as clean as can b„ done on the 75,000 In | use. 
washboard .nd with much more ease. This applies to 
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funded. AecntsWnnted. For exclusive territory, terms 
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Write 
25=cent Binder. 
We have been looking for years for a 
cheap, neat binder for readers of The 
Rural, so that the paper could be kept 
clean and preserved for years. Now we 
have it; we can send it, postpaid, for 
25 cents, or will send it to any old sub- 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
BINDER. 
scriber who takes the trouble to send us 
one new subscription. Many readers 
would like to preserve The R. N.-Y., but 
the ordinary binder is too expensive. 
(&Tue Rural New-Yorker, New York. 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER SEWING MACHINE, 
We believe that there is no better machine made than this. There are now, 
at least, a half dozen of them in homes connected with The Rural New-Yorker, 
and we believe that no better machine is made, at any price. We have contracted 
with a large manufacturer to supply our readers with these machines, freight 
paid, at a very low price. We add enough 
to cover the cost of correspondence, etc., 
and give subscribers the benefit of the 
special price. It must be remembered that 
it usually costs more to sell a machine than 
to make it, and that is why local agents 
charge $40 to $60 for machines no better 
than this one. They must get pay for 
their time, and also for the time of their 
horses and wagons. We simply save you 
the cost of selling, and give you the bene¬ 
fit of wholesale prices. Every machine is 
warranted for 10 years, is sent on 20 days’ 
trial, and, if not satisfactory, we will 
return the money, and pay freight both 
ways. It is a staple machine, and new 
parts can be secured at any time. A com¬ 
plete set of attachments and instruction 
book accompany each machine. Price, delivered east of the Rocky Mountains, 
$19.50; with one year’s subscription to The R. N.-Y., $ 20 ; or we will send it, 
freight paid, and a club of 20 yearly subscriptions, for $25. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
