The Floral Instructor. 
2 
beginning to put forth buds. I strove 
in vain to protect them from the sun’s 
scorching rays, and I shall resort to 
every means in my power to keep Jack 
Frost’s fingers off my pets. One must 
keep strict surveillance, for he comes 
like a thief in the night, and he seem¬ 
ingly delights in robbing flowers of their 
beauty. Hood books and pretty plants 
are cheerful companions, silent though 
they be, and companionship with them 
engenders friendship so lasting that we 
feel we cannot do without them. Then, 
too, how we prize a plant from a friend 
—gentle reminders of the absent. My 
ivy is my favorite. It was presented 
me by Mr. Rennie in person. Surely it 
will thrive I thought. Had it not met 
with so many accidents it would now be 
many feet in length. At the present it 
is nearly to the top "of the window, and 
. growing rapidly. Soon after putting it 
out of doors in the spring a mischiev¬ 
ous goat nipped off its leaves and gave 
it a backset. Poor ivy ! I prize it the 
more. It has had so many trials and is 
^till left to me. Hoping to see many of 
our floral friends at home in the next 
number, I send greeting to all. 
Weeping Willow. 
HINTS TO AMATEUR FLORISTS. 
A Herman gentleman, of Savannah. 
Gfa., writes me a very pleasant letter, 
and asks, among other things, “ How 
are heliotropes raised, from seeds or by 
cuttings ?” 
Heliotrope is classed among seeds for 
the greenhouse. The seeds of nearly 
all greenhouse plants are extremely 
small, and so tender that considerable 
care is required in growing plants from 
them. Then, too, some of our most 
valuable greenhouse plants will grow 
freely from seed and do not root by cut¬ 
tings. The apple geranium at no time 
can be propagated from cuttings, but by 
sowing seeds we get plants in a very 
little while. 
Again, that most popular of all win¬ 
ter blooming plants, the Chinese prim¬ 
rose, is by far the most easily and 
speedily grown from seeds. The best 
way for an amateur to raise these pretty 
flowers is to put some broken pieces of 
pots in the bottom of a box having holes 
bored in it; on that lay a layer of moss, 
next the rough siftings .of the soil, and 
above that finely sifted soil made up of 
sand, leaf mould and rotted turfs. 
After the surface has been smoothed 
mark it off in checks or squares of one 
inch ‘hpart, in the same manner as a 
corn field is marked out ; then drop one 
seed where the lines cross each other- 
Cover the seeds but slightly, and put 
over the box a pane of glass until the 
seeds come up. Not much water will 
be required, and if it can be applied in 
fine spray, so much the better. In the 
greenhouse, with the finely perforated 
nozzles on our hose, it is no trouble co 
throw a very fine spray; but, as ama¬ 
teurs do not have such conveniences, I 
recommend an atomizer, such as can be 
purchased at any drug store for a trifle. 
It consists of two glass tubes and a 
rubber ball, and is chiefly used for atom¬ 
izing or spraying perfumery. 
When the seedlings are up the glass 
must be opened daily to admit fresh air, 
and kept open longer and longer each 
day till it can be entirely dispensed 
with. By that time the seedlings should 
be potted off, and, if they can be, placed 
in a cold frame, which is' only four 
boards knocked together box fashion 
and a glass cover put on, they will grow 
rapidly and commence to bloom in Sep¬ 
tember. There are very many of our 
friends who succeeded admirably last 
year in raising these primroses, and 
especially one of them, an invalid, who 
