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FIRST EXPERIENCE IN FLORICULTURE 
time of rooting, both in water and soil, also of repot¬ 
ting house plants. 
I read everything I can find written upon this sub¬ 
ject. The Cabinet is just what we ladies need, also 
is “Window Gardening.” 
Almena. 
Perhaps my experience in cultivating flowers may 
assist some lover ot them to try her skill unaided by 
greenhouse or hotbed. 
The first year of my housekeeping I saw the first 
number of James Vick’s Floral Guide advertised in 
Moore’s Mural New Yorker, to he sent to any address 
for ten cents. Very soon I possessed one, and it was 
studied faithfully, and from it I learned something 
new; therefore resolved tc try my hand in raising 
flowers as fine as those described in the Guide. The 
plan of sowing seeds in boxes in the house and then 
to transplant in the open ground when danger from 
frost was over, was new to me; also to all of my 
neighbors. 
Having filed on his order-sheet the names of those 
seeds best adapted to amateurs in floriculture, it was 
enclosed with cash for seeds. Very soon the seeds 
came all right with some extras. Mr. Vick is sure to 
add more than is ordered. 
Now came the first sowing of seeds in boxes or pans, 
the premises being thoroughly ransacked for boxes or 
anything that could be utilized. My better half was 
willing to lend a helping hand in procuring soil and 
making a few new boxes. 
In order to know flowers from weeds, the soil was 
committed to the stove oven until all seeds and insects 
were killed. Sifted soil on the surface to receive the 
tiny seeds. Balsams, Aster, Ten weeks, etc., were put 
in an inch or more apart, so they were easily trans¬ 
planted when second leaves appeared. Besides, I 
knew whether the seeds all came up, for they were 
in rows, counted, and the number and name placed on 
each box or on a label. Some were saved for a sec¬ 
ond sowing. To my surprise nearly every seed grew; 
only a few damped off. How anxiously each seedling 
was watched until time for transplanting. 
Next came the making of 'beds for my pets. Now 
came the need of stronger hands than mine, and I 
found the same ones that made the boxes and brought 
the soil from the woods ready to assist. Soon all was 
ready. 
Guide and trowel in hand with box of Balsams or 
Asters, as the case might he, just before a rain, the 
tiny plants placed in the beds according to directions, 
so many inches apart, so different from the then usual 
way of crowding so many plants in one little bed pro¬ 
miscuously. You may he assured, the care bestowed 
on those seeds and plants doubly repaid me when they 
bloomed. Such lovely flowers ! and many a bouquet 
from my yard adorned the homes of my neighbors. 
How they did wonder at my success with flowers, and 
how they grew so “perfectly splendid,” as some 
said. 
Since that time great improvement has been made 
in this town in floriculture, it being the first experi¬ 
ment on the new way, as it was termed then. 
Let every ardent lover of flowers get a “ Floral 
Catalogue ” and order a few seeds, and follow the di¬ 
rections in it and they will be repaid for all the expense 
and labor in one summer. 
I made a scrap-book for any pieces found treating 
on the culture of plants or anything about flowers, 
also illustrations adorn its pages. A journal of floral 
work, such as dates of sowing seeds, germinating, 
transplanting, blossoming, etc., I have kept for seve¬ 
ral years, which has been very valuable for reference. 
Note the time of slipping my house plants, and the 
CALLAS AS HOUSE PLANTS. 
Several weeks since I cut from some daily paper a 
slip taken from the Floral Cabinet on the Calla 
grown as a house plant in water, and I had a desire to 
try one or more in that way. It also said a few min¬ 
nows introduced into the water would usually thrive. 
I looked about the- house for a stone jar the depth 
mentioned, but found none, and made up my mind 
that a glass jar would be better, so the whole plant 
could be seen, when one day just as it began to grow 
dark, I was coming home from a walk, and I met three 
small boys who were cautiously calling a kitten in an 
alley, and thinking, of course, they were going to tor¬ 
ment her, I said: 
“ Boys, don’t abuse the cat.” 
They said, “No, we were going to give her some 
fish.” 
I said, “What kind of fish have you?” and found 
they had twenty-five minnows they had caught in a 
bottle in our public garden pond. I asked them if 
they were alive, and what they would sell them to me 
for; they said they were, and I might have them for 
five cents; so I hurried home and put them in a pail 
of water in our laundry room ; there I kept them two 
weeks, changing the water two or three times daily. 
At last I found time to buy a glass candy jar twelve 
or fourteen inches deep, in which I planted my Callas 
in earth with a layer of sand and pebbles, in all seven 
or eight inches deep, and poured in water several 
inches above that; then I went down and got my 
fishes in a tin dish of water and brought them up in 
the warm room, where I had my Callas. Finding the 
water muddy, I thought I would wait awhile before 
putting them in, so turned to some other work ) but 
what was my surprise, when I went to look at my 
treasures again, to find only four or five fishes in the 
dish, and the others seemingly lifeless on the floor, 
and on and in the marble bowl the dish stood upon. 
I called my sister, and we soon had them all picked 
up, even the two or three that were almost out of sight 
down the spout of the bowl, and gave them a pail for 
a pond again. 
Can any one tell me whether it was the small size 
of the dish or the heat of the room that made them 
leap out ? I have not the courage yet to put them in 
with my Callas for fear there is not water enough, or 
the rich earth I got at the florist’s will kill them, and 
when I try to turn the water out of my jar the earth 
wants to come too ; then again, won’t the water be 
too hot for them if the Calla stands in a sunny win¬ 
dow ; and if I put in cold water often, will it agree 
with my Callas ? What food do fishes need ? I have 
given them crumbs, but I can’t see as they eat them, 
and worms dug from the yard which they nibble upon. 
If any one can give me some information, I shall be 
greatly obliged, for it is a disappointment to me, and 
I do not feel ready yet to give up my Callas for my 
fishes. J- L. H. 
MESEMBRYANTHEMUMS. 
This is a class that, to me, possesses an especial 
charm. Like the Cactus, it assumes various forms, 
bears neglect patiently, requires little water; is not 
troubled with insects, and is readily propagated by 
seed and cuttings. Mesembryanthemum cordifolium, 
the Dew Plant, and M. crystallinum, the Ice Plant, 
are well known varieties. I once had a fine specimen 
of the latter, that entirely covered a wooden water- 
pail. It set on the north side of the house, and during 
the hot summer days on the prairie it was a delight to 
look upon. The radical leaves were very broad, and 
the whole plant glittered with an icy coating, An 
other variety had broad (spatulate) smooth lanceolate 
leaves—quite a singular - looking plant—so very 
smooth and pallid green, but over susceptible to mois¬ 
ture. Still another variety had long cylindrical, pale 
green leaves. 
I have grown the above four varieties from one 
packet of mixed seed. I have a specimen of the last- 
mentioned, I think, growing in a miniature earthen 
tub without drainage; it was a little cutting last 
spring. The leaves are seven inches long, are clus¬ 
tered a half dozen together, about two inches apart, on 
the shrubby stems, which hang down eighteen inches 
and then curl back. The leaves, which are fleshy, are 
as wide as an oat straw, are “ one-half cylindrical, 
three-cornered, elongated and recurved,” and a pale 
green color. 
Loudon, in his “ Encyclopedia of Plants,” enumer¬ 
ates three hundred and seventy-nine varieties of this 
class. 
The desire to learn the specific name of the one last 
mentioned, and the hope that others may write of their 
favorites, and so bring newer species into notice, has 
induced me to write this article. Will some one give 
me the botanical name of the Cinnamon Vine, and 
how it succeeds in the latitude of Pittsburgh ? 
Mrs. Kate Sherman. 
THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS. 
Frequent mention has been made through the col¬ 
umns of the Cabinet of the plant named above. But 
my experience differs widely from what has already 
been given, and perhaps it may interest the reader to 
hear it. 
The June of 1874, a friend sent me a small leaf of 
this plant, not more than four inches long ; the Sep¬ 
tember of ’76, it stood a well branched specimen, be¬ 
tween four and five feet high, with one blossom upon 
it. As I gave a description of it at the time in other 
journals, I will not repeat it now, except enough to 
distinguish it. 
The flower measured nine and a half inches in diam¬ 
eter ; was pure white, with straw-colored antlers, and 
of the finest texture imaginable. Aside from the bios 
som, this variety is worthy of a place in any collec¬ 
tion ; its broad flat leaves, when in a thrifty condition, 
are of a lively green color, and very glossy. Some¬ 
times in winter and spring, it sends up long round 
stems, which in turn put out long flat leaves, the 
blossom coming from a notch in the leaf. 
I grew it at a west window, in a compost of garden 
loam, sand, wood’s earth, and old, thoroughly decom¬ 
posed cow manure, changing the soil in May, giving 
plenty of water when growing rapidly, but withhold¬ 
ing it almost entirely in the winter season. 
Mrs. G. W. Flanders. 
The manner in which cut flowers are arranged in 
dishes has greatly to do with their beauty. A large 
flat saucer of pansies is the most suitable for the hat 
stand or corridor table. The edges of the dish should 
be fringed with “dog-ear ferns” or a cordon of 
smilax. 
