tonal Bufiifiet «l*i 3 ^Pictorial Home iUmpmioii. 
101 
ASHES AND IEOH FOE FLOWEES. 
The observation of practical and experimental gard¬ 
eners seems to confirm the fact that, to procure bril¬ 
liant colors in flowers, it is necessary to supply the soil 
with an abundance of ferruginous constituents and 
silica. The latter supplies a material which is of vast 
importance in the production of that brilliancy of the 
petals and the dark green luster of the leaves. Then, 
if potash be added, or the ground dressed round about 
the growing flowers with unleached wood-ashes, an in¬ 
creased brilliancy will appear in every petal and leaf. 
Any person who cultivates only a few flowers, in 
pots, or on grassy lawns, or on spacious parterres, may 
readily satisfy himself of the exceedingly useful part 
the foregoing materials play in the production of 
beautiful flowers. 
Even white flowers, 
or roses that have petals 
nearly white, will be 
greatly improved in bril¬ 
liancy by providing 
iron-sand and unleached 
ashes for the roots of 
growing plants. Fer¬ 
ruginous material may 
be applied to the soil 
where flowers are grow¬ 
ing, or where they are 
to grow, by procuring a 
supply of oxide of iron 
in the form of the dark- 
colored scales that fall 
from the heated bars of 
iron when the metal is 
hammered by the black¬ 
smiths. 
Iron turnings and iron 
filings, which may be 
obtained for a trifle at 
most machine - shops, 
should be worked into 
the soil near the flowers, 
and in a few years it will be perceived that all the 
minute fragments will have been dissolved. 
HOW I TREAT MY CALLA LILY. 
Put it in a pot that will hold four gallons of earth. 
Get the earth that is about one foot under ground, some 
place where it has been used considerably, take the top 
off till about one foot deep, then fill your flower-pot 
with the soil, and it will do well. In a short time you 
will not think it was the same flower, if it is treated 
correctly. 
HOW I MAKE MY HANGING BASKETS. 
I take my old earthen bowl or deep dish that has a 
piece out of the bottom, so that it will leak. Then I 
take a piece of wire and put a piece around the bowl; 
then take three pieces about one foot and a half long 
and fasten these, at even distances from each other, to 
the one around the bowl; then fasten them all together 
at the top; then put a ring on them, to hang it up by; 
_then paint it any color you desire, although I prefer 
green; then put in a Pink Geranium in the center, and 
fill out all the rest with Joseph’s Coat or Wandering 
Jew. Of either of these two as fast as they grow 
pinch out the center. This will cause it to branch out, 
and it will soon be so thick and nice that you cannot 
see through it. If your basket is hanging where the 
sun will shine only on one side, turn it around every 
other day. 
HOW I STABT MY SLIPS. 
I take such as Geraniums, Fuchsias, Red Plants, 
Cactus and put them in about an inch and a half 
deep in a pot with about one-half sand and the other 
half good fresh, mellow soil. Then I set them where 
the sun can shine all over and around them; and then 
I put a glass tumbler on them all, and it is not long till 
they are nice, liealthy-looking slips, ready to be put in 
larger pots. A. A. S. 
P. S.—Some reader of the greatly-esteemed Cabi¬ 
net please tell me if it is better to leave the Oleander 
in a tub in the s um mer time or put it in the ground. 
000 are standards and 1,200,000 are dwarfs. To this 
must be added roses on their own roots, propagated by 
cuttings or layers. The Bengal and Provence roses, 
together with several old kinds, are mostly propagated 
in this way; and, taking these into account, the total 
number of roses raised in that vicinity must be fully 
2,000,000. Not less than 600,000 plants are cultivated 
for cut flowers alone. 
The great center of rose culture in France is situ¬ 
ated in the vicinity of Lyons. The quantity sent out 
yearly from this point varies from 700,000 to 1,000,000 
of plants. Nearly all the roses are budded on roots of 
wild briar (seedlings), with perhaps 20,000 on their own 
roots and about an equal number on standards. Some 
idea of the extent of the rose culture in France may be 
obtained from the fact that in the thirteen communes 
which surround Brie-Comte-Robert more than 2,500,- 
000 roses are annually cultivated, the number of 
growers being about a hundred. The number of varie¬ 
ties grown is stated at 
from 700 to 800, al¬ 
though it is only a lim¬ 
ited number of the most 
robust and the greatest 
favorites which are most 
extensively cultivated. 
EEPOTTING 
PLANTS. 
The amateur who in¬ 
tends to repot such 
plants for the summer 
as are to be turned out 
into the open air in 
June, or for summering 
in pots, will find de¬ 
cayed and dry cattle- 
droppings of value. 
They should be thor¬ 
oughly heated before 
being used. Boiling 
water may be poured 
over them, to kill in- 
FOUNTAIN IN ENGLISH PARK. 
THE EOSE IN FEANCE. 
France has been the originator of a majority of the 
notable roses. The cultivation of roses in France gives 
employment to thousands of its population. In the 
vicinity of Paris it is quite an important affair, where 
first of all the roses are grown as ornamental shrubs 
for sale. They are mostly grafted on the briar, either 
as standards or dwarfs ; and about 250 acres of ground 
are devoted to the growth of grafted roses. As the 
plants are left for two seasons on the ground, being 
cleared off and sold only at the end of the second 
year, the produce of half that extent only is put in the 
trade every year. 
On an average, not less than 24,000 plants are put on 
an acre; but, as nearly one-half fail to grow well or are 
not successfully budded, the number of budded roses 
sold from an acre seldom exceeds 12,000, giving for the 
total number reared in one year in the district around 
Paris something over 1,500,000. Of these about 300,. 
contained therein. Thus 
you will have a most ex¬ 
cellent fertilizer and one natural to most plants. As ma¬ 
terials for compost, well-rotted sods from an old pas¬ 
ture or fence-row, two parts to one of sharp sand, and 
one of the pulverized cow-manure, will be well 
adapted to the growth of most house-plants. 
In repotting, use a pot one size larger than that con¬ 
taining the plant. Put in some pieces of broken pots, 
bits of brick, or coarse gravel, for drainage. Over this 
place soil until the sized pot containing the plant will 
just be even with the rim. Fill with soil between the 
two pots; lift out the smaller one, turn the plant out of 
the pot, with the earth entire; break the ball somewhat, 
to loosen the earth; put it in the larger pot, and pack 
the soil from the sides pretty firmly about the ball of 
roots. Now fill up with earth even with or a little 
above the ball of earth, always being careful that there 
is half an inch of space from the top of the earth to the 
rim of the pot. Water and the thing is done. 
It is, nevertheless, advisable to watch the plants after 
repotting, especially those liable to wilt. Such should 
be kept from the sun until somewhat established. 
Most plants, however, if care is taken, will go right 
along as though nothing had happened .—Prairie 
Farmer. 
