134 
Ipuijd Ifittk 
MY DAPHNE. 
Ere my query appeared in your columns my 
Daphne had bloomed. It repaid me fully for my 
watching. The clusters of waxy blossoms were charm¬ 
ing and a whole conservatory of sweets seemed con¬ 
centrated in its quintessent fragrance. It requires lit¬ 
tle or no attention—a cool place, moderately damp; 
and its symmetrical, glossy leaves remain “ in statu 
quo ” for months. 
I have a correspondent who is also a subscriber of 
yours, and she writes favorably concerning the Cinna¬ 
mon Vine. She says it grew luxuriantly and the blos¬ 
soms were quite sweet. 
July is one of our most verdant months in Florida. 
It has rained for six weeks. The Roses have put on their 
May vigor, and the Marechal Neil and Anna de Dies- 
bach, with lightened tints, are indescribably lovely. 
The Grand Due and Night-blooming Jasmine growing 
in the yard till the air with their fulsome aroma, and 
the luxuriant and rampant Madeira Vine, unblighted 
for two winters, is redolent with an excess of long, 
trailing spike! ets. The sweet and tender annuals—such 
as Mignonette and Alyssum — -do not thrive here. Por- 
tulacas and Petunias glory in this bright sunshine 
and the Rose Geranium, which puts out enormous foli¬ 
age and growth in my flower-bed, dies out completely 
in my box on the verandah. The Amaryllis is a suc¬ 
cess here. The pale pearly pink, the brilliant red, and 
the white, with red stripes through each petal, glorify 
the year, each succeeding the other. Flowers have 
fewer pests or insects about them than I have seen 
elsewhere. The small green slug sometimes riddles the 
leaves of my Abutilons; but with that exception they 
are almost exempt. I discovered on a crimson Gera¬ 
nium limb what I thought was an unsightly excres¬ 
cence. On examination, I found it to be three perfect¬ 
ly round adobe cells, built by a species of small Dob- 
ber. With curious eye I detached and opened them, 
and found them tilled with the small green slugs that 
had perforated the foliage of my Abutilons in the 
spring. I feel more peaceably inclined to the class of 
Dobbers in general, who are so persistently and indus¬ 
triously annoying to us. They have frescoed the white 
ceiling in many ingenious devices in black stucco, the 
lime in the soil assisting their adhesive properties; and 
the green-glazed tree-frogs are saucy and lively now. 
Some are pale, others a deep green, all as if fresh from 
the painter’s varnish-brush. They squat almost as thin 
as a knife-blade on your Apple Geranium leaves, 
which thrive wonderfully in this sunny clime, with 
ampler and more fragrant foliage than I ever dreamed 
the Apple Geranium could aspire to anywhere. If un¬ 
molested, these green horrors will not unnerve you by 
their spasmodic leaps; for you may gently touch them, 
without a motion save that unmeaning blink of their 
eye. Last eve, as we sat in the hall by the lamp, one 
crawled up the wall as glibly • as a fly, and actually 
crawled around the burner of' the kerosene lamp, 
thence to a vase of flowers, and back again. What 
were his immediate wants I dare not conjecture; but, 
turning to the side-lights beside the front door, flat¬ 
tened against the glass, clung his pop-eyed, panting 
mate, vainly endeavoring to force an entrance. At 
nightfall they begin their chorus in the Magnolia by 
the cistern, and their almost human croakings are as in¬ 
telligible as a phonograph or telephone, and I just 
imagine I have a vast aquarium, for the white Olean¬ 
ders, Four o’clocks, and Amaryllis bloom beside the cis- 
ter’s edge. 
I brought seed of the improved scarlet Canna with 
me. Its ample foliage is always green, resembling a 
dwarf bananna; while in Georgia it was ever turning 
yellow, requiring a sea of water. There is more water 
in this country than there has been for forty years. 
Tuscawilla and Paine’s Prairie have submerged the 
public highway, and Orange Lake has encroached on 
the lake settlements. The Spiderwort and large So- 
lanum are indigenous and grow in rank luxuriance on 
the Lake. Wherever you turn your eye, it is verd¬ 
ure, from the nutritious Beggar Weed to the glossy 
green of the Orange leaf and fruit. You would not 
realize that it was the parched and sunny months of 
July and August of the upper states. Corn-harvesting 
has already begun and the mature shocks lend a rich 
background to our panorama of living green. 
Magnolia Hill, Orange Lake, Fla. L. L. 
I notice an artice in the July No. of The Cabinet 
from Mrs. Anna P. Hanes. She describes two or 
three varieties, and says that the blossoms are not fra¬ 
grant, and adds that she has all her life heard of a vari¬ 
ety having a powerful and exquisite fragrance, filling 
the midnight air at a great distance, and asked “ Is it a 
myth? ” and, if not, wishes some of your readers to 
tell about it and give its botanical name. This I am 
unable to give; but can tell something about the won¬ 
derful variety that she speaks of, and can assure her 
that it is not a myth, as I now have several plants 
of that description. 
Five years ago I secured a plant, which has thrived 
nicely ever since; equally as well in the sitting-room 
as in the greenhouse. From the first I have watched 
its habits very closely. About thirteen months ago I 
noticed two buds, which developed quite fast until 
they were about six inches long. In the evening, as 
I was watering my plants, I saw that the buds, which 
were of a reddish brown, began to crack open at the 
tips, showing a white center. I concluded that this 
was the long-looked-for night when they were to un¬ 
fold their wonderful beauty. I told some of my 
neighbors in the village (who were, as anxious as my¬ 
self), and scores of people came to witness what they 
had heard of, but never had seen. About ten o’clock 
in the evening the buds had opened so as to leave a 
cavity into them, when a very powerful and ex¬ 
quisite fragrance filled the room, and was noticed by 
people coming into the yard, at least forty feet from 
the door. The fragrance continued until midnight, 
when the blossoms were fully developed. After this 
they commenced to close, and in the morning were en¬ 
tirely shut, never again to open. About four months 
ago this plant bloomed again, in the same manner as 
before; and to-day there are four buds, each about three 
inches long, on the same plant, which I think will 
open in about two weeks. I have another plant from 
this one, four years old, that has never blossomed, that 
has now three buds, about two inches long; So I shall 
soon expect plenty of bloom. 
This plant resembles the common Flat-leaf Cactus 
and blossoms from the edge of the leaf, much the same. 
The blossoms are a delicate, almost pure white, except a 
little color of reddish at the extreme end of the pistil. 
The stamens are numerous and white. Each leaf of 
the blossom has somewhat the appearance of a deli¬ 
cate white feather or quill, about one-half inch wide and 
four or five inches long, which makes the blossom 
when open about the size of a large dinner-plate. 
The plant itself is very singular. After three years old 
it throws up a spike or rod about five or six feet long 
with aerial roots, which after a few months fall off. Af¬ 
ter reaching this hight, the end flattens and forms a 
leaf, from which other leaves form. Each year another 
spike will start from the preceding one and go still 
higher. I had not room for mine to grow upright; 
so I trained it around a hoop, which keeps it more 
compact. Each time it buds and blossoms the buds 
all grow alike and blossom exactly the same time. 
Bantam Falls, Conn. W. P. Bartholomew. 
SOME HINTS ON RAISING FLOWERS. 
Verbenas and Petunias vie for pre-eminence in our 
garden. Slips in the latter part of summer are better 
than to take up old ones. This will also apply to the 
Scarlet and Pink Salvias. The rich velvety leaf of the 
Pink Salvia I think beautiful and its flowers a curios¬ 
ity of Flora’s kingdom. Self-sown Verbenas, in a 
sunny spot I have found to come on earlier than seed 
sown in the spring, and it is interesting to speculate on 
the new varieties which all seedlings will bring. A 
little fertilizer from the chicken-house thrown under 
and around the roots when planted out will make rapid 
growers. Plants taken out of pots and root-bound 
should have the roots loosened with the fingers, or 
they will remain in a ball all summer. Seedlings are 
becoming more fragrant. The universally - beloved 
Pansy, which seems so much like a sentient being, 
with its “eyes, nose, and mouth,” seems to need some 
tact on the grower’s part, in order to have a succession 
of them. If left to seed themselves, they will soon de¬ 
generate into the old-time “Johnny Jump-Up.” But 
seed from the largest planted in spring will bloom well 
in autumn and seed planted in summer or fall will do 
well the following spring. The grandest one I ever 
raised I treated thus: In August it was a wee 
thing, kept back by dry weather. I worked a little 
guano around the roots. Rainy weather came on and 
it grew rapidly. In the fall I wrapped some frosted 
vines around and fastened them with sticks. It was 
not without bloom at Christmas, and in the spring pro¬ 
duced branches a foot long and multitudes of large 
blossoms. But they grew smaller as hot weather came 
on, and declined. One must not expect large Pansies 
in the summer months. I have an Arbor VitEe five feet 
high and about as many summers old, raised from seed. 
I kept it in the house the first winter. Persons whose 
windows do not suit flowers or who have more than 
they will accommodate may find the pit a great con¬ 
venience. It differs but little from a hot-bed, save in 
depth, and can be constructed so cheaply as to come 
within the reach of almost all flower lovers. It is a 
safe retreat for most plants and seems particularly 
adapted to the keeping of Verbenas, if set in the sun¬ 
niest part. Have known Rose-cuttings set in in the 
fall and not kept too wet to put forth in spring. 
Pansies and Wall Flowers will come into bloom earlier, 
and the modest little Sweet Alyssum will greet its 
owner with its cheerful little white blossoms all win¬ 
ter. Nasturtiums also will bloom there. 
“ Make your homes beautiful, plant ’round them flowers; 
Plant them around you, to bud and to bloom. 
They will give life to your loneliest hours, 
They will give light to enliven your gloom.” 
Waterford, Va. N. L. S. 
THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS. 
