J^aSies' Moral Satinet ami factorial Home fiompanion. 
179 
Irprmjm, 
LAWN AND HOUSE PLANTS. 
It is always easy to speak when one’s heart is in 
the subject, and still more easy to write, and all 
with a love for the beautiful will acknowledge their 
love for flowers. I wonder if there ever was a time 
in the primeval ages when flowers did not blossom in 
hidden nooks and grow in luxuriant beauty culti¬ 
vated by the hand of man ? I think my love for them 
became intensified when they repaid my care by so 
much blooming beauty. First last spring came the 
Violets, and they literally ran riot among the grass ; 
when the snows had melted they opened their blue 
and white beauty like a monstrous bouquet; some 
which I had transplanted in clumps on the borders 
the previous year did not bloom until those iu the 
grass were nearly gone, but they made a continu¬ 
ance of fragrance and were much larger. I had 
never had sufficient open ground for bedding plants, 
so I made a parterre in this way : First, I made four 
large round beds, leaving room for a walk around 
each outside of a neat sod edge; that left a piece 
diamond-shape in the centre, which T also made into 
a bed finished in the same manner as the others. 
You could walk from one bed to the other around 
the walk, which intersected beautifully. In the mid¬ 
dle of the central bed I first planted a Cladium Escu- 
lentum, then successive rows of hot-house plants, 
graduating them in height to the outer edge, where I 
placed a border of Golden Perintliia; this, a brilliant 
yellow, makes a most beautiful border. One of the 
round beds I filled with Verbenas, another with 
Scarlet Geraniums. As I had kept the most of them 
through the winter this bed did not cost me much, 
for by this time I found if I continued with hot¬ 
house plants I should find it very expensive; so in 
the third I planted Phlox. The seed soon came up, 
grew rapidly, and bloomed until late in the season. 
But in the fourth round bed, the last one, 1 was at a 
loss, when I thought of my dear, darling Pansies. 
I always plant the seed in the house, so as to have 
plenty of young blooming plants. These I now trans¬ 
planted around the bed about two inches apart, and, 
by planting seed between the rows, I had a succes¬ 
sion of beautiful eyes all summer, lavender, golden, 
white, to very black. But the golden border around 
the central bed made the rest look tame; it had be¬ 
gun to grow nicely, so I must experiment. T took 
off every little shoot of any size — some of them were 
so small it seemed absurd to expect them to root — 
and placed them in a shallow box filled with sand. 
At first they wilted and looked disconsolate, but by 
and by they lifted up their little heads, and lo ! a 
tiny rootlet on almost every one. 1 soon had them 
out, and by persevering in this way, taking all the 
shoots, I had a golden wreath around every bed. By 
throwing some leaves over them they will live out-of- 
doors all winter, and start out as bright ns ever when 
the sun warms them in the spring. In cultivating 
my plants I cultivated my taste for their refining 
influence, and determined to have plants all about 
me this winter, and T will tell you of my success. I 
have a bay-window having four sashes and a front 
window, in my sitting-room, opening on to the 
piazza. I would have hanging baskets; the rustic 
ones are beautiful under a piazza, but I dislike them 
in the house. After a deal of exploring I found an 
idea. I procured two large wooden bowls at a trifling 
cost, and brought them home together with some 
white lead : searched out a lot of shells which I had 
gathered on the sea-shore, and, sorting them in lots, 
begun my work. What a discouraging time I had! 
But I will only tell you how they looked when finish¬ 
ed. On the bottom I put a large snail; then at a 
little distance a wreath of white roses, made of little 
clam-shells; at an equal distance a, row of pansies of 
gold and dark silver shells ; here and there a pretty 
scallop-shell; a row of smaller snails around the top; 
a row of scallop-shells above them, filling all in with 
little white clam-shells, the hollow side down, fitting 
neatly. The other bowl I covered nearly in the 
same manner, improving as I advanced before shell¬ 
ing by putting three holes at equal distance near the 
top, through which when finished I drew a crimson 
picture-cord, making large knots on the inside of the 
bowls, then, drawing all three together, made strong 
loops to hang them by. These are in the two side 
sashes, but not close against them. I filled them alike 
with two Mountain-Snow, two Skeleton, a Lady Po- 
lock, and two Rose Geraniums; a Begonia Rex and 
some Acchyanthus, for their color; Vinca; white-edged 
Myrtle, raised from a tiny slip, and dear old Tra- 
descantia (how much it will endure! the vines reach 
almost to the floor). I then shelled two very small 
wooden bowls with more precision, arranging pink 
and white Periwinkles in rows, with small pink and 
white roses, little purple mussels, and dainty little 
clam-shells; hung them in the two middle windows 
real short, filling with vines and grasses only. I 
have trained Ivy around the window and across on 
to the arch, in quite an artistic manner. My baskets 
are a. novelty and success; every one goes in ecsta¬ 
sies, the green looks so bright over the white shells. 
I have scarlet Geraniums on two brackets, and on 
side ones Smilax, raised from a, small slip; it was a 
long time before it took root, but it did, and is now 
a luxuriant silver green. On a shelf placed across 
are the most of my plants: two Saffronia Roses, have 
bloomed well ; a red Lily, on which I have just dis¬ 
covered buds; a white-edged Allysium, which re¬ 
quires shade; an Air-plant. I was the recipient of a 
bouquet, in which was a. large, curious leaf; it re¬ 
mained for more than a week with the flowers in 
water; rearranging them, I put the leaf in earth; it 
did not fade nor wither. How I wanted to pull it up 
and see what it was doing; but in a few days lo! a 
! tiny green leaf, and now T have what I am told is a 
beautiful air-plant, that will bear beautiful clusters 
of little bells. I have a Wax-plant, but it is so slow, 
nearly a year before a sign of growth in a cutting a 
gardener gave me ; but the flower is beautiful, and—a 
curious fact—if it remains uncut will reopen the 
next season. My Pallas have bloomed well. I now 
have two lilies and a bud in one pot. Bouvardias 
have done well with me. As soon as they stop bloom¬ 
ing, cut them back: they will start out, and bloom 
again. On one side of the bay-window stands a 
large winged Cactus, resting now, which had over 
forty flowers on at one time. Tliev are easily raised 
I 
from a little piece. Opposite is a Century-plant 
over fifteen years old. I have raised a number from 
little shoots in the side; taken and reset, grow 
rapidly; it has furnished many of my friends with 
plants. Now I will tell you how I fancified my 
pots. Giving them several coats of white lead till per¬ 
fectly smooth and white, I worked putty smooth 
and thin; cut a number of oak-leaves and veined 
them. Placed a large stem around the top of each 
pot in a waved line, a leaf in each curve, painting vine 
and leaves with Chinese Vermilion; doing the saucers 
in the same manner. I have pots inexpensive, and 
not to be ashamed of. In the front window I have a 
Jardiniere, a beautiful article at a trifling expense. I 
had a little old-fashioned table with three legs; procur¬ 
ing a wooden bowl sixty-two inches circumference, I 
secured it firmly on to the top of the table, having made 
several holes for surplus water to escape; filled it 
with wood’s earth and sand, then with plants. I will 
tell you what it contains, as they seem to agree with 
like treatment. Geraniums, Mountain-snow, Skele¬ 
ton, Rose, General Grant, and Happy Thought, which 
seems to smile on you, and one or two shades of green, 
nameless to me; three Rex Begonias, one coral and 
one a pet to which I was never formally introduc¬ 
ed (they all bloom); Allysium; Pampas Grass and an¬ 
other variety, feathery, bearing coral trumpets; two 
Primulas, one house Caladium, and two Ivies, which 
are wound in and out the legs down over the lam¬ 
brequin; for I have a lambrequin of cloth in graceful 
points, worked in applique and then put on around 
the top edge of the bowl with gimp, effectually con¬ 
cealing the bowl and shelf. All wonder how it is 
made, for the proportions are so correct no one 
thinks of the bowl behind those birds which seem to 
pick at the grass and flowers hanging by their sprays. 
I think my success partly due to my mode of watering, 
as I use water almost hot freely nearly every day. 
V. L. 
BARK OR SCALE LICE. 
Nearly as common and quite as destructive as 
aphides are scale-lice and mealy-bugs. The scale 
insects are active a few days after hatching, when 
they fasten to the plants by their beaks, and become 
covered with a waxy scale secreted from the body. 
The female never leaves this scale, and soon becomes 
immovable; under this scale many eggs are depos¬ 
ited. The mealy-bug gets into every possible crev¬ 
ice. The all-important remedy is not to allow these 
insects to get a foothold. When thoroughly estab¬ 
lished, the case is either hopeless or involves ex¬ 
treme labor. Washing is surest and best. Every 
plant must be thoroughly washed, as well as the 
wood-work of the greenhouse. An English garden¬ 
er spent six weeks with two men in cleansing five 
houses, but he reported that it was the best-spent 
labor he ever employed. When once extirpated, 
the insects are thoroughly banished, unless intro¬ 
duced again by infested plants. 
“ My Dear Boy, never defer until to-morrow 
what can be done to-day.” “ Then, mother,” re¬ 
plied the urchin, “let’s eat that plum-pudding to¬ 
night.” 
