37 
$&e Jetties Sftaral Bafiinet h*i 3 Pictorial Some Sonipanion. 
my plants began to curl and turn black on the edges, 
I thought they were going to die. Soon there was 
nothing left in the pots above the soil ; but I did not 
throw that away, and the next spring was delighted 
to see tiny red shoots coming to the light. I then re¬ 
potted the bulbs and they grew rapidly, making 
much more beautiful plants than the one which, in¬ 
stead of dying off, stood bolt upright all winter, 
growing very little until about the time the bulbs 
started. It is better to leave only one shoot to grow, 
as they will crowd each other if there are more ; but 
if I have a strong bulb, I leave three or four until 
they are large enough to make cuttings, which root 
readily, almost always blossoming the same summer 
that they are taken off. As I did not plant all my 
seeds the first summer, I thought I would try again. 
This time I kept them in the house, gave them 
plenty of sunlight and was very successful, having 
several new shades. I think that out of that paper 
of seeds were raised ten or twelve varieties. The 
people who despised Gloxinias the summer be¬ 
fore were glad to pay for them now, and the 
seedsmen at least were benefited by my success, for 
a great many who saw the plants sent for seeds 
forthwith; but I sometimes think that the florist told 
the truth when he said not one person in a hundred 
would take care of Gloxinias ; for, said Dolly, it seems 
to be almost impossible to teach people that with a 
little care it is much easier to raise these “ stove 
bulbs ” than cabbages ; for those the gray worm lies 
in wait for by night and the green worm devours 
them by day, while the Gloxinia is singularly free 
from insects. If a green fly happens to fall on to one 
from another plant it does not thrive, and a little 
tobacco-smoke will soon dispose of a stray thrip, if 
one should find its way to a plant, as it sometimes 
will if it is kept in too much shade. It is amusing to 
hear of the different ways that people will take to spoil 
their plants. One woman, planting her seeds in March, 
put the young seedlings on the roof of the wood-house 
one sunny day early in April to enjoy the fresh air, 
leaving them out all night; they had such a surfeit of 
fresh air that they never recovered; another, think¬ 
ing the pot in which I had put the plants too small, 
procured a, keg or half-barrel, in which she placed it, 
and set it out-of-doors so that it might have room ; a 
third, who was told particularly to keep hers in the 
house, could not help thinking that a gentle shower 
would prove beneficial to it, so set it out in what 
ended in a violent hail-storm ; the fourth set hers in 
the open ground, and, as it did not do well, took it up 
and cut a slice from the bulb to see if it was sound. 
But, if time and patience did not fail me, I might go 
on to fifteenthly with all the absurd plans of which I 
have heard, but I must already have nearly worn you out 
by telling you so many of my own haps and mishaps, 
so will spare you further details. But how long will 
a bulb live, said I ? You must ask some one who 
has grown them longer than I have, said Dolly. I 
still have one of my original three, which has bloom¬ 
ed for nine successive summers, and you can see it 
now, strong and healthy, preparing for its tenth. That 
large one with leaves like elephant’s ears has bloom¬ 
ed seven summers and is already budded again, and 
I have little doubt that thirty or more plants have 
been raised from those two alone. I thanked Dolly 
for the information which she had given me, and 
went home fully determined to profit by her experi¬ 
ence and send for some seeds of the two varieties of 
plants, which seemed to require such different 
treatment. Carry Cowslip. 
--- 
LOVE FOR HOUSE PLANTS. 
Any on 9 , in order to succeed with house plants, 
must have a natural love for them, or else must have 
some powerful incentive to spur them to give time 
enough to the plants ; for, say what you will, they do 
require lots of care to look and do well. Truly, they 
will live through hosts of neglect that would surely 
end the life of any pet; consequently many more 
ladies try to have plants than any other pet, for this 
reason, though if any one told them so it would raise 
their “ disposition ” more than I would care to. 
I will, however, make one exception, in favor of 
the much-abused cat. What well-regulated family is 
without a cat, or two cats ? and what could take the 
place of it, and stand as much and as meekly ? The 
children monopolize it, put it through all manner of 
trials and tortures under the pretence of playing with 
it, and the only word of reproof, “ Be careful or it 
will scratch you.” It makes every ugly fibre of my 
nature stand on end to see them so abused. I see 
your lip curl and “ Old Maid ” ready to say; but you 
are wrong, I care no more for the cat than anything 
that has life. 
But, leaving cats till some future time, will tell of 
my luck in cultivating plants. I had very handsome 
flower-beds last summer, but will first speak of house 
plants. When I first began to take the whole care 
of my plants, found they did not flourish as well as 
when an older hand had the principal charge, so I 
read various books on the subject. All had good ideas, 
yet many were difficult to accomplish by one whose 
time was taken by household cares, but after a num¬ 
ber of years’ practice my plants do veiy finely. 
Callas used to all go to foliage, with not a single 
blossom. I tried various methods without gaining 
what I wished, until after much talking with a friend, 
whose Callas always (it seemed) were in bloom, 
found what she did. So for two years I tipped my 
Calla out of its tub eveiy fall, and filled the tub a 
third full of the “ compost ” I found in the hen¬ 
house ; then filled it up with soil from the garden, 
then watered it with very warm water; those win¬ 
ters it was constantly in bloom. This last fall I did 
not pay any attention to it besides watering, and it 
is a poor-looking object. Shall give it next fall the 
potting it had before ; it more than repays in flowers 
the trouble. 
Next come Geraniums. Nearly every one has good 
luck with these. I find the smaller the pot the 
greater number of buds you have. I think it is so 
with all flowering plants, but makes quite as much 
difference with Geraniums as any. An acquain¬ 
tance has the most flourishing ones I ever saw; it is 
a real treat to see them ; great green leaves, some 
with those dark circles on them, but not a flower; 
she uses large pots. 
In the Cabinet I saw that Cacti require the 
sun. I am passionately fond of them, and have 
several varieties. One— I do not know its name, 
but called Leopard Cactus — grows similar to a, 
pine-apple; the leaves, I will call them, are thick 
and striped width-ways, -with first a dark stripe of 
green, then one of light green; it is very handsome; 
the blossom is not much, it resembles a pink Oxalis 
blossom. This Cactus will not bear the sun, but 
requires the shade; the sun wilts it and turns the 
plant a faded yellow. 
If a lady cultivates plants because her neighbor 
does, I would recommend her to have an assortment 
of Geraniums, a box of Ten Weeks Stocks, Oxalis, and 
Lantana, and, if she cares for a vine, a Madeira; 
these any one can care for and have a good show of 
flowers. For curiosity the Cacti family will take 
the lead; such delight as it is when they blossom, 
for nearly all of them bear wonderful flowers. 
Many speak of having trouble with the red spider, 
but it never has annoyed mine, although I am in 
constant warfare with the green lice. How I prize 
the ends of cigars that I chance to find ; how sorry I 
always am to find them so small; but none are so 
little but I regard them as worth the bother of pick¬ 
ing up; then with a little lamp, that burns the old- 
fashioned lamp-oil, lighted, sit down by the flower- 
stand and burn the cigar-ends under it. It is posi¬ 
tively gratifying to see the little green pests, as the 
smoke ascends, quiver, drop, and die. I find this to 
be the only way I can get rid of them, no amount of 
showering will accomplish it. 
Mentioning flower-stands, must tell you about 
mine. It has a standard of iron —“ three-footed,” I 
believe, it is called—out of which a steel rod about 
four feet high rises, on top of which is a bracket for 
one pot, then there are eighteen arms that slip on 
this rod, each ending in a bracket—there are three 
sizes of them, six of each size; they all turn round 
on the rod, so that I can have any one to the window 
without moving the stand. It looks almost like a 
tree when it is filled with plants; it is very orna¬ 
mental. 
On one of the lowest brackets is a Jerusalem 
Cherry-Tree in fruit; it has been all winter, makes 
a lovely show; on the top bracket is a Skeleton Ge¬ 
ranium, whose delicate light-green leaves tow'ering 
above the plants below form a pleasant contrast. 
Mrs. A. E. Harrington. 
A Chinese Dish. —When our party of six had 
seated themselves at the centre-table my attention was 
attracted by a covered dish, something unusual at a 
Chinese meal. On a certain signal the cover was re¬ 
moved, and presently the face of the table was cov¬ 
ered with juvenile crabs, which made their exodus 
from the dish with all possible, rapidity. The crablets 
had been thrown into a plate of vinegar just as the 
company sat down—this making them lively. The 
sport of the infant crabs was soon checked by each 
guest seizing which he could, crushing it between 
his teeth, and swallowing the whole morsel without 
ceremony. Determined to do as the Chinese did, I 
tried this novelty with two, and succeeded, finding 
the shell soft and gelatinous, for they were but a day 
or two old. But the third resolved to take vengeance, 
and gave my lower lip a nip so sharp and severe as to 
make me relinquish my hold, and also to desist 
from further similar experiments . — Life in China. 
