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GARDEN'S FOR CHILDREN. 
Gardens and cliildren have a sympathy and a 
fellowship. We hope that, the parents among our 
readers have been wise enough to bestow the use of 
a plot of ground upon each one of their children. 
We do not at all insist upon its being large; indeed 
it is better that it should be small, but let it be in a 
good place and well prepared. Let its beds, be they 
more or less numerous, be carefully laid out, and 
good edging of board or some other material put 
around them. Let the beds be small, carefully 
adapted to the size of the child who is to be its hap¬ 
py owner, so that its little arm need have no difficul¬ 
ty in reaching across it. 
Now do not make the mistake of planting this 
garden before you bestow it upon your child, but 
when all is ready take the little ones out, assign to 
each their bed, and tell them they shall have it all to 
themselves, and plant it to what pleases them best. 
This last is a very important item. I heard of a 
little girl who moved her garden from the place first 
taken at the foot, to the top of a hill, and carried 
water up the hill all summer, simply to avoid being- 
advised about it. All children might not show so 
much resolution, but I think most would have some¬ 
thing of the feeling. Of course if they ask advice it 
should be given. 
Now, if your children are old enough, provide them 
with a seed catalogue—for children the illustrated 
ones are probably best; tell them just bow much 
money you can allow them for seeds, and await re¬ 
sults. I promise you a great deal of pleasure in 
watching them while they are making out their lists. 
Do you know what a very bewitching kind of read¬ 
ing these same catalogues are f Especially when you 
read them with the knowledge that you have the 
money all ready to spend as soon as your choice is 
made. I have sometimes thought that a judicious 
use of seed and plant catalogues would drive novels 
out of the field, for they are so very charming. 
But we are wandering, and must come back to 
our subject. Many and busy will be the consulta¬ 
tions the little folks will have, and mamma and papa 
will be. appealed to again and again to help them 
decide. Then, too, papa must help them, if they 
are quite little, in writing and sending their order, 
and he will perhaps need some patience before the 
seeds come, for they will begin to expect them the 
day after the order is sent, and each day after, until 
their arrival, will ask for them. 
But let him be patient; the benefit they w ill de¬ 
rive from their garden, the exercise in the open air, 
the knowledge of plants, and, more than all, the 
opening up to them of a new source of interest, which 
will never fail during the longest life, is worth the 
exercise of some, yes of a vast deal of patience. 
Said one who had spent a long life in the culture of 
plants: “ It is an employment of which one never 
wearies, for you are always finding something new, 
and in the longest life will never have made acquain¬ 
tance with all the treasures of the floral world.” 
To give to children a source of interest, and pure, 
healthful, refining amusement like this, is worth a 
good deal of effort on our part, and the outlay of no 
small amount of patience, and of all the money we 
can afford. 
There will be for those children who have pocket 
money another benefit. They will have some better 
use for their money than buying candy. A new 
plant for their garden, or another paper of seeds, 
will have such attractions that they will learn how 
much more may be accomplished by a wise than by 
a foolish use of money. 
Try it, my friends, and when your little girl or 
boy comes running to tell you that there is a flower 
in their garden, don’t be too busy or too tired to go 
with them and sympathize in their pleasure .—From 
the California Horticulturist. 
A BIT OF EXPERIENCE FROM THE 
SOUTH. 
Last spring we had only a few plants, as we lost 
nearly all during the winter ; but we bought some, 
and had a good many slips, or cuttings, given to us, 
and in a short time we had quite a nice start. 
We have a very small, cramped yard, but we had 
a good long shelf put up against the fence — for we 
have no piazza — about two and a half feet from the 
ground. Here they can get sun a portion of the day, 
and grow very well. 
Our experience with cuttings is that they root 
readily in clear water. Place the end of the slip — 
being careful to ent it just below a joint —in a bottle 
of water, and put some cotton around the stem at 
the mouth of the bottle, to prevent the water from 
evaporating ; this also keeps the temperature more 
uniform. They will strike root in this way in two or 
three weeks, if kept on or near the window-sill in 
the sun. Another way is to have some good soil 
with a little sand mixed with it; make a hole with 
your finger and pour a little sand in it, and, placing 
the cutting in, press the earth firmly around it, not 
giving very much water till rooted. Again, we often 
put them in pots with other plants. With either of 
these ways we succeed very well, but not as well 
with wet sand; perhaps did not give it a fair trial. 
Last summer we raised a Datura Wrightii from 
seed; it had a very large, delicate-looking bloom, 
but we thought it more suitable for a garden, as it is 
a large, strong-growing plant. 
Among our collection we have Geraniums, single 
and double, zonale and scented; Begonias, Dallas, 
and Lily-of-the-Valley; Wax Plants; different kinds 
of Joint Grass; a Maurandia, which T am training to 
resemble a wigwam in shape, by placing a pole per¬ 
pendicularly in the centre of the box, near the plant, 
and fastening cords from the sides of the box all 
round to the top of pole. I think it will be quite 
pretty when the cords are covered, and will not re¬ 
quire more space than the box occupies ; besides, it 
is easily made.. It has not been protected during 
the winter, except, being put under a shed to keep 
off frost. We also have a dozen or more varieties of 
Cactus, and I think them very interesting. They 
grow slowly, but require very little attention. We 
plant them in good soil, with about one-third sand 
and brick; break the brick tolerably fine, and mix 
well. Ours are doing well, nearly all cuttings from 
last summer. I have one about three years old, 
called here the Clove Cactus; it has not bloomed 
yet, but grows compact and pretty, sending up fresh 
green bract after bract all winter, and admired by 
all. It hasn’t been repotted since I have bad it. 
Last fall I purchased a Chinese Primrose, pink, 
and an Eupatorium, white. Both bloomed freely; 
the Primrose has been blooming all winter, and bids 
fair to continue to do so some time longer. 
A Lover of Flowers. 
Orangeburg, S. C. 
A TALK ABOUT FLOWERS. 
A WONDERFUL CACTUS. 
I AVILL first tell you about what I call my wonder 
of wonders. It is a large scarlet cup Cactus. A 
few years ago I wrote about it having three hundred 
flowers. Then we had no suitable place to keep it; 
but last year father built us a small conservatory, in 
which we placed it. It is about five feet in height, 
and ten feet in circumference; it is planted in a box 
about fifteen inches square and fifteen inches deep. 
It began to bloom about the first of March, and con¬ 
tinued in bloom till the first of June; having one 
thousand flowers on it from the time of opening till 
the time of closing ; and having three hundred open 
at once. A gentleman who called to see it, who had 
travelled in regions where cacti grow wild, says 
“ that in its native country he never saw one with 
such a profusion of bloom.” There were callers 
from all over the place to see it; and in talking to 
them about the culture of the Cacti I think I see why 
so many fail. On looking at it, invariably the ques¬ 
tion would be, “ Have you planted it in sand ?” No, 
I have it planted in good rich soil, with a quantity of 
cow-manure, mixed with it. I know the Cacti grow 
in sandy districts, but I do not think the temperature 
of our living rooms is the same as that, in which the 
Cacti grow. I think that they need to be cultivated 
as Well as other plants. And, as I have met with 
better success than any one I know of, I think it is 
good proof that my way is the better plan. 
BOUVARDIA. 
And here is my white Bouvardia. I purchased it 
about three years ago, in the summer; it had then 
but one flowering branch. I enquired how I should 
treat it, and was told to leave it in the pot till the 
next summer; yon can imagine it did no good for 
me till then, as it bad no chance of sprouting. Well, 
the next summer I planted it out in a bed on the 
north side of the house. In August, I replanted it 
ina pot., and broke off all the new shoots half-way 
back. It was sprouting beautifully, and I was be¬ 
ginning to conjecture to myself how pretty it would 
be in the winter, when there came up a great storm. 
As my flowers were sitting on a back porch where 
they caught the full force of the wind, when I ran 
up to see to them my Bouvardia was broken off 
nearly to the ground, and it could not recover till 
last summer. But the sight of it now repays me for 
all my trouble. It is about three feet high and full 
of branches. At the end of each branch is a large 
cluster of white flowers. 
Emma P. Ressmyder. 
