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a3ies floral Bx3i£iaet nn3 JHeiariai sHEarne fiampcuiiaii. 
NEWEST AND BEST GERANIUMS. 
Mi;. George W. Park, of Mount Yemon, 0., 
reports ]iis success as follows with the new Gerani¬ 
ums, and gives his choice of the best: 
Dr. Denny. — This variety was : .'.vertised the past 
spring as a blue geranium. It has bloomed with us, 
and is a magnificent variety, though the best we 
could Bay of the color is that it is bluish crimson. 
The flowers are as large as those of any geranium 
we have ever seen, while they arc borne in immense 
heads and open beautifully. The plant is thrifty 
and of rapid growth, a free bloomer, and wo believe 
will be able to withstand the sun’s rays, and thus 
prove a most valuable bedding plant. So far as our 
experience goes, we would pronounce this a first- 
class geranium in every respect. 
New Life .—This Geranium, which was so loudly 
praised in the spring, and which met with such an 
immense sale, has not proved as satisfactory with us 
as we expected. It is dwarf in habit, a very slow 
grower, with rather small, brownish leaves when 
exposed to the sun, and producing its flowers spar¬ 
ingly. The flowers are single, of medium size, ra¬ 
ther full, cup-shaped, and variegated crimson and 
white, very much resembling the Radowitzii Phlox. 
It is valuable as a novelty in variegation, but for a 
showy pot-plant or for bedding purposes we do not 
think it will become popular. If the plant was evep 
a free bloomer it would not make an attractive bed, 
on account of the variegation of its foliage. For 
bedding we prefer a geranium with plain green foli¬ 
age, as the flowers contrast nicer and the beds ap¬ 
pear to better advantage. 
Bishop Wood .—This is a double scarlet geranium, 
and a most profuse bloomer. The heads are large, 
the flowers brilliant, and the plant a free grower, 
with large, bright green foliage. We believe this is 
destined to become a popular bedding variety. 
Bishop Simpson.—A variety with large, single, 
briclt-colored flowers in handsome clusters. Foliage 
very large and fine, and promises well as a bedding 
plant. 
Mme. Amelia Baltet .—The best double white Ge¬ 
ranium, retaining its pure white color and fine shape, 
while other white varieties are white on opening but 
soon become suffused with pink. A free grower, and 
very pretty. The flowers are particularly valuable 
for cutting. 
Sir Bobert. Napier .—After a trial of all, or near¬ 
ly all, the tricolor Geraniums, wo unhesitatingly 
pronounce this the finest and most desirable variety 
in cultivation. The colors are very distinct, the 
scarlet, wh'eh constitutes a large part of the color in 
the zone, being of the most brilliant hue and delicate 
texture. Like all other tricolors, it is a very slow 
grower, and should have an occasional watering with 
some good liquid fertilizer to promote a more rapid 
growth. The flowers of this Geranium are of no 
particular value, the foliage being so pretty that 
the flower only detracts from its beauty ; it is there¬ 
fore best to remove the buds as soon as they appear. 
The plants appear best when subjected to the sun’s 
rays for at least half the day—the forenoon being the 
best. Mrs. Pollock, Lady Cullum, Sophia Dumar- 
esque, and others do not begin to compare with this 
variety for brilliancy and beauty. 
THE BITTER-SWEET. 
Nature has denied the Bitter-sweet the bloom 
and fragrance which are the ruling charm of so many 
of its fellow-climbers. But she has made it their 
equal as a decorative plant, by the rich, green shelter 
of its leafy mantle and its sturdy stretch of vine. 
With naught else, it is fit to deck and shield alike 
the humblest and the most ambitious home. Flowers 
and perfume are fleeting, but the rich foliage of the 
Bitter-sweet holds against the scorching sun a dense 
and spreading growth of 'brightest green, outlasting 
the breath and tinge of flowers. 
But the signal glory of the plant, compassing the 
year, 
is the clusters of its berries. From the size 
and tinge of tiny grapos till the early frost strips the 
wrap of white and gold from its coral fruitage, the 
plant at every step puts on new and changeful 
features ; each gain toward ripeness brings a dainty 
store for tasteful decoration. 
First, following its modest bloom, come little 
globes of lively green. These soon swell and change 
their tint to a greenish bronze. A little further 
toward the chilly nights of early frost slender gaps 
in those tawny globes reveal the white wrap, hiding 
the flashing glint of its ripening seeds. Those open¬ 
ing slowly, widening more and more, unmask the 
glorious store within of a fiery fruitage. By and by, 
as the early frost thins and brightens its foliage to a 
tenderer tint, the Bitter-sweet bears to Autumn a 
blazing crown of clustering coral clasped in cups of 
gold. 
This fruitage of our climber, plucked and stored 
at oach stage of this advance, yields a wondrous 
harvest for adornment. For every place and posture 
becoming winter bouquets and unfading garlands it 
furnishes unrivalled aptness and grace ; and its little 
green clusters, laid by to dry while they still hide 
and tightly clasp their treasure, or when first the 
fiery glint of gold and scarlet flash from their open¬ 
ing screen, or garnered after the frosts from its still 
unfallen and tender-tinted leaves, uncovers its blaz¬ 
ing store to the full sunlight, the Bitter-sweet, at 
each phase, offers no end of help to decorative taste. 
No outcome of the seasons in fruit, leaf, or blossom 
so brightens the home, so helps out the dearth of 
flowers or faces the wintry gloom with such blazing 
fireside tint and cheer. Wreathed into evergreen 
festoons, tufted amongst them and other bright seed- 
pods and berries, or with them and autumnal leaves, 
dried ferns, grasses, and the feathery seed-whorls of 
the wild white Clematis, fringing and crowning the 
mirror, gaily bordering the paintings on the wall, or 
grouped with them and living plants in vase or hang¬ 
ing basket, the Bitter-sweet beyond any bloom or 
growth of the year helps in the welcome of the holi¬ 
days, and keeps up brightness and cheer in the 
household till the longed-for coming of the flowers. 
One of the loveliest lessons I have ever seen in 
Nature’s handling of color and tasteful planting was 
our climber, belting the wealth of its glowing harvest 
over a group of New England cedars. On a bright, 
dewy morning of early Autumn, beside a little rest 
in the climb of a hilly country road, T came upon a 
group of some half-dozen well-grown, thrifty, young 
cedars. They stood in easy distinctness around one 
of stouter form and taller spire. Every branch 
drooped with rich, full verdure, and a store of berries 
for the winter-tarrying birds. Around this group 
thus arranged, circling from one to another, and up 
the central pinnacle, wound and festooned a vigorous 
Bitter-sweet vine. Its tender, frost-tinged foliage, 
with the bright clusters of blazing berries drooping 
from every tendril, hung out distinctly-from the dark 
background of those cedars. 
To emphasize this tasteful array of color the frost- 
tinged crimson drapery of a climbing Sumach thread¬ 
ed and girt a couple of the furthermost cedars, and 
stretched its gay streamers up that central spire. 
So perfect was the graco and coloring of this group 
that it seemed the result of art rather than nature. 
This woodland picture teaches to the heedful new 
uses for the Bitter-sweet and its like. For example, 
imagine added to the pencilling of this group the gol¬ 
den foliage of the Japanese Honeysuckle, delicately 
robing one of the cedars and threading its way among 
the crimson garlands of that central spire. These 
are but hints. The chances for like effects are in 
finite.— W. H. Noble, in Gardener's Monthly. 
THE CALIFORNIA LILIES. 
The California Horticulturist, thus speaks of the 
native Lilies; “ The mountain children whom one 
meets on their way to school these July mornings 
load themselves down with what they call ‘ Tiger 
Lilies,’ or, in other words, Lilium Hmnboldtii, 
whose spires flash out with wonderful brilliancy 
around the bases of volcanic rocks, or near shattered 
lodges, or on the hard red clay of the hillsides. One 
of our authors, who studies with loving and analytic 
mind the colors and sounds and meanings of the 
Sierra woods, has called it ‘ carnelian-hued,’ with its 
orange and amber ground, veined with black. In 
favorable places we have found lily-stems as tall as 
a man. The bulbs are deep down, and not easily 
dug out. Some insect bores into and ruins many a 
choice bud. This Lily loves company, being always 
found in groups. Where you see one yellow flash 
you may bo sure there are others near. After blos¬ 
soming time is over the stalks disappear very quick- 
Iv. By following up the long ridges blossoms may 
be found in perfection for several months. The 
same is true of the lovely white Lily, L. Washing- 
tonianum. Both species are in perfection in Nevada 
Counts.” 
TWO SUCCESSFUL GIRLS. 
A couple of good, smart girls at Farwell, Mich¬ 
igan, are apiarists engaged in bee-keeping. They 
have fifty swarms of bees, and have sent recently to 
market eleven thousand pounds of honey, worth 
$3,000. Here is a new employment for many girls, 
who could make a good living in this business. 
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