Siiiei tmtl fteiariul Same iSampcmiaii. 
GARDENING. 
The flowers have almost all gone now, hut a few 
still linger in the garden, and many are to be found 
in the field and wood, in sheltered situations, and by 
the banks of lowly brooks where nature teaches beau¬ 
tiful lessons on the harmonies of colors which we 
would all do well to heed. What purples, what flashes 
of scarlet and orange relieved with fringes of gold, 
and gleams of silver white between! Why can we not 
learn from nature how to garden, and have done with 
squares and diamonds, and circular ribbon-beds, and 
learn to dispose of the wealth she gives us with bet¬ 
ter heed to her own example ? I think this was just 
what Eve did. Paradise was not a wilderness; it 
•was a garden, and the wise gardeners found doubt¬ 
less abundant employment; but the bower where 
Eve entertained the angels was lovely with natural, 
not with artificial, beauty. 
Gardening, at its best, is gathering the beauty of 
flower and tree and green sward into harmonious 
grouping, so as to produce a picture which shall de¬ 
light the eye with charming contrasts of form, of 
color, and of light and shade. It is not to crowd as 
many kinds of flowers together as can be got into a 
prescribed space, or to arrange them in spots of color 
like a patchwork quilt. Nothing but the impossi¬ 
bility of making flowers appear anything but lovely 
could ever have reconciled people so long to endure 
geometrically-arranged gardens. It is true that we 
are now progressing toward a better standard of 
taste, and have gained much from the introduction 
of landscape gardening; but there is great danger 
that when persons of limited means, and having limit¬ 
ed space, attempt to imitate the style of scientific 
landscape gardening, they will err in the matter of 
being too artificial. Rockeries that are merely a pile 
of white stones, bridges that cross streams over which 
one can easily step, grottoes that look like play-houses, 
are worse, much worse, than octagonal beds and 
red and blue patches of color. They are pretensions. 
A row of Hollyhocks and Sunflowers is respectably 
honest in its ugliness, but a grotto of cement and 
conch-shells is simply an abomination. Why not 
follow nature and only seek to serve where she must 
rule ? Here is a little cottage in the midst of a group 
of fine old apple-trees. ,It stands on the slope of 
ground, which falls in front gently toward the road, 
the lower part of the enclosure being a meadow, 
through which runs a stream about three feet wide, 
but clear and bright and rippling over colored peb¬ 
bles. The lady to whom the place fell determined 
to make it beautiful by simply improving its natural 
features. The meadow was mown and cleared of 
weeds—for the whole had long been neglected—the 
banks of the little stream were fringed thickly with 
violets and ferns and cardinal flowers from the woods, 
and one or two young willows were set upon the 
edge, and here and there a clump of water-flags made 
music by impeding the constant flow of the water. 
The rather steep ascent in front of the house was 
made easy by three or four steps about seven inches 
high, and three feet from front to back, cut into the 
earth and made firm by bricking the front line of 
each step, the whole flight being about six feet wide. 
On each side the bank remained just as nature 
made it, with the slope unaltered; but it was covered 
j with a tangled mass of low, delicate but brilliant 
plants—Verbenas, dwarf Convolvulus, Sweet Alys- 
sum, Petunias, Daisies. Abroad gravel-path swept 
up from the gate to the steps, and crossed a low foot¬ 
bridge made of logs and covered deeply with gravel, 
made picturesque by great clumps of ferns which 
grew at each side. 
The house was draped the first year with garlands 
of Morning-glories, Cypress Vine, Hyacinth Beans, 
Madeira Vine, and such ephemeral vines as could 
be obtained while she waited the slower growth of 
Roses and Honeysuckle. The same plan was fol¬ 
lowed with the flower-garden. Annuals made the 
place glow with color and fragrance long before the 
richer and more aristocratic shrubs could be brought 
to bloom. The unsightly fence was covered in the 
same way, while a hedge of Syringa, Honeysuckle, 
Roses, Lilacs, and every pretty shrub within her 
reach was being coaxed into a growth which should 
prove a permanent delight. In one corner of the 
meadow was a large rock, and huge fragments which 
had been broken off lay all around in picturesque 
confusion. This was her rockery. A large oak 
spread its arms above it, so there was too much shade 
for many garden plants ; but she did not want these 
here. Soil was brought from the woods, and vines 
and flowers that grew there. Blood-root and spring 
beauties bloomed in great masses among the ferns, 
and the rock mosses were soon covered with the 
pretty partridge-berry, while Ground Ivy and wild 
Convolvulus disputed every inch of space between. 
A flat stone made a good seat, and the rockery looked 
as though it might have been there since the Indians 
held undisputed sway. 
Ii you had visited the place three years after you 
would hardly have recognized in the beautifully-em¬ 
bowered cottage and blooming grounds the poor, de¬ 
serted-looking spot it had been when its owner took 
possession of it. Yet the transformation was effect¬ 
ed altogether by taste and labor. No money was ex¬ 
pended except for a few seeds. Almost all the work 
was done by her own hands. The shrubs were slips 
or small roots, given from neighboring gardens by 
kind friends, or brought from wood and prairie by 
herself and her children. The house was a plain 
low frame without any outward attraction. Yet there 
was scarcely a stranger passed that road that did not 
stop to admire that home with its graceful surround¬ 
ings. Are there not many places which a woman’s 
hands could make equally attractive ? The time that 
wrought this change was taken from the leisure 
which remained from the care of a large family and 
a thriving kitchen garden which formed no incon¬ 
siderable share of its support. Let no one think such 
labor could be aught but a pleasure which would 
bring health to the cheek and joy to the heart. I 
have preached this little sermon now, because this 
is the best time for preparing and laying out plans for 
gardens to be made in the spring. Trees can be trans¬ 
planted, the ground broken and cleared, many seeds 
and roots planted, so as to have everything in readi¬ 
ness for the spring. Mrs. C. S. Nourse. 
IVY-LEAP GERANIUMS. 
The Ivy-leaf Geraniums make very attractive 
specimens, and, as they do not occasion much diffi¬ 
culty either in the preparation or after management, 
they well deserve to be grown more generally in this 
form. My method of procedure is simplicity itself, 
and auy amateur may adopt it. A certain number 
of pots eight inches in diameter are prepared as fol¬ 
lows : A layer of crocks is placed in the bottom, over 
these a layer of flaky leaf-mould, or the roughest 
part of the compost. The pots are then filled to 
within about four inches of the rim with a compost 
consisting of turfy loam three parts, and well decay¬ 
ed hotbed manure one part. Partly-decayed horse- 
droppings, or even leaf-mould, may be used instead 
of hotbed manure if more readily procurable. Then 
for each pot take three plants in three-inch pots, 
turn them out of the pots, and arrange them regularly 
and fill in between the balls of the soil with the com¬ 
post. Sufficient soil should be put in the larger pots 
to allow of about an inch of soil being put on the top 
after the plants are arranged in their proper places. 
After the potting is complete put a trellis to each, 
and train the growth regularly over it. A rather 
small balloon trellis is the best for plants to be kept 
in the conservatory, but if required for the window¬ 
sill a flat trellis will be found the most suitable. 
Until the trellis is tolerably well covered remove the 
flower-trusses as fast as they make their appearance, 
and to assist them to make a vigorous growth, and 
continue in bloom until the end of the season supply 
them about twice a week with rather weak liquid 
manure from the time of their filling the pots with 
roots. The best varieties of this class for specimens 
are : Argus, rosy salmon ; Favonia, carmine-purple; 
Elegans, light mauve tinted; Innocence, white; 
Flower of the Day, salmon. A prettily-variegated 
variety, L’Elegante, also makes a good specimen, 
but it does not make such rapid progress as the green- 
leafed varieties. Only one variety should be put in 
each pot.— T. L. in Gardener's Magazine. 
The Flamingo Plant, a plant which is not 
yet familiar to many of our readers, is called by the 
name of the Flamingo on account of its picturesque 
resemblance to that bird, both in color and figure—a 
resemblance which does not require any great exer¬ 
tion of the imagination to perceive. The plant is 
a very striking and beautiful one, and though former¬ 
ly sold for fabulous prices, may be had at quite rea¬ 
sonable rates. It requires the temperature of the 
hot-house and a moist atmosphere. It is dwarf in 
habit, and the flowers remain in bloom for months. 
Nothing could be more desirable for the conserva¬ 
tory. Its botanical name is Anthurium Scherzera- 
nium. 
Forcing Lilacs in the Dark. —The florists of 
Europe, in the autumn, take up roots of Lilacs from 
the open ground, and remove them to a dark house 
which is kept very warm, almost up to 100°. In 
these heated, dark houses flowers are produced 
from the common pink Lilac of pearly whiteness, 
and in great abundance.— Moore's Enrol Life. 
