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ABOUT ROSES. 
The Rose, whose title to the royal family of the 
flower-garden has never been disputed, stands chief 
among the beautifiers of home surroundings. Nobody 
expects to see a garden without Roses. From April 
till November they exhale sweet incense with the 
evening dew. It has become fashionable of late years 
to dig up and throw away all the Rose-bushes which 
have but one blooming season during the year. We 
protest against such vandalism, although pleading 
guilty ourselves. We always manage to leave fifteen 
or twenty specimen varieties of annual bloomers. 
Most of these would be special favorites if they could 
be induced to bloom three or four times during the 
summer. It has been my ambition for years to get a 
hybrid perpetual like George IV. The most pop¬ 
ular Rose in this vicinity, during the last decade, has 
been the Giant of Battles. It is a Rose admirably 
adapted to this climate, enduring our winters as well 
as the annual bloomers. Blooms early, freely, and 
frequently during the season; flowers, brilliant crim¬ 
son, large and very double. A very heroic lady—in 
flower culture—said to me more than a year ago: “I 
don’t see why everybody makes such a fuss over Giant 
of Battles. It is a flat Rose; there is nothing about 
it except its color; and I prefer that,” pointing 
to General Jacqueminot, its most successful rival. A 
few years ago agents came around selling these Roses 
at a dollar apiece; afterward fifty cents. The neigh¬ 
boring nurserymen bought only a few varieties for 
propagation; and so in time the same hybrid perpet- 
uals appeared in nearly every garden. Since florists 
have begun sending us Roses by mail, five and six for 
a dollar, we are getting a great many new varieties, 
and everybody expects to have something different 
from everybody else. Among our old Roses, one 
which nobody now thinks of buying, is Madame 
Laffay. And yet, with proper cultivation, it is really 
a beautiful Rose, especially in October, when the color 
deepens. We have three bushes of this; and during 
' the five months following May 10th, you may always 
find either buds or blossoms on one of them. Left to 
grow in the grass and take care of themselves, they 
are of little value; but educate them, and they are 
worthy of a place in any garden. A few years ago 
we all had the Marshal Niel fever. Many a dollar was 
paid for a Marshal Niel which died the first winter. I 
procured mine in May; in the fall it bore two Roses—• 
magnificent buds. Heaped manure around it when 
the frost came. In the spring it was dead to within 
an inch or two of the ground. It grew vigorously 
that summer—five feet or more—and had two little 
spells of blooming. Never contrived to show more 
than three buds at one time. It had buds when I cov¬ 
ered it for the winter. That fall I bent the stems 
down as near the ground as I could, and had two or 
three wheelbarrow loads of manure, sawdust, leaves, 
&c., thrown over it. This might have preserved it if 
it had been properly done. I was too much afraid of 
breaking the canes, and they were not pegged down. 
In the spring, the stems were green for two or three 
feet, but all was black nearest the root. It sprouted 
after awhile, and grew four or five feet, but never 
budded during its third summer. Before the ground 
froze, I had a barrel, both ends removed, placed over 
it. This was filled rather loosely with manure and 
straw, the canes extending several inches above barrel 
and all. This last winter was unusually severe. Our 
common Roses were so badly killed down, that many 
of them bloomed scantily or not all. Peach trees, and 
many of the early Cherry trees, were killed. Even 
the wild Blackberries were so nearly destroyed they 
failed to bear fruit. When barrel and covering were 
removed, Marshal Niel was pronounced thoroughly 
dead. After awhile, one slender shoot came up and 
grew about twelve inches. One luckless day I found 
it lying low, pulled up from the ground. 
The piercing cold, returning at unexpected intervals 
during the spring, took from me my pet Tea Rose, 
Bella, and a valued Bengal Rose, Madame Bosanquet. 
These were small plants, having come to me, with 
others, by mail, from C. L. Allen’s farm, Long Island. 
Both bloomed finely during summer and autumn. 
Bella, one of the sweetest white Roses I have known, 
and Madame Bosanquet, a more delicate edition of our 
old pet Hermosa; more delicate in color only, as the 
flowers are quite as large. Around Bella I placed a 
hoop, representing a bushel measure with the bottom 
out; filled this with chip dirt nearly to the top of the 
plant. The visible portions of its stems were black 
before the mercury reached zero. Madame Bosanquet 
was similarly protected. Both were killed by the cold 
after they began leafing out in the spring. 
Tea Roses are not adapted for out-door culture in 
our climate, Hybrid perpetuals are the most satis¬ 
factory. The earth must frequently be loosened at 
their roots, every Rose cut off as soon as the petals are 
full, weekly waterings of soap-suds given during the 
summer drouth, manure piled around them at the 
opening of winter (we have no snow to protect the 
roots), and all the dead wood cut out, and most of the 
new growth shortened as soon as they begin to grow 
in the spring. Under this treatment they give us a 
five-months’ season of pretty constant blooming. 
Among hybrid perpetuals, Baron Prevost has the 
worst reputation of any Rose in this community. It 
is a superb Rose, and blooms royally in May. But 
you may consider yourself fortunate if you catch a 
dozen Roses out, on two separate occasions, during the 
next four months. It sometimes comes out grandly in 
October. 
A few of the Noisettes, and several of the Bengals 
and Bourbons, endure the frequent changes from warm 
to cold, and cold to warm, of our winters. Malmai- 
son, in this vicinity the most desired of all the Bour¬ 
bons, dies with most people. Mine was already dead 
when it came. In sending for Roses by mail, it is well 
to order a mixture of ever-blooming Roses with hybrid 
perpetuals, as these latter will not do themselves 
justice till three or four years old, and rarely bloom 
the first summer; while the Bourbons will bud in two 
or three weeks after being taken from the post-office. 
Many persons are disappointed because these Roses 
are so small; but they make up in profusion what they 
lack in size. Mrs. L. M. McFarland. 
Centralia, Ills. _ 
DAHLIAS. 
I noticed in the September number of the Cabinet 
Mrs. C. F. G. inquires if Dahlias are grown easily 
from the seed. Last year a friend gave me some Dahlia 
seeds in February. I planted them in a box of dirt, 
just common dirt, from the garden, that I put in the cel¬ 
lar in the fall. After planting the seeds, I set the box 
in the south window. I gave them no extra bottom 
heat. In about ten days they began to peep through the 
ground, and in two weeks they were all up nicely. 
About the last of March I took them all out of the box, 
stirred up the dirt, and put them back in the box. This 
transplanting stops them from growing awhile, and 
makes them more hardy and stronger. About the 
middle of May I set them out in the garden, and the 
last of June they commenced to bloom, and bloomed 
until the frost killed them. I do not think the blos¬ 
soms were so large or so numerous as when grown 
from the roots, but were much earlier than I ever had 
them from the roots. 
Last spring I sent to Mr. Vick for flower seeds; 
among them I selected a paper of Datura Wrightii 
seeds, which I planted with great care, about the 
middle of April, in a box kept in the house, until time 
for planting out in the garden. There were four or 
five nice, thrifty plants. Every day I went to admire 
and see them grow. When about one foot high, one 
day while looking at them I thought I had seen some¬ 
thing that resembled them. Stooping down to ex¬ 
amine more closely, I caught the scent of the plant, 
upon which I immediately pronounced it to be Jim- 
son. In my great surprise and vexation to think that 
I had sent clear to Rochester for Jimson seed, I com¬ 
menced pulling them up, root and branch, and threw 
them away. My sister seeing me, begged me not to 
pull them all up; so I let two grow and bloom, and 
they proved to be a great novelty to all who saw them. 
The blossoms were very large, pure white, and very 
fragrant. 
Now, I think, like Jennie P. says of Mignonette, if 
any one wants fragrant flowers, get the Datura 
Wrightii, and they will have a much prettier and 
equally fragrant plant than they find in Mignonette. 
I also raised a Ricinus. It grew eight feet high; it 
was admired by all who came into the garden. 
Mrs. Lizzie Irvin and Mrs. R. W. Wickwire wish to 
know what will kill white worms In flower-pots. My 
experience has been to soak tobacco leaves, stems and 
all, in hot water; when cool, pour on the ground; it 
will not hurt the plants. I have put it on plants to 
kill the green lice. Also, a few drops of kerosene on 
the ground will kill them. 
I should like to know what has become of El Mina. 
I hope she has not left us. I thought she was going to 
tell us how her pets get along that she put their feet 
in warm water and wrapped in flannel. H. S. P. 
FINE GROWTH OF GERANIUMS. 
Last spring I put down a number of Geranium 
cuttings. Of course, some of them died; but others 
have grown up superbly, and knowing you would be 
gratified to hear of my success, and also hoping to 
encourage others who may contemplate keeping a few 
plants around them, I write to inform you of it. 
There is one Zonale in my little collection, of which 
I am very proud. I am not sure whether it is a Fire¬ 
fly or Coleshill; but it is a beautiful scarlet. It is not 
yet a year old. As well as I remember, it was sent to 
me some time during April, sixty miles through the 
mail. It has now eighteen branches, one measuring 
twenty-eight inches, others twenty-three and twenty- 
four, and ten and twelve, &c., and is, I believe, the 
finest growdh I have ever seen in that length of time. 
It was planted immediately in rich soil, close to the 
side of the jar, where it still stands, never having been 
transplanted. If it had been kept in a green-house or 
a pit, it would, doubtless, have growm all the winter; 
but for the last three months it has been in a cellar, 
too cold and dark for it to grow much, and watered 
just enough to keep it alive. It has, however, retained 
many of its leaves; and since its removal to my room, 
where there is light and ■warmth, it looks green and 
fresh, and is putting forth new shoots rapidly. I have 
others of very fair grovfih, but none so vigorous as 
this. Will some of your readers tell me if they have 
ever grown more than tw T enty-eight inches in eleven 
months ? Amateur. 
