lie Sflaral 6a£uiet an3 Pictorial Same ftooipanion. 
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Zinnias. —There is probably no flower in cultiva¬ 
tion so universally admired as the double Zinnias. 
They are annuals, continuing in bloom from May 
until destroyed by frost. They are of almost every 
color. As to the size of them, they are as large as 
Dahlias, and give better satisfaction than the Dahlia 
does of a dry season. Indeed, there is no flower I 
know of that will adapt itself so well to the season. 
They will bloom in any situation and any season. If 
those who detest flowers because they think it re¬ 
quires so much labor to grow them would kill out the 
weeds that grow in their dooryards and plant a few 
seeds of the Zinnia where the tallest and strongest 
grew, they would soon learn to love them. I never 
yet saw any one who disliked flowers that did not grow 
an abundance of weeds. The Zinnia will grow where- 
ever a burdock or ragweed will, and is far prettier. 
I know our little ones always prefer the former. The 
Zinnia was formerly called Youth and Old Age, from 
the persistency of the blossoms remaining in perfec¬ 
tion for so long. I have seen them so large and double 
and as pretty in six weeks after they came to perfec¬ 
tion as in six days, some of them as perfect little 
pyramids of leaves, while others are as flat as if they 
had been patted down on top. All are beautiful and 
lovely gems. Mrs M. R. C. 
Pansies. —I want to tell the friends of the Cabinet 
about my Pansies. They have been the attraction in 
my flower-garden since early in the summer, and still 
continue to feast the hungry eye of the flower-lover on 
a profusion of buds and an occasional flower. They 
were planted on the north side of a spreading apple 
tree where, during the hot dry months of summer, no 
sunshine fell until about four o’clock in the afternoon. 
And the tree that protected them from the scorching 
rays of the summer sun is also their protection from 
the frosts of winter. The leaves have covered them 
up except the tips, which are constantly full of buds 
and occasionally a flower, although we have had 
several hard frosts. I have laid old peasticks on the 
leaves to prevent their being blown away. 
Mulching.—I wish your correspondents would give 
more of their experience in mulching. I have tried 
it some, but I think I have done as much harm as 
good by it. My Pansies, Verbenas and Phlox Drum- 
mondii were benefited, while my double Portulaca, 
Amaranthus Salicifolius and Abronia Umbellata were 
completely ruined, rotting off wherever the mulch 
touched them. ■ Elizabeth Aldridge. 
Double Fuchsia. —Mrs. F. C. T. wants a double 
Fuchsia, but gives her address Montana Territory. If 
she will write and tell me if that is her post office, I 
will send her one. I don’t want to start the little tiling 
on its lonely way without knowing it will go to the 
right place and then meet a friend who will take good 
care of it. Mrs. H. A. Horton. 
Hersey, Osceola Co., Mich. 
Answer to Enigma.—My answer to the enigma 
in the February number of the Cabinet, is: “ The 
Ladies’ Floral Cabinet and Pictorial Home 
Companion.” A Subscriber. 
Is it a Wardian ?—I want some one to tell a poor 
little girl if her’s is a Wardian Case. In our parlor 
there was a large glass globe, some two or three feet 
high, which had long been an “eye-sore” to me on 
account of its empty appearance. I determined to fill 
it with something. I had on my thinking cap several 
days, when one evening I espied my brother in the 
wagon bound for the woods. With neither hat or 
bonnet I ran to overtake him (you must know I am a 
country girl), and while he was cutting wood I ram¬ 
bled about feasting on nature’s beauties. In a low 
bottom I discovered numerous plants, mosses, etc., 
which I began collecting, when presto ! I had nothing 
to take them home in. I am one who generally over¬ 
comes difficulties, so without second thought I re¬ 
moved my calico overskirt , and brought them safely 
home. Now the next thing was what to plant them 
in. This difficulty was surmounted with a soup plate. 
Don’t laugh. This is a quarter of an inch smaller 
than the globe. I heaped the dirt several inches 
higher than the plate, planted my treasures, and 
placed the globe over them. The next morning the 
globe was covered on the inside with dew. I re¬ 
moved it, and replaced it in half an hour, and each 
day since then (24th October) it has been in the same 
condition. How must I treat it ? Is there any danger 
of its freezing in a room where water does ? and will 
it injure the globe? I read in some paper that a 
flourishing case would have several large drops on the 
upper glass every morning. Mine has never had 
them; but is mine a Wardian ? 
The November Cabinet came to me fraught with 
purest joy and interest. I have read Sirs. H. A. 
Horton’s contribution several times, and fully endorse 
every word she says. In regard to exchanging plants, 
I think that one of the pleasantest ideas in the Cab¬ 
inet ; but, alas for me! I have nothing but a few 
common, old fashioned plants. I am of the class that 
can’t afford buying. 
Louisburg, N. C. Lou Foster. 
Answer. —Yes; your’s is a Wardian Case in prin¬ 
ciple. To be perfect, your plate should be large 
enough for the globe to stand on, and shut up the 
plants tight in their own atmosphere. The dew on 
the glass does no harm—do not remove it. The 
Wardian Case should not stand where anything 
freezes. If you have no better place, put it over night 
in a closet and wrap newspapers, or some cloth cover, 
around it. Keep it in a warm room during the day. 
My Mound. —I collected into a large pile, of sev¬ 
eral feet in bulk, sod from new broken prairie; on 
this, during the winter, threw the slops from the cham¬ 
ber ; in the spring forked over with a liberal supply of 
well-rotted manure. I then built it up in the form of 
raised circles. The first circle a foot in width; planted 
two Verbenas, mixed colors. I cannot tell their 
beauty; their long arms reaching out into the grass, 
covered with bloom. The next circle, double Portu¬ 
laca; I never knew such growth. Above that, a circle 
of Pansies. In the centre of the top circle a Ricinus, 
of spreading habit. Daisy Delight. 
Roses. —“H. B. L.,” of South Carolina, thinks the 
soil does not agree with the Roses Mycrophylla and 
Lamarque, or Magnolia. All that I have seen in Del¬ 
aware act in this manner. The last mentioned Rose 
is not as bad as the former, though it breaks loose 
from the calyx, but clings to it in the centre until the 
Rose fades. The buds are so compact and full they 
do not expand properly. The leaves of this Rose are 
dark, rich, and glossy. I wish some one from Dela¬ 
ware would give the cause, or, better still, a remedy. 
Can any one tell me how to make the Parlor Ivy 
bloom? I have cultivated it five years, and have 
never seen it in blossom. A neighbor that procured 
slips from me in the summer, has plants in bud, and 
others have them in bloom. They say the flower 
looks very much like Flora’s Paint-brush (Cacalia), 
only grows more in clusters. The answer of the 
Floral Enigma in the February number I saw at a 
glance. 
The first six flowers I found out—they are as 
follows: Mollis, Acacia, Imperialis, Pentstemon, Dah¬ 
lia, and Holbein. The others, I think, must have 
some figure wrong. The one before the last I thought 
must be Clothilde Rolana, a cherry Rose; but it, ac¬ 
cording to the figures, did not spell right. The others 
also were Spanish to me. 
Delmar, Del. Georgia C. 
Amarantlms. —“E. F.,” in the March number of 
the Cabinet, wants to know why Amaranthus Sali¬ 
cifolius did so poorly. The answer to that question, 
I take it, is contained in the question itself, “It was 
sowed early;” probably too early by a month. If 
started in a rich, light soil that will not cake, kept 
moist, and in a temperature of about 70 degrees in 
the daytime, there will be found no difficulty in raising 
it. I believe it to be a true hot-house plant, and it 
must have hot-liouse treatment. How much sun it 
will bear I have not yet discovered; but it will bear a 
great deal. Mine gets the sun from 2 p. M. till sun¬ 
set, and has not yet been injured. 
Bucks County, Pa. C. W. T. 
Marmareta.—I would like much to learn, through 
the Cabinet, something of this plant. I have 
searched in vain for its treatment in our works upon 
flowers. The shape of leaves something like Olean¬ 
der. Mrs. G. W. P. 
Ornamental Gourds. —As those who wisely “take 
time by the forelock” are now making out their seed 
lists, I would beg to put in a word in favor of a class 
of vines not as universally cultivated as they certainly 
would be were their value known. I allude to the 
Cucurbita, which, with their sisters, the Cucumus and 
Ornamental Gourds, produce a most interesting and 
useful class of vines, remarkable at once for luxuriance 
and beauty of foliage and rapidity of growth, com¬ 
bined with flowers and fruit the most curious and truly 
elegant, many kinds appearing as if painted with 
the brush of an artist, so fine are the delicate pencil- 
ings and rare, exquisite colors; others deep in color 
and gigantic in 
size. Whether festooning the arches 
‘of an arbor, covering some unsightly wall or building, 
or trailing from the roof of dwelling or porch, they 
will ever be the admiration of all beholders. The 
Cucumus that are most beautiful are the C. Anquira, 
with its twin gourds, the odd teasel-like C. dispaceus, 
the serpent cucumber C. Flexuosus, the bright scarlet 
C. Medullefernes, the lovely C. Melo Chito, the gay 
C. perennis, with its pretty fruit and ornamental 
foliage, and the berry-like C. Grossulasia. Of the 
Cucurbita, C. Argyrosperma, C. digitata, C. leucan- 
tha longissima, and C. lagenaria gigantea, all pos¬ 
sess charming foliage, and fruit most exquisitely mar¬ 
bled and colored. The last named, called the Sugar 
Trough Gourd, produces fruit so immense that a single 
Gourd will hold several gallons. Of the Ornamental 
Gourds there are a large number of kinds, and our 
best seedsmen offer seed from over fifty varieties, of 
which one.of them thus speaks in his catalogue: “All 
of this class are highly interesting, combining as they 
do, foliage the most ornamental with fruit of the most 
singular description, both as regards shape and mark¬ 
ings,” &c. Gourd Anguira is a beautiful and showy 
creeper, the useful G. Bottle, G. Apple-Striped, which 
is one of the most ornamental, G. Egg-Shaped, G. 
Hercules Club, G. New Miniature, G. Orange, G. 
Pear-Shaped, G. Flat Corsican, G. Bishop’s Head, 
G. Lemon, and many more. They are not only ex¬ 
ceedingly beautiful, but very useful as well; and the 
most elegant and artistic hanging-baskets and vases I 
ever saw were made of them. Shall I tell you how, 
in another article? [Yes.— Ed.] Aunt Carry. 
