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HINTS ON OUT-DOOR FLOWER CULTURE. 
The out-door culture of flowers has been much 
written upon ; yet iu our experience there are many 
things that will bear repeating. First of all do not 
sow your seeds too early. The ground must be well 
prepared, and the sun will help you, if only it is well 
spaded and turned, so that his rays may strike it. 
The wind and the rain, in short all nature will help 
it we only reach out our hand to accept. ■ When the 
ground is dry, and well worked over and mellow, then 
make the beds, but do not sow the seeds unless the 
season is well advanced and the ground is warm. But 
our beds are made, and the little plants that have 
slept so quietly, folded in their brown wrappings all 
winter under the snow, begin to start. The ground 
that was devoted to our Verbenas last year is the spot 
that we watch with the most interest. We can none 
of us now do without our beds of those bright, varied, 
free, hardy bloomers. Yet it is comparatively but a 
short time since they were fi: st introduced. Our great 
reliance is upon our seedling Verbenas. The hot¬ 
house plants cannot compare with them in size and 
vigor and wealth of bloom the greater part of the 
season, and the interest with which we watch the first 
buds, until the full flower, and our delight if it is “ a 
beauty,” we would not part with for any boughten 
certainty. Many object to Verbenas from the seed 
because they flower so late. The method we adopt is 
this: We do not send to some lone island on some 
foreign shore for guano, but send for that which is 
much better—the contents of our own corn supported 
hen roost. Then after it is well dried in the sun and 
pulverized, mix with equal parts of wood ashes and 
gypsum. Transplant as soon as large enough each 
little plant, then as soon as it gets well started again 
take of the above mixture a large tablespoonful and 
scratch it lightly into the soil around the root of each 
plant. The vigor of the plant, and the number of 
flowers, will soon repay you. We use the same for our 
house plants, and for all others that we wish to hasten 
or increase the bloom. 
There is a custom much followed of raising beds 
and mounds for flowers high above the level. This is 
really an injury to plants, and requires the greatest 
care to prevent them being dwarfed for want of the 
proper moisture. Flowers are very much like our 
children; they thrive well under intelligent, sensible 
treatment, and for love they return loveliness. 
There are so many points of interest connected with 
the culture of flowers that volumes might be written 
yet the subject not be exhausted. Yet how often do we 
hear men, and sometimes a woman, say when called 
upon to admire a garden of flowers, the result of a 
long summer’s labor, “time thrown away. How 
much better so many hills of potatoes would have 
been ; and if you did not want them give them to the 
poor.” Let us look at these people who say such 
good, sensible, sounding things. We are not talking 
vaguely; we do know what we say, and feel it deeply 
too. There are two classes of them. The first and 
lower are those who were born with a love of beauty, 
and with leisure to cultivate it, but they prefer the 
ecstatic bliss of indolence, and with folded hands 
advise “ feeding the poor.” But mark ; the poor are 
never fed from their waste places, and we do feel con¬ 
strained to cry out, “Oh, ye hypocrites.” The second 
and higher class are they who have really no love for 
the beautiful, but whose most intense enjoyment lays 
in the region below the head, and usually covered by 
a vest sometimes homespun, but oftener fine linen. 
Such we pity. 
Flowers! God-given, Heaven-sent Flowers! Him 
we worship through them. His love, His perfec¬ 
tion, His loveliness, we adose in these His fair and 
perfect work. If but one Morning Glory is twined 
over a lowly door we may look with certainty for 
some of the fair virtues within, and as a rule the true 
earnest lover of flowers is the true earnest worker in 
the “ Garden of the Lord.” 
I cannot lay aside my pen without giving my tribute 
of praise to this dear little Cabinet. Gotten up with 
taste it is an ornament that we are happy to see upon 
our table, and happy to have our large family of 
daughters read its chaste and useful pages. 
R. H. Smith. 
LATE FLOWERS. 
“The summer I loved has flown, 
The lily has left its stalk, 
And the roses are dead, both white and red, 
That grew by the garden walk.” 
I wish some one would tell me of three or four 
choice monthly late-blooming Roses. Late in Novem¬ 
ber I plucked a full-blown Giant of Battle Rose; 
large buds were clustered beside it, but these did not 
develop ; the cold proved too severe for them. I re¬ 
member it was snowing. I had been out gathering, as 
I thought then, the last bouquets of Chrysanthemums 
and Pansy before the Rose, hesitating to pull it, for it 
was “ The Last Rose of Summer.” Its crimson velvety 
petals were studded with the crystal flakes of the fall¬ 
ing snow. I snatched it jealously then, fearing that 
blighting, mischief-making Frost King would get it 
before me. The Changing (a light pink, but rather 
single Rose), and a small, flowered pink monthly 
bloomed late with me. The Honeysuckles are good, 
late flowers. Jack Frost always catches them, but 
they do not seem to mind his cruel caresses. Sedums 
I like very much; a variety with light green leaf and 
lighter sage with dense heads of pretty pink flowers, is 
a favorite. I must not forget the Chrysanthemums. I 
really do not think we give this plant the attention and 
care it merits; there are so many varieties that, their 
name is legion ; what beautiful bouquets they make, long 
after all the rest are gone, and yet we seldom see a well - 
cared-for, nicely trained bush. They are generally strag¬ 
gling and sprawling overthe ground. I have small white 
ones that look like Daisies, they are so perfect and 
finely quilled ; others are as pure as the snow and are 
of a drooping habit. I have a small yellow kind that 
this fall I had such quantities of I repeatedly made fun 
of them, saying I must dig them up and throw them 
away (my neighbors have plenty). I abandoned this 
idea at Christmas, when I found them still bright and 
cheerful, when the others had succumbed to the cold. 
A pretty ornamental bush through the winter is the 
Red Wax bush; its sprays are densely crowded with 
purplish crimson berries, are useful to use with dried 
grasses for vases. Of the late blooming plants, I like 
the Salvias and the Tritoma Uvaria. The latter is 
splendid against a dark-green background, and I 
would suggest the name of Flame Flower, or Lily, or 
Torch Flower instead of Red-hot Poker be given it; 
it does look like a flame at a distance. I had sweet 
Alyssum and scarlet Verbenas out in December. 
Crepis blooms late and is real pretty. I think some 
persons do not like them on account of their Dande¬ 
lion appearance, but I like that early golden spring 
flower, and I like Crepis. The centre of one yellow 
variety is a deep maroon edged with yellow, and, on 
the whole, imy are an interesting genus of plants. 
Georgia C. 
DOOR-YARD. 
You admire the beautiful well-kept yards as you 
pass through the city, but it never enters your head, that 
you farmers can better afford nice yards than your 
city brothers. Because you have the implements, 
skill and strength to work with. If you need a gravel 
walk, and of course you do, or your old weedy one re¬ 
modeled, you don’t have to hire a man to dump you 
down a few loads, at his leisure, at a price bigger 
than the pile of gravel. You can do it yourself this 
fall while you are not busy and the roads are dry, and 
it will be a grand beginning toward mending your 
ways. This winter, make some trellises. No mat¬ 
ter if you are not much of a carpenter, they will look 
“ splendid ” when they are painted and have vines on 
them, and will make your wife’s heart sing for joy. 
Besides they will be a lasting monument of your skill 
and fine taste for the next four or five years. Then, 
“ when the springtime comes,” take a whole day, 
haul sod and rich earth for beds, help your wife set 
out shrubbery and fix up your yard generally. You 
will surprise your folks, and you will bo more sur¬ 
prised yourself to see what an improvement you have 
made. And when everybody says, “Why, Smith, 
what a fine place you have here, there will be no 
prouder man on the face of the earth.” 
Aunt Tansy. 
Fuchsias.—I have several Fuchsias, and would 
like to know, if I have a Speciosa, by what peculiarity 
can I tell it, and how can I know a Begonia Rex ? 
S. C. H. 
Answer. —Send for an illustrated catalogue to any 
respectable florist; it will give you the desired infor¬ 
mation. 
Cacti—Can you tell me the best way to raise 
Cactus from seed. Does it take them long to vegetate ? 
I have some fancy Geraniums that do not grow to suit 
me. They are “ Crystal Palace Gem,” “ Mountain 
of Snow,” and “ Beauty of Caulderdale.” One of 
each is potted in good rich soil, and they grow very 
well, and flower some, but the leaves do not show 
the marking they are said to possess. I thought the 
sun was too hot for them, and moved them into the 
shade, but without effecting any change. What shall 
I do with them? What is the botanic name of 
Wandering Jew? Dick Hopson. 
Sherman, Texas. 
. * 
Answer .—Cacti from seed will bloom in two or 
three years; they start readily. As we have very 
often stated, the fancy Geraniums will not do well in 
the open air. Tradescantia is the plant most generally 
called Wandering Jew, although the name is given to 
several other plants. 
Crocus.—Will some one please give directions for 
planting and making the Crocus bloom in winter in 
terracotta hedge-hogs and porcupines? Have tried 
repeatedly, but they, after starting fair, dwindle away 
and have no flowers. Do they require much water, 
and should it be poured over the top of the bulbs ? 
Ought the earth to be sandy or rich ? Are they better 
kept in the dark, like Hyacinths, for the first two 
weeks ? And very much oblige 
A New Subscriber. 
Answer. —Growing Crocus in “ hedge-hogs ” will 
almost always prove a failure. By getting good 
sound bulbs in September, carefully filling with good 
light soil, you will occasionally get a few flowers. 
When they need water immerse in a tub until the 
whole is thoroughly wet through. Getting flowers 
from “porcupines” is the most unsatisfactory way we 
have ever tried. 
