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ORNAMENTAL GOURDS. 
“ Aunt Carry” has promised to tell us something in 
the next Cabinet about making hanging bas¬ 
kets and other ornaments out of them, for which 
information I, for one, will he very thankful, as 
I’ve tried to raise them; also, ornamental fruit, 
such as lemons, oranges, pears and egg-shaped 
fruit, and failed. Attributed the failure to our 
hot sun and dry summers. I know that even 
the common gourd, holding as much as three 
gallons, (used by the colored people for carry¬ 
ing water to the fields), when of a pretty 
shape, makes a lovely hanging basket, being 
light enough to be handled by a delicate woman 
or child. I wish that the contributors to the 
Cabinet who live so far north could see my 
Cape Jessamine and Evening Primrose. The 
first is covered with blooms, and four of the 
trees, from eighteen to twenty feet high, shade 
completely my back piazza. The latter, after 
sunset, comes out in the twilight like great 
lemon-colored lamps, trying to brighten and 
light up that usually weary and lonesome hour. 
The blooms are as large as the largest Hibiscus, 
were planted last May, year ago, were trans¬ 
planted, grew and spread until the winter set 
in, then continued green and luxuriant without 
protection until this spring; they have sprung 
up four and five feet high, bearing the loveliest 
of flowers. I wish every reader of the Cabinet 
would procure some of the seed—(Enothera, or 
Evening Primrose—and they would never re¬ 
gret it. They have an enemy, though, that I 
must not forget to mention. I called them mealy 
bugs, but my husband pronounced them cotton lice—- 
the same which sometimes take to the young cotton. 
I tried several remedies without effect, when I discov¬ 
ered a number of ants upon the leaves. He said, 
“ now your plants are safe, for the ants destroy the 
lice.” So I was relieved, as the leaves 
soon began a better growth, and the 
ants were the victors. I think we very 
often destroy the black ant when it is 
working for us and saving us the trouble 
of remedies. Can Aunt Carry, or any 
of the readers of the Cabinet, tell me 
why my Mignonette is without fra¬ 
grance? And is it probable that my 
white Verbena, which is in a lawn vase, 
surrounded on the bed beneath by red 
and pink Petunias, can be colored from 
the latter ? The blooms have an occa¬ 
sional stripe or tinge of pink. It is 
some distance from any other Verbena, 
as I’m anxious to keep it to its original 
whiteness. If any of the subscribers of 
the Cabinet will do so, I would be glad 
to give them Tuberose bulbs for Tulip 
bulbs. Can any of them tell me if they 
have one, or know where I can get a 
THE GLADIOLUS. 
No flower adds more to the beauty of the garden 
lawn or yard than the Gladiolus. The superb com¬ 
bination of the richest colors, the stately grace and 
free flowering, make it deservedly popular with florists 
A Garden Vase. 
and amateurs everywhere. No one need be deterred 
from cultivating it for fear of failure, as it is not shy 
of blooming like the Amaryllis, but rewards the com¬ 
monest culture with such fine spikes of bloom, and it 
is such an aristocratic looking flower, you marvel at 
your own success. However, like most flowers, it 
with their easy culture the spring following, I sent to 
C. L. Allen for another half dozen, receiving, to my 
surprise, one dozen. 
I cut out a large bed in the grass, dug it deeply, 
added two barrow loads rich leaf mold, one and a 
half of thoroughly decayed manure, and one of lake 
sand; re-dug, raked fine and smooth, and May 
5th, planted fifty-two bulbs, covering them 
fully four inches. Everything requires deeper 
planting in Minnesota than elsewhere on ac¬ 
count of the high, persistent winds; they blow 
nearly all the time, morning, noon and night, 
and when that is not enough, just whirl round 
in the middle. To-day you would think all 
the windows were strung with something more 
than aeolian harps, bass viols and the like. 
I know a gentleman who says “ he is very 
thankful when he is not blown out of his boots!” 
No pestilent vapors or miasma can lurk in this 
pure, ambiant air. Nevertheless, a calm day is 
something to enjoy, and another blessing to be 
thankful for. 
The growth was marvelous, the bloom mag¬ 
nificent — I must be allowed these adjectives. 
Doubt if any florist ever had larger flowers; 
anyway, shall allow myself the benefit of the 
doubt. Only four of the bulbs were of the 
same kind, the rest of every conceivable shade 
and color, from clear, brilliant carmine, creamy 
white with faint rose hearts, rich velvety pinks, 
white, purple striped and blotched, gay Dolly 
Vardens, nankeen, clear, cool-looking Quakers, 
rosy salmon, to maroons and crimsons, almost 
black in their glossy, velvety lustre. But why 
particularize. Just imagine a dozen rainbows 
tangled, interlaced, flashing, sparkling in the 
sunshine, and you have something like it. 
Once in July and again in August I mulched the 
ground with cut grass, and just as they were coming 
into bloom gave them two copious waterings during a 
rather dry time. Before they commenced blooming 
I staked and tied them securely, and then—well, just 
let the winds blow away. Although the bulbs were 
all planted at the same time, they did 
not all bloom at once; there was a con¬ 
stant succession until late in September. 
As soon as done blooming, I cut off the 
flower stems, to hasten the ripening of 
the bulbs. Ten days after the first 
frost (Sept. 27th), took up one hundred 
and twenty-seven bulbs. After drying 
in a sunny upper room, cut off the 
stalks to within an inch of the bulb, 
labelled them carefully, wrapped them 
in paper, and putting them in a large 
earthen jar (leaving it uncovered), kept 
them all winter in a dry, frost-proof 
cellar. They neither shriveled or 
moulded, but came out this spring as 
plump as when put away. 
Hortense Share. 
buff or yellow Verbena? I add my pe- Ornamented Gate and Trellis for Climbing Vines. 
tition to that of others for a picture of our Editor as a loves good culture, giving longer spikes and larger 
premium. 
B. L., South Carolina. 
Pot Culture. —My experience with Double Gera¬ 
niums and Pelargoniums teaches me that they bloom 
in greater perfection left in pots lather than set out in 
the ground. Mrs. R. J. Arnold. 
blooms. 
I had four bulbs planted in very rich, sandy soil. 
They threw up long spikes, four, five and six feet high, 
having four hundred and twenty perfect flowers, and 
continued blooming six weeks. I commenced with a 
half dozen bulbs obtained of Vick, and was so pleased 
Best Twelve Pillar Roses. —As 
frequent inquiry is made for the names 
of the best twelve pillar roses (perpetual 
bloomers), an experienced green-house plant and rose 
culturist gives the following list: Running Hermosa, 
pink; Gloria de Rosamond, scarlet; Fellenberg, rosy 
red; Joan of Arc, white; Md’lle Aristides, pale yellow; 
Pha-loe, buff pink; Superba, pale pink; Solfaterre, 
yellow; Triomph de la Duchere, pink; Washington, 
white; Celina Forester, yellow; White Microphylla. 
