ddies 
ora 
id 
Ciuet anil Pictorial 
ome 
lomiiamoft. 
J[forrf irminliniious. 
OUT-DOOR GARDENING. 
I have cultivated flowers since I was a child, and 
yet I And T learn something new every day, either by 
practical experience, from papers, or some of the many 
excellent hooks on floriculture now in circulation. 
It is not really necessary to devote an acre of ground 
to flowers to cultivate them Successfully; the space I 
have to grow flowers in is about the size of two bed 
quilts, and yet I manage to grow all the choicest flow¬ 
ers now in cultivation. 
As every season has its particular duties, and there 
is a time for everything, I will commence with the 
spring work. As the seasons are so short in this lati¬ 
tude, it is necessary to sow some seed in-doors to 
transplant as soon as the frosty nights are over, which 
is usually about the 10th of May; have ready some 
good fresh soil in pans, jars, or shallow boxes; stir 
the soil until it is very fine; smooth off the top, scatter 
the Seeds over not too thick; just stir the surface of the 
earth gently, or scatter some of the soil evenly over 
the seeds. Care should be taken not to cover fine seed 
too deep; some plant flower seed as they would a bill 
of potatoes, and then find fault with the seedsman if 
they do not come up. After sowing, water them with 
a fine rose sprinkler, with tepid water; place them in 
a warm room in a sunny window; if the room is heated 
by a stpve, keep water on it, as a dry heat will cause 
the-tender plants to wither. Tuberoses, which I con¬ 
sider indispensable, should now be potted; pot some 
for early blooming in February, and so on, a few each 
month, until it is time to plant for late blooming in 
the open ground; and now comes the time when all 
the preparatory work is done; as soon as the snow is 
gone, and the sun and the south winds have warmed 
the earth, it is time to uncover the Crocus and Snow¬ 
drops, and to rake the dead leaves out of the Violets, 
and spade or plow the garden a little later; take the 
covering off the Hyacinths, Tulips, and Narsissus, 
they will not bear the cold as well as Crocus and 
Snowdrop. About this time bring out of the cellar 
Carnation and Picotee Pinks, Lilies, and Chrysanthe¬ 
mums that will not endure the severity of our northern 
winters without protection; prepare your beds for 
sowing annuals, and for transplanting all those pre¬ 
viously started either in liot-beds or by stove heat. I 
do not think Verbenas do as well grown in the same 
bed year after year. I think it is better to remove the 
old soil a few inches in depth, and put on fresh, they are 
not so much troubled with rust and green fly treated 
in this way. I have my Dahlia bulbs started in a box 
of earth ready to plant out. About the 15th of May 
it is safe to plant out Verbenas from the greenhouse, 
and Stock Gillies, and all delicate plants you have 
grown from seed to transplant. If the cold Spring 
winds are over you can plant out Geraniums and other 
bedding plants. Coleus are tender; tiro 1st of June 
is early enough for them. A small garden hoe is indis¬ 
pensable to keep the -weeds out of the beds. Some 
time in May ail the house plants that are not going to 
he planted out should be re-potted in fresh earth; 
those that have outgrown the jars should he put 
in larger ones. The last of June, July, and August, 
I take off slips or cuttings from such plants as I want 
to increase; such as Poses, Heliotrope, Fuchsias, and 
Geraniums, Zonales and Pelargoniums. I find no 
trouble in rooting the latter; slips grow readily in 
common garden soil or sand; they root best exposed 
to the hottest sun; do not give them too much water. 
At this season I begin to watch closely for choice seeds 
of Carnations, Verbenas, Pansies, and all seed-grow¬ 
ing flowers; dry them, put them up in papers with 
the names written on them. 
All the tall-growing plants want stakes driven down 
by them and tied securely against high winds and 
heavy rains. All my hardy, perpetual roses that have 
uot been moved for three years have more than two 
seasons of bloom; this is the third summer I have had 
my General Washington, and it never had a perfect 
blossom on it until this year it was splendid. 
Camellia-flowered Balsams need looking after; if you 
want to save seed, remove the old blossoms carefully, 
or the most of them will break oft the seed vessel. 
When gathering seed from Asters care should be used 
to save the seeds from the centre of the flower; the 
outside seeds grow inferior flowers. After the frost 
has killed the tops of Gladiolus and Dahlia, the bulbs 
should be taken up and laid under cover to dry for a 
few days, then pack away for winter. In covering 
beds containing bulbs or Grape-vines, I would not 
recommend straw fin account of rats, leaves are better, 
at least they prove so in my garden. 
Mrs. W. H. Mabee. 
TO AMATUER GARDENERS. 
You wish to gain some instruction as to the culture 
of flowers. Let me give you a few hints: 
In the first place, select an eastern or southern 
exposure—both would he better —“ lay it out ” with 
as few walks as possible. Have the soil spaded 
some two or three feet deep; if not rich enough, 
scatter well-rotted leaf mold and ashes over the 
top, and sand, should the soil be stiff and liable to 
pack. This should be raked until perfectly smooth. 
Select one of the corner sfpiares for a seed bed. Be 
careful to have no lumps, sticks, or any hard substance. 
I lost all my seeds one year by not having the seed¬ 
bed in proper order. Sow very thinly in rows, and 
have each row headed with a labeled stick. I would 
advise you to raise the hardy annuals, such as Asters, 
Balsams, Stocks, Petunia, Zinnias, Crepis, Phlox, etc. 
I never sow until after the second week in April, as by 
that time the severe weather has past. Most of the 
hardy annuals will hear transplanting. After they 
have obtained their second leaves and an inch or two 
of growth, they may he removed to the place where 
you wish them to bloom. Let the roots he disturbed 
as little as possible. They should be removed on a 
dull, rainy day, or in the evening after a shower. It 
is almost entirely unnecessary to shade them in April; 
but if the sun should prove too hot, it can easily he 
done with shades made of newspapers. The first 
year I planted three rows of Zinnias in the centre, 
next one of Balsams, next one of Petunias, one of 
Crepis barbata, and on the border Portulaca. The 
plants should he placed eight or ten inches apart, and 
the rows wide enough to admit of their being worked 
conveniently. On each half of the other circle I had 
three trellises with Thunbergia, Muarandia, and Con¬ 
volvulus trained on them, with-annuals growing all 
between. 
Now, your greatest enemies are grass and weeds; 
but even these can be conquered with judicious man¬ 
agement. Whenever I steal an half-hour from my 
household cares to take a peep at my pets, I have a 
hoe and rake convenient, and when I enter my garden 
I take one of these, and while I look I work. You 
will he surprised at the amount of labor—or pleasure 
I call it—that can he accomplished in this way. By 
having the walks scattered with ashes an inch or two 
in depth, you will have very little trouble from that 
quarter. Keep the soil light and mellow, and your 
flowers will not require so much watering as some 
people seem to think. By this means the dew is 
absorbed before it can evaporate, and the plants have 
enough to sustain them during the hot hours of noon. 
In the dry, sultry days of July and August, it is some¬ 
times necessary to water them. This should always 
he done in the evening, after sunset, in order to prevent 
evaporation. Do not he afraid to cut your flowers. 
Leave a sufficient quantity to insure seed for next 
year; with this exception, my rule is cut, cut until 
every vase in the house is full. The more you share 
your flowers, the more you will have for yourself; for 
in the place of one, you have two more to come. I 
think nature made this law to prevent our being 
selfish. 
Another one of my rules is to buy a small quantity 
of seed every year, and saving them each fall as they 
ripen, I have quite a variety. By cutting the flowers 
as I told you, the seed pods of those left will he fuller 
and plumper, and a few treated in this way are much 
better than quantities of half ripe seed such as are pro¬ 
duced by allowing each flower to stand. By following 
these hints, and summoning to your aid a sufficient 
stock of patience and perseverance, 1 think you will 
succeed beyond your expectations. Lou. 
RUSTIC ROCK WORK. 
Sometime since I saw an old periodical which re¬ 
ferred to sheets of cork, in its rough state, being used 
for making flower pots, filling in, and edgings for 
beds and rockeries; so shortly after I obtained a quan¬ 
tity of old cork, and with the aid of judgment, an old 
shoemaker’s knife, an awl, and some sharpened pegs 
of any hard wood, made a variety of flower pots, 
hanging baskets, and boxes for my flowers—my 
prettiest production being made of a design from an 
old comb-case, with nail hole, to hang beside the win¬ 
dows or on the wall. It is filled and almost com¬ 
pletely covered with Coliseum Ivy, and is indeed a 
tiling of beauty. 
After my boxes, &c., were finished I gave them 
several coatings outside with shellac dissolved in al¬ 
cohol, which gave them a very glossy appearance, 
showing the rich brown colors of the cork. When 
they contain plants and vines of drooping nature, the 
contrast is such as to command admiration. 
The cork, if old, is liable to break, but the small 
pieces can he cut thin and into the shape of leaves, or 
simply roughened and pegged to the pots, first mak¬ 
ing peg holes with the awls to prevent splitting. 
The rougher the cork the better tlie appearance when 
finished. 
I use the most of my cork boxes, &c., for winter 
plants, and when setting in the front window, when 
the earth is covered with snow or the thermometer 
down to freezing, every lover of flowers will stop to 
look and praise the beauties ; for the plants show to 
better advantage, and the cork seems to retain moist¬ 
ure very well indeed, not drying up vei’y readily. 
I tried glue at first to join my corneis, hut soon 
learned to my sorrow that the tender roots of my 
plants were being affected seriously by the glue, which 
had become softened by constant watering. Then I 
tried my wooden pegs, and found they answered my 
purpose well, being stronger and easier to work with. 
Any one would he surprised to find how light my large 
boxes are, making transportation from room to room 
easy. House ornaments of various kinds and bird 
boxes can readily he made of the cork. S. T. C. S. 
Answer . — We expect to give some illustrations 
shortly of floral designs made of cork, many very 
pretty. The special article, “virgin cork,” is sold 
freely in England for hanging baskets, &c., but no 
one has yet offered it for sale in this country. 
