ora: 
t ifeafiuxei uni) .Pidoriaf 
a me 
iompariion. 
HOW TO HAVE PLENTY OE FLOWERS 
IN WINTER. 
“ Look on this picture, and on this.” Storm, sleet, 
and snow without. All around is the death-like deso- 
it. I have had plants thus treated to grow more than 
a foot high and measure sixteen inches in diameter. 
Doubt it not, ye sisters, who have only seen the plant 
sown in crowded beds in spring. The secret is, it 
likes cold weather and wants plenty of room. I have 
had visitors to turn from my stand of winter-blooming 
Fuchsias, Geraniums of all colors, Heliotropes, Hya¬ 
cinths, and other costlier jtets, and say my “ snowy 
latiou that prevails when winter is firmly seated on his ■ m „ (jf Candytuft were the loveliest of all. 
icy throne. Within doors, there is the brightness of; gow geed of gweet Alyssmin aud Mignonette at the 
luxuriant foliage; the glow of pmk, white, and scarlet „ time witll your Candytuft, treat much the same 
blossoms; the balmy fragrance ot scented leaves and way> . Uld your rooln will be fiUed | ith a fragrance a ll 
flowers; and the grace of clinging vines and trailing j the cold alld dreary days . 
creepers. A ho does not like the latter picture best, j But I must name the plant that I regard as the 
aud what is needed to make it a living reality in our very hest, most profuse and continuous winter-bloomer, 
homes I In the first place, a love for the work; in ol ,t t ,f seventy or eighty different varieties of plants 
the second, a constant attention to trifles. They not that I’ve cultivated for that season; it is the Abutilon, 
only make the “ sum of human things, but the secret 1 with small leaves and drooping habit, known as “ A. 
of success in floriculture. 1 have learned, from a sue- Mesopotamicuiri.” It requires very little heat, plenty 
ceSsful experience of many years, that you can make | c) f S un and water, and will bloom from November, on 
almost any plant bloom in winter by managing it .' through the winter, until the last of June. It is best 
properly in autumn, and it is your attention given then : to root a slip in May and keep it growing well all 
that is rewarded with plenty ot flowers in December summer and put it in a large pot in September, but if 
and January. Set aside the Heliotropes, Geraniums, ! you have only an old plant, prune it well and repot in 
etc., for winter-blooming about the last of August; J autumn, and it will bloom well, hut take up a good 
prune them severely (don’t let your.tender heart betray 1 deal of room in your window or green-house. 
you into leaving too many branches), and repot, or 
The hints and items given above apply equally to 
give a rich top-dressing, as is needed; place them in plants grown in windows or conservatories; hut I 
partial shade, give little water, aud pinch off buds if must give some directions how to hasten plants into 
any appear, until the second week in October, then bloom, to the many who have no regular artificial 
give sunlight, liquid manure, daily attention, and by : heat for them. We sometimes have many cold and 
the time winter sots in, they will he well set with buds j cloudy days in succession, when our plants seem to 
and in such a notion to flower, that they will keep up 1 refuse to open or produce buds; then take a medium 
the resolution all winter. 
The Salvia spleudens is one of the hest of winter- 
bloomers when managed properly, otherwise, is not 
worth tire earth it grows in. Don't take up the old 
plant that has flaunted its scarlet plumes in your face 
all summer, hut root a slip in July, or take up a back¬ 
ward plant that has bloomed hut little from the garden. 
Pot about the middle of September, and prune off all 
hut four or five branches, plant in moderately rich soil 
with a top-dressing of charcoal, keep in the shade only 
one week after potting, then give it all the sun you 
can—it wall not hear shade—and it wall soon he full of 
buds which wall slowly unfold in winter, and surprise 
you by the length of time they remain in perfection if 
not kept too close and warm. I have seen its regal 
plumes open the middle of December, and remain per¬ 
fect until last of January, and could scarcely believe it 
was the same flower that faded so quickly in summer. 
Chinese Primroses are hest if potted in October, hut 
sized vessel containing boiling water (the little “boiler” 
with open top, in which “John” heats his shaving- 
water now, and cooked eggs and oysters in his unhal¬ 
lowed bachelor days, will do) and put a flower-pot 
saucer on top of it, and set your plant in that; let it 
remain until the water gets cold (it will remain hot a 
long time if you keep it in the same vessel in which it 
was heated), and repeat the process two or three times 
a day, and you will “see a difference.” Don’t he 
afraid of the hot water. The heat is just right by the 
time it penetrates both saucer and pot. This is also 
an excellent way to hasten the formation of roots to 
cuttings, especially in cool weather. 
The next best “forcing” process is to place an inch 
deep layer of powdered charcoal on the surface of the 
pots; black absorbs heat, and you wall find when the 
sun’s rays fall on your plants that the earth in the 
charcoaled pots is much warmer than in the others. 
Keep your plants away from fire-heat. Have them as 
will bear almost any treatment if not kept too warm, j far from stove or grate as possible, and never think of 
I once potted one on the 9th of October, that had bringing them near the fire to “ keep them from freez- 
journeyed six hundred miles by mail, and it was in full | ing.” If the thermometer “ starts” towards zero, put 
bloom at Christmas. I cut off all the leaves save two ' them under a table in the middle of the room and 
as soon as I received it. If I had retained more it 
would doubtless have died. I cannot too strongly 
impress upon my sister florists the necessity of close 
pruning of leaf and branch when the roots of a plant 
have been at all disturbed. 
We all want plenty of white flowers in winter, for 
we cannot make even the tiniest bouquet for a friend 
without them, and the while Candytuft is not suf¬ 
ficiently appreciated by amateurs. Sow the seeds the 
last of August, and pot the young plants as soon as 
they have five or six leaves; put only one plant in a 
six-inch pot; keep them out-of-doors until very hard 
pin blankets closely around and over them—pul them 
in yonr wardrobe—anywhere to keep the frost from 
them. Raise the window, or carry them out-doors, on 
the south side of your house, every mild day, i. e., 
whenever the thermometer stands at 40 degrees, ex¬ 
posed and in the shade. Of course, they get a much 
higher temperature in the sun, and they like its direct 
rays better than anything else. 
If you live in the South you can have plenty of 
flowers without trouble. Just prune, pot, and stimu¬ 
late in autumn, as suggested, and place your plants in 
a pit facing south; open the glass every day as soon 
I’ve noticed, in travelling over the South, that most 
ladies keep a few plants in the windows, in “ petting 
distance, hut the majority of them in their pits. In 
their lightly built houses, they are more apt to awake 
and find plants frozen than their Northern sisters, so 
they are safest in -pits. You all know how to save 
frozen plants; keep them in perfect darkness, and 
don’t even look at them, for two days. G. S. 
AMARYLLIS LONGIFOLIA, ETC. 
I take up tire thread of my discourse on bulbs with 
the Amaryllis longifolia, or Crinum Capeuse. It is a 
bulb that seems to have brought vexation in its train 
to others beside myself. The first 1 had of a Longi¬ 
folia rosea was bought of' an itinerant German flower 
dealer, who said it was a rare and wondrous Lily from 
the West Indies, bearing scarlet 'and yellow flowers, 
for which $1.50 was a moderate and enticing price. 
The honest gardener of whom I bought it let me have 
it at cost price, as a special favor. Since that, those 
long-necked importuuates have defrauded mein various 
ways—once simply as Amaryllis alba and rosea, with 
the distinguishing longifolia left out. At another time 
I bought them for Amaryllis longifolia (the name 
given), thinking, in my ignorance, that I was obtain¬ 
ing, at a marvellously low price, a longifolia striata, 
as described by Buist. They all, however, came 
down from their magnificence in price to 50 cents, and 
once to 25 cents. 
I potted the first one, tended it with devoted care, 
even giving it a fine large glazed pot in which to dis¬ 
play itself. The result was literally longifolia, some 
of the leaves measuring a yard and a half in length, 
with the addition, in early spring, of two flower stems, 
each hearing nine tube-shaped blossoms, between two 
and three inches in length. The outside of the flow¬ 
ers were of a pale maroon rose, the inside nearly white. 
They were more curious than pretty, and were any 
thing hut the gorgeous Lilies depicted by the wander¬ 
ing deceiver who beguiled us into buying it. 
An Amaryllis longifolia alba, which bloomed dur¬ 
ing my absence from home, was said to ho so charming 
that I could not hut reverse my previous opinions of 
the tribe. Having heard another competent judge 
deliver the same opinion I am bound to credit it, 
though my faith, as yet, is weak. 
I know of one lady who has a very large plant of 
Amaryllis rosea, who keeps it in the cellar in winter; 
it blooms finely in mid-summer, and is shown to ad¬ 
vantage, when growing, by being placed on a pillar 
beside a broad walk. Another lady of our vicinity, 
who has the alba, keeps it in her green-house. She 
dries it off in summer. Both of these were kept in, 
at least, twelve-inch pots, the earth being very much 
enriched. It is said to he a swamp plant, therefore, 
requiring a great deal of water, which I find it needs 
in quantity equal to the Calla. It is also said to he 
hardy, hut I know of no one who lias tried it in the 
open ground. * Anna Griscom. 
frosts; keep cool; give all the sun and air you can in 1 as the ground thaws (or they will become too tender), 
cold weather; and they will astonish you ! They will and close at evening. The sun will keep them grow- 
grow and branch like little trees—have ten or fifteen ing and blooming. You have only to see that they 
clusters of bloom open at once, and whenever you cut don’t freeze, by covering the pit well with old blankets, 
ono the same shoot will branch again and soon replace mats, carpets, anything, on unusually cold nights. 
Double Portulaea.—Your correspondent asks if 
the Double Portulaea will grow from the slip as 
readily as the single. A couple of years ago I sent a 
number of slips, of different shades, and in full bloom, 
to a friend in Indianapolis; she planted them, and they 
grew straight on as if they had had roots always, 
never once ceasing to bloom until touched severely with 
“jack frost.” They were the admiration of all who 
saw them. I find it quite difficult to obtain double 
blossoms from the seed; a larger part come single, hut 
as fast as they begin to show from the hud that the blos¬ 
som will he single I cast it away, keeping only the 
double ones in the bed. M. 
