tuii| 
Apple Geranium. — To Mrs. It. S. Truslow —Would 
be glad to exchange some of my plants for Apple 
Geranium seed. I had a line one presented me by a 
friend. It flourished finely for three or four years 
when, like yours, it dwindled away and die$, to my 
great grief, for I loved it very much for its own sweet 
self as well as for my dear friend’s sake. Cause of 
death: I moved it to a placeOvhere it got too much 
heat from the stove. A cool place near the glass is 
• best for Geraniums; that is my experience. Last 
winter I kept my conservatory quite cool. The result 
was I had the most healthy looking plants I had ever 
•possessed. They are much less care, too, for they are 
not so apt to be- infested with all manner of insects 
that house plants are heir to, neither do they require 
water so often. 
To Mrs. JR. II. Blake —Do not know whether I have 
the White Hose you speak of or not. I have three 
hardy White Roses. Two of them are June Hoses, 
one is larger than the other and more double. They 
are both fine but never sprout; could try layering 
one for you next spring. The other is the old Musk 
Cluster; it begins blooming a little later than the 
others but is a constant bloomer until the frost checks 
it. It bh>oms in large clusters. I have counted thirty- 
five buds and blooms on one stalk. It is also very 
fragrant and grows readily from a slip. Would be 
glad to exchange with you for some of your Pitahoya 
or Turk’s Head Cactus. Mrs. M. A. White. 
Petersburg, Ills. 
Tea Plants.—In answer to Miss S. Willinuford, the 
best way to start the Tea Plant seeds is to plant them 
in a box about throe inches apart, and transplant when 
in the second or third leaf. Don’t give too much 
water or you will rot the seeds. They will bloom the 
second or third year. G. N. 
Camia—If Medora Askew wishes to have fine speci¬ 
mens of Canna, let the ground be dug four feet deep, 
and put in two feet of fresh cow or horse manure, or 
mixed is better, and cover with soil. In a month put 
in the Canna roots eight inches deep, and the plant will 
grow from ten to twelve feet high and be covered with 
bloom until frost. G. N. 
Bugs.—You want to know the best tiling to keep 
from plants. I have tried many things, and 
during all my experience with plants I find that onion 
water sprinkled over the plants and poured on the 
earth, is the best thing to keep < iff the bugs. 
Peterboro’, N. Y. Miss Laura Bosworth. 
A Big Cactus.—J. S. Lewis of Southport, L. I., 
has a Cactus, McDonaldi variety, strap leaf, seven feet 
high, with eighty blossoms and seventy flowers. Is 
eight to ten years old, is grown in a large tub in the 
house during the winter and kept near the light. In 
summer, when blossoms appear, it is put under a 
tree and watered regularly. Tt is very hardy and re¬ 
quires no trouble in managing it. 
White Bose.—R. PI. Blake, Las Cruces, New 
Mexico, questions, “Where can I find the old-fashioned 
White Rose of our grandmothers’ time ? ” I have it 
and - will send it early in the spring. I have a good 
many Hoses, but the slug bothers me. I try every 
remedy of the Cabinet. If any one of our friends 
want a White Peony, let it be known through the 
paper and I will send it. The seeds I would like are 
Petunias, Pansies, Diadem Pink and Double Portu- 
laca. Mrs. Z. M. Hinman. 
Sparta Centre, Mich. 
bugs 
German Ivy. —I have lately noticed several com¬ 
munications in the Cabinet and elsewhere, concern¬ 
ing the blooming of German Ivy. Some say it re¬ 
quires age, two years or so, others say considerable 
exposure to the sun. I have one not quite six months 
old which has 'always been kept in the shade, but 
which I unexpectedly find budding at every joint. It 
was started with two main shoots, crossed and recrossed 
on a trellis about four feet high until they reached the 
top, when they were nipped oil'. This caused it to 
branch freely, and many branches were nipped off or 
shortened in. I am not very learned in window 
gardening, but I have thought it was probably this 
“ shortening in” that has caused such early inclination 
to flower, just as lima beans bear better trained on 
short poles and broken off when they reach the top. 
The soil was a rich black loam from the woods, with 
a little sand and charcoal and no manure. Charcoal 
for drainage. Mrs. P. E. Briggs. 
Pansies.—I would like some one who has good 
success in raising Pansies, to state whether they trim 
them. Mine grow and blossom nicely but all mat 
together, some of the branches being a foot or two 
long. How are they to be trained that each plant may 
stand by itself? 
Boses. —It is more than forty years that I have 
lived among my flowers. I love them very dearly. 
Some of them seem to understand me as well as I do 
them, and are quite obedient and interesting pupils. 
My roses, for instance, not caring for them so much in 
midwinter as in spring, I put in the cellar in Novem¬ 
ber and let them remain until the 10th of March or 
thereabouts. I wash them nicely in common soft 
soap and say to them, “ Now in just six weeks I want 
you to pay me for my trouble with some of your 
precious blossoms,” and I am seldom disappointed. 
My Carnation Pinks T serve pretty much as I do the 
Roses. You will always observe the grass of the Pink 
curls up just before the buds appear. I perfectly 
agree with Anna Griscom. In order to be successful 
in the cultivation of any plant, we should learn “its 
habits” and its “native soil.” To be sure, much 
depends on the culture of plants, and constant care 
must be paid them. All plants require much care 
when coming into flowers. Can any one tell me why 
the leaves of the English Ivy decay and drop off, when 
it is having its accustomed treatment under which it 
seemed to flourish ? F. G. Y. 
How to Keep Flowers in "Winter.— Answer to 
'Hattie G. Davis —The Geraniums will all keep dry in 
a dry cellar from which the frost is excluded. The 
Coleus would only keep in a warm, light room. The 
Heliotrope might keep in a warm, light cellar, if it is 
an old wooding plant. Petunias could be raised from 
seeds each year. But all these plants, excepting the 
Coleus, should do well in a room in which the fire 
goes out, if there are shutters or thick curtains to the 
windows, in your latitude. 
Coloring Grasses. —Please request C. N. E. to give 
directions for coloring or painting grasses for a winter 
bouquet as she proposed in the September number of the 
Cabinet. I have a plant similar in flower to the 
Feverfew, is perfectly hardy, blooms freely all summer. 
Will you give me the name for it and oblige. 
Mrs. F. W. S. 
Answer. —AckjRea Ptarmiea fl. pleno. Will any of 
our lady readers furnish information on coloring- 
grasses. We think them most ornamental when of 
the natural color. 
Plumbago—Erantliemum—Eueharis. —How do 
you propagate Plumbago ? From seeds or slips or 
root cuttings. I have tried to propagate from cuttings 
and have not succeeded. Is Erantliemum (John¬ 
son) a hot-house plant ? How do you propagate it ? 
Can you keep it during winter in a good pit or cellar? 
Can I keep Eueharis Amazonica in a pit during 
winter ? If so, shall I put it away in the pot of dirt it 
has grown in during the summer, or shall I take the 
bulb out and take care of it like Gladiolus bulbs ? I 
know that the Eueharis is a hot-house plant, but I 
think I can manage mine and get it to blooming next 
summer if I can keep it during winter. I have one 
each of the above plants, and they are in a fine, healthy, 
growing condition, and I am anxious to propagate them 
if I can keep them during winter in a good pit. 
C. J. Constantine. 
Anstver. —Plumbagos alL root freely from cuttings of 
the half-ripened wood. Eranthemums are all hot-house 
plants; root freely from cuttings; will not winter in a 
cellar, but would keep with other tender plants in alight 
room. Unless the foliage is kept in a healthy condition 
all the year the Eueharis will seldom or never flower, 
it being an evergreen; it might be possible to keep it 
during the winter in a warm light room, and it would 
then flower during the summer. We have the plants 
in flower all the year, but they are grown in a hot¬ 
house never below 60 dog. There are now, Nov. 10, 
hundreds of flowers open. 
Japan Plum. —What is the proper time of the 
year to plant the Japan Plum seed ? G. A. N. 
Answer. —As soon as ripe. 
Susan "Wanted. Who is She?—Will some of 
your readers be kind enough to tell me what “ Black- 
eyed Susans ” are ? Do they belong to the vegetable 
or mineral creation ? F. C. M. 
Answer. —Can any of our readers inform us if the 
above question .can be answered horticulturally? We 
give it, and refer our correspondent to some of our 
young lady readers. 
Medeira Leaves—I noticed in your last Medora 
Askew wishes to know if any one has seen Madeira 
leaves larger than seventeen inches. I enclose one 
which is twenty-two inches ; the vine is full of them 
the same size. What do you consider a large number 
of flowers for one Aster ? I have one that I counted 
sixty-five on this morning. 
Answer. —The Madeira Vine leaves are very fine. 
Sixty-five flowers is a large number for one plant of 
Asters, which is probably one of the variety known as 
Bouquet Asters. 
Begonia.—I would like very much to know how to 
treat my Begonias. Last fall I had five varieties; 
now I have but two. My prettiest died, although I 
tried very hard to save them—repotted them, kept 
them in the shade for a while, then put them in an east 
window, but leaf after leaf withered and dropped off 
till all were gone; now my others seem to bo going in 
the same way. What can I do ? Must I give up in 
despair, or will some kind friend inform mo through 
the Cabinet how to save them ? 
Mrs. S. C. Stewart. 
Answer. —The Begonias are probably kept too wet 
at the root and too cold. They may also have been 
potted in too largo pots where the roots were bare. 
Give little water until fresh roots are formed, and then 
if the soil is sour shake all away without breaking any 
fine roots that can be avoided, and pot in fresh soil in 
clean pots and give little water until they commence 
to grow. Begonias should not be exposed to a lower 
heat than 50 degrees. 
Vallota. —When does the Vallota Purpurea bloom? 
John F. Brendt. 
Answer. —From July to October. 
