3 SHciorral 3HE 
ome 
iOnincuMon. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1875. 
EVERYBODY’S FAVORITES. 
BY MISSISSIPPI. 
Geraniums, Abutilons and Begonias, are everybody’s 
favorites, and are flowers which best repay cultivation. 
They stand prominent in the greenhouse during win¬ 
ter, and are either pot or bedding plants during spring 
and summer, and reward the cultivator, all things 
considered, better than flowers of any other class. In 
point of rapid and thrifty growth, handsome foliage, 
symmetrical form, and principally as abounding in 
blooms of surpassing beauty at every season of the 
year, they are unrivalled. Many years of experience 
have shown me that these plants do not require a sea¬ 
son of rest, but under a proper mode of culture will 
grow and grow, and bloom and bloom, until they 
elicit wonder from all who -cull their blooms. Heat, 
moisture, and a rich, loose soil, are all that are neces¬ 
sary to insure a fine array of blooms of every shade, 
from deepest crimson and brilliant fiery red to softest 
rose and snowy white; some double, some single, 
together with leaves of delicious fragrance and extreme 
beauty. Lovers of flowers, reflect on the exquisite 
odor and loveliness of the Rose, Apple, Nutmeg, 
Coacoanut and Lemon Geraniums, together with the 
incomparable Zouales, which rival the Rhododendrons 
and Camelias, with their richly colored stately blooms 
surrounded by leaves with circlets, margins and 
blotches of bronze, gold and white, blended with the 
vivid green! Just with this one class we may fill our 
greenhouses, adorn our sitting-rooms and gratify a 
love of floriculture, did not the Abutilons claim to be 
inseparable from Geraniums. Abutilons so soon grow 
up out of the way of the more lowly growing shrubby- 
Geraniums, and thrive so admirably under pre¬ 
cisely the same treatment, that it were a pity to 
separate them. Let us have them along with our 
Geraniums, and give them good culture, and we will 
please those whom a large variety strikes favorably, 
as Bell flowers range in color from deep orange veined 
with blood color to the loveliest and most delicate 
canary, pink and white. And in extending our choice. 
increasing our variety, we must needs reject some 
varieties, and in so doing cast aside choice kinds, for 
all in this class are choice. I know not a Geranium 
or Bell flower unworthy cultivation, and who ever saw 
an amateur with every standard variety of either 
kind ? 
Florists tell us what to buy, tempt us with accurate 
descriptions of the attractions of every class of plants; 
journals devoted to floriculture recommend everything 
that is pretty in the way of a flower or decorative 
plant; handsome cuts are given on these pages of 
every flower that grows, from “ Dan to Beersheba;” 
i and one who loves flowers must invest in some of this 
and some of that , until they feel satisfied with a pleas¬ 
ing variety. But my humble province, now, is to go 
to the other extreme, and narrow the cultivator to a 
class of plants that will not disappoint her expectations, 
where the means and opportunities for the culture of 
flowers may happen to be limited. Next to Geraniums 
and Bell-flowers come Begonias. They root readily from 
cuttings of any size, multiply rapidly, ana embrace a 
large and pleasing variety. For an idea of their inde¬ 
scribable waxen beauty, go to tne sea shore and ex¬ 
amine shells of the pearliest roseate hues, softly blended, 
rose into salmon, salmon into pearl. Look above to 
the clouds of heaven, with their marvellous beauty 
tinged bv the setting sun. The damp, dewy, cool, 
succulent stems, leaves, and blooms of the Begonias 
are to my mind what Roses were to the gifted S. S. 
Prentiss, who in his dying hour bade his wife to bring 
him a “ bushel of Roses.” Not only in the last hour, 
“ when I am called to die,” but in the “ sunny hours” 
of busy life, now, at all times, bring me a bushel of 
Begonias! I am partial to many other kinds of 
flowers, but—“not that I love Csesar less, but Rome 
more.” My mode of cultivating the Geraniums, 
Abutilons, and Begonias, possesses not the charm of 
novelty, but has been thoroughly tested and found to 
be successful. My plants are all in boxes, filled with 
earth from the vegetable garden, and coarse manure 
from the lot and stable. The coarse manure is always 
on the surface. It is coarse and fibrous and admits 
the air, never bakes in a crust, and, by frequently 
renewing the supply and keeping the boxes well 
watered, the “ strength” of the manure washes down 
to the roots without wasting. I am ho scientist, and, 
on the other hand, would not carry a stone to* mill, 
in one end of the bag, because “ Daddy used to do 
thatbut my father was ever successful as a planter, 
and he used to say “ the Almighty put the best soil on 
top,” meaning the surface, and as he fertilized his corn 
and cotton so do I my flowers. And my flowers, or 
rather plants, grow so large that I never keep the 
“mother” plant over two years, for in that length of 
! time they will fill a half-barrel, but propagate young 
plants from cuttings. 
.Rustic Flower Pots —Last season I had a pretty 
arrangement in my front yard, which was much 
admired. When the winter’s wood was hauled to the 
house, there were some hollow logs amongst it. 
These were sawed in pieces about eighteen inches 
long; the decayed wood from the inside was scraped 
out, then filled with rich earth and manure; in the 
centre I had a rose bush, and next moss pinks; on 
the outer edge I set slips of ivy and Wandering Jew; 
in one I raised some sweet peas. The plants all grew 
nicely, and they were certainly beautiful ornaments; a 
source of pleasure to myself, and admiration to passers 
by. These little arrangements are but trifling, but 
trifles add much either to our happiness or discomfort 
all through life. Subscriber. 
GET UP A CLUB FOR SIX MONTHS 
M/ 
POE 
The Handsomest of all Ladies’ Journals. 
Our subscribers have hundreds t>f friends who would take the 
Cabinet for six months, if it is only shown to them. To encourage 
all to make a special effort to extend our circulation, and thus help 
the purpose and success of the paper, we will take 'subscriptions as 
follows, to begin with the July number : 
For Six Months. 
Price 65 cents for 6 months, postage prepaid, but without chromo. 
( “ 
75 “ < "With choice also of either chromo — Gems of “ The 
( Flower Garden,” or, “My Window Garden.” 
90 “ with both chromos. 
“ $3 00 for club of 5 without chromo. 
“ 0 00 u rt 10 “ rt but extra paper free. 
“ 3 50 “ “ 5 with 1 
“ 7 00 “ “10 “1 “ and extra copy paper free. 
Premiums for Clubs for Six Months. 
1. Ivory Paper Cutter and Folder, - club of 8 
2. Book. Every Woman Her own Flower Gardener, - u 5 
3. “ Window Gardening, - 15 
4. Box Initial Note Paper, ------ “5 
5. 1 Dozen Fine Gladiolus, worth $3 00, - - “10 
6. 100 “ “ “ 25 00, - - - - “ 80 
7. 1 Fine named Bulb Gladiolus, worth $1 50 - “5 
8. Lovejoy Weather House, ------ “15 
9. Any Game in our Premium List, worth 5 to 75 cents, “ 5 
10. Bracket and Fret Saw, worth $1 25, - - - “12 
11. The Acrobats, worth $1 15, - - - - - “10 
12. Box Decalcoinanie, - -- -- -- “7 
13. Pocket Microscope, worth $l 50 - “10 
14. Package Visiting Cards, - -- -- - “6 
15. Ivory Breast-Pin. - “10 
16 . Two Fancy Carved Napkin Bings, - u 8 
17. Ladies’ Fancy Ivory Bracelet—pair, - “12 
18. Ivory Call Whistle, --- --- - “5 
19. Emery Basket,.“5 
20. Mlk Book Mark, worth $1 00, - “ iq 
21. “ “ “ “ 50 to 75 cents, - “5 
22. Dress Elevator,. “5 
23. Butter Knife,.“10 
24. Silk Fan, --------- “10 
25. Ladies’Pocket-knife and Scissors combined - - “10 
26. Any Game, 50 to 75 cents, in our Catalogue, - - “5 
27. 40 Packages of Flower Seeds, ----- “15 
28. 20 “ “. “ 8 
29. 10 “ “ “. “5 
80. Any Book, worth 50 to 60 cents, - “5 
31. “ “ “ $1 00 or under, - “10 
82. “ “ 1 50 “ - - . _ « 15 
33. Indelible Pencil, ------- - “5 
84. Pocket Knife,.- “10 
35. One Pair Florence Skates, ------ “12 
36. One Dollar's worth of Plants,. “7 
37. One Volume of Floral Cabinet bound, 1S74, - “12 
3S. One Binder and Portfolio for Cabinet, - “12 
price 
Special Premiums. 
39. One Goodrich Tucker for Sewing Machines. 
club of 10. 
40. One Johnston Ruffler for Sewing Machines, price 
club of 15. 
41. One set Goodrich Hernmer and Binder, price $1 50, club of 5. 
42. One set Metropolitan Hemmer and Binder, price $1 50. club 
of 5. 
43. One Bottle Payson’s Indelible Ink, price 75c,club of 7. 
00, for 
00, for 
PUBLISHER’S ANNOUNCEMENTS 
Six Months Subscriptions— With a little effort each sub¬ 
scriber can send us the name of some friend, or a club, for the rest of 
the year. We hope all will try. Prices have been fixed as low as 
possible. So beautiful a journal, on so costly paper, with so many 
expensive and charming illustrations, cannot be offered as low 
as other cheap papers, which are not worth keeping. The music 
alone for six months is worth $2 at least, and the paper, with 
chromos, $1 more—a total of $3 for only 70 cents. 
Plants for Sale. —We have several lots of plants, seeds, &c., 
owing us by florists, which we will sell at 25 per cent, discount 
from usual catalogue prices. Any one wishing to buy may choose 
a list from any floral catalogue, deduct 25 per cent, from price, send 
the order to us and we will have good plants and seeds sent for the 
money. As soon as we have traded out these accounts our offer will 
he withdrawn. Persons not wishing to buy now, but next tall, 
may purchase from us an order now, at this discount, good for any 
time it may be presented. 
Household Elegancies. —We shall issue, Oct. 15, a new' hook 
about the size of “ Window Gardening,” full of fancy work, home 
decorations, household art, and elegant ways of adorning a home, 
with so many exquisite illustrations, that every lady will be fairly 
crazy with delight w'hen she sees it. We regard it as the most 
desirable ladies’ hook ever published, and it will be truly the grand 
Gift Boole of (he eeason. Our readers know that anything we issue 
is so splendid in style and superior in merit, that, when we make an 
announcement, it"is received wdth confidence and the most ready 
patronage. “ Household Elegancies” is the finest work we have yet 
originated, and as a special offer to any one who will obtain 15 sub¬ 
scribers to the Cabinet for six months, before August 1st, we will 
present a copy of this new book free, as soon as issued. Price will be 
$1.50, and will be ready Oct. 15. 
