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SUMMER TREATMENT OF WINTER¬ 
BLOOMING PLANTS. 
The plants that have brightened our homes and 
lives when all without was bleak and bare, are cer¬ 
tainly entitled to kind care in return, especially if we 
wish a continuance of their well-doing. That which 
would he beneficial for one, would be sure death to 
another, and, having tried this treatment many sum¬ 
mers successfully, can truly say, go do thou likewise. 
We will begin with the ever-faithful cheery Prim¬ 
rose ; they have a way of growing up out of the 
earth like an onion, and seem to have but a slender 
hold; at the least touch they sway back and forth. 
Remove from the earth, and shake all from it; with a 
sharp knife cut the lower part of the long root, pro¬ 
vided there are enough of fine fibrous roots near the 
crown; if not, use a larger sized flower-pot and set 
deeper; do not give rich earth, for it will cause luxu¬ 
riance of foliage aud but few flowers; water well and 
keep shaded a few days ; then either sink the pot in a 
cool shaded spot in the garden, or keep on a shady 
piazza, aud give but little water all summer. The 
last of May they can be put out, and returned to win¬ 
ter quarters by Sept. 1st. 
Oxalis should be dried off in April, taken from the 
earth, and kept in a dark, dry place; replant the last 
of August. 
Carnations that have blossomed all winter might be 
planted in the ground, first cutting well back, and 
those cuttings will make nice plants for winter. They 
do not force well a second winter. 
Roses that have bloomed freely should be shaken 
out of the earth and dipped root and branch into water 
and washed ; cut severely back, and repot in fresh 
soil; after a rest of at least two weeks in a cool place 
away from sunlight, take them to a bright sunny place 
in the garden and sink the pots. This can be done 
any time in May ; water whenever dry. 
The soft, feathery blooming Stevia and Eupatorium 
have most likely grown to be great bushes, taking up 
more than their share of room. Cut the tops nearly 
to the earth, shake off the dirt, aud cut a good por¬ 
tion of their roots; Treat them in like manner with 
the Roses, only give less sun. If young plants are 
started, keep pinching all summer; in that way you 
will have double the quantity of bloom. Bring in 
before frost. 
From the Callas we will remove all the earth; wash 
the roots, cutting away all decayed substances, and 
most of the young bulbs ; repot in rich earth; water 
well, and stand them under the shade of a tree, keep¬ 
ing them dry all summer. About the last of August 
bring them on to a piazza, and water freely, if you 
would have them bloom by November. 
Bouvardias should be well cut back, given fresh 
earth, and when the roots become well established, 
say in two weeks, plant in the ground any time after 
the 10th of May. During the month of August, the 
roots need a little protection by mulching. They do 
not fancy the cool nights and mornings, and should be 
in the house by the second week of September. 
Cyclamens, when through blooming, give them but 
little water; repot them in new soil, and treat in like 
manner as the Primrose. 
My Laurestinus for a long time proved very un¬ 
grateful for all the good care I bestowed, and refused 
to repay me with one blossom. I had done just what 
I should not have done. After changing the earth and 
giving a chance to recover its disturbance, sink the 
pot in the sunniest spot the garden affords, and by 
Thanksgiving it will greet you with its beautiful 
pearly flowers. 
There is no plant more showy or attractive than 
the Azaleas. They require great care and close atten¬ 
tion all summer; the soil should be light, mixed with 
a little peat, but they do not need replanting every 
year, and only a little trimming to keep in shape. It 
is safest to keep them on the stand on the porch; ; 
they require more water while resting than any other' 
plant. Should they by accident become very dry, set j 
the plants into a tub of water for a good soak, for its I 
roots are such a bunch of knots, that it requires a 
great deal to reach the inner ones. 
Euphorbias and Poiusetias are of one family; are 
tender hot-house plants. About the 1st of June repot 
the plants in a size smaller pot than they have been 
growing in; they revel iu heat, so give them plenty 
of sun; water whenever dry. If they become water¬ 
logged, they yellow their leaves, and if too dry, they 
wither. Bring in early and then give larger pots. 
Many advise planting them both in the ground ; but 
it is so difficult to lift them successfully, I have been 
afraid to try. 
In sinking these pot-plants, always put either coal- 
ashes, brick, or broken glass underneath, to keep the 
angle-worms from taking up their quarters for the 
winter and making themselves troublesome. 
Jessamines, both yellow and white, jdant iu the 
ground. 
Of all the varieties of foliage plants, the Gesneria 
is the most exquisite ; its leaves are like embossed 
velvet. This is a bulb, and needs to be entirely dried 
off; leave in the pot where grown ; keep dry and from 
the mice. About the 1st of August they will plainly 
show their rest is at an end, and they want to fulfil 
their beautiful mission. Replant in peaty earth ; give 
but little water until the leaves are well grown, and 
keep shaded from the strong sunlight. 
Of the varieties mentioned, the most of these will be 
found in any choice collection, but like a family of 
children, all cannot be reared or governed alike. 
Through the interchange of plans and thoughts valu¬ 
able aid we may gain. Tears even, like raindrops, 
have oftentimes fallen to the ground and come up in 
flowers. Irene H. Williams. 
THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS. 
We have just been introduced to The Ladies 
Floral Cabinet, and it was while engaged in culti¬ 
vating the acquaintance so fortunately begun—for we 
vote this latest acquisition to the circle of our friends 
as marvelously congenial—that memory brought forth 
from among her carefully preserved art-treasures, one 
of the rarest pictures in all her choice collection, and, 
holding it up before us challenged for it anew our de¬ 
lighted admiration. 
To begin at the beginning aud tell you how it 
chanced that Memory’s halls became enriched by a 
thing at once so beautiful and so rare, it will be neces¬ 
sary to relate a little personal experience. 
While on a visit to friends in Chicago last summer, 
callers came in one evening, and amid the animated 
conversation that followed, our attention was suddenly 
arrested by the words: “It bloomed this evening.” 
“ What is it ? ” we eagerly questioned, and after hear¬ 
ing the magic name, two other important queries fol¬ 
lowed : “ How far is it from here 1 
go and see it ? ” 
Our kind friends were only too glad to give us a 
pleasure, and in a few moments we were on our 
way. 
Upon entering the grounds where this magnificent 
display was made, we saw a group of people collected 
about a man holding aloft a good-sized lantern that 
cast a brilliant light over a plant placed just outside 
the green-house door upon a stand elevated two feet, 
perhaps, from the ground, aud appearing, at that dis¬ 
tance, to bear the disks of four large sunflowers ! 
Shades of Flora and all the Graces ! How our ex¬ 
cited imagination lashed herself in self-imposed pen¬ 
ance for the exultation of ten minutes before. 
A sense of disappointment, almost of chagrin, stole 
chillingly over us, but we meekly permitted our friends 
to draw us through the crowd until we felt ourself face 
to face with the object of our interest. 
A faint, subtle, indescribable perfume admonishing 
us, we raised half-reluctant, half-eager eyes, aud, oh ! 
Were they flowers or fairies ? Do blossoms live and 
move and have a conscious being? Then we are 
sure that these were whispering and nodding to each 
other and to us, under the very gaze of mortals. 
We stood spell-bound aud only dimly conscious of 
the remarks and comments of our friends 
There were threatening indications of a storm about 
us, and the evening air was full of weird munnurings, 
in which these singular creatures — each one a royal 
princess in Flora’s kingdom—seemed to share. 
For the first time in our life, we were thrilled through 
and through by, what seemed to us, a responsive in¬ 
telligence in flowers, and experienced a slight embar¬ 
rassment, as if guilty of taking a liberty in coming 
there to examine there exquisite beings with bold and 
curious glances. 
The plant itself resembles, to some extent, the 
Snake Cactus, and can lay no claim to beauty on its 
own behalf. This one had an interlaced network of 
growth, perhaps a foot and a half broad, and some¬ 
what more than a foot high, supported by a light 
framework of wood. 
The blossoms reared aloft their queenly heads with 
very little to show that they had other support than 
their own fairy lightness. 
There were four of them. One or two had blos¬ 
somed the previous evening, aud there were still one 
large and one small bud remaining. Unprepossessing 
prophecies of future loveliness. 
Had the outer row of petals upon these flowers ex¬ 
tended outward instead of curling gracefully backward 
as they did, we dare not say how much each blossom 
would have measured. In their natural form the 
smallest of the group could not have been less than 
seven inches across; but they were very nearly the 
same size. 
The outer row of petals are long and narrow; the 
exact shade of color known to fashionable ladies as 
ecru. The inner row are short and wide, like the white 
petals of the water-lily, which they resembled in tint 
and texture. These extend forward and hold the 
richest store of golden stamens. 
The pistil divides — if my memory-picture is true to 
life — into three parts, each exquisitely delicate flue 
bending lightly backward in dainty, creamy contrast 
to the white petals and bright golden staineus sur¬ 
rounding and enclosing their base. These long, feath¬ 
ery flues could not have measured less than five or six 
inches in length, and were the crowning beauty of 
what seemed absolutely perfect before. 
Beulah. 
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