JANUARY 
Is the month for reflection, the month to inventory, to 
“ take stock” as our commercial friends term it. We 
have now plenty of time to count up our successes, and 
compare them with our reverses. This is an important 
work, as upon it, in a great measure, will depend our 
pleasure and profit, or our disappointment and loss 
in our operations the coming season. If we were suc¬ 
cessful last year, there is no reason why we should not 
be next, and in a greater degree, as we have the experi¬ 
ence of the past for our guide, besides what we have 
gained by observing what others have done. If we were 
not successful last year, there is no reason for our being- 
disheartened, and giving up that which will afford us so 
much pleasure, as will gardening, when well under¬ 
stood. Knowledge is the secret of success in this 
as in all other business operations. And knowledge can 
only be obtained by working for it; it can never be 
bought excepting at a price that renders it useless; it is 
one of the few things in this world that money cannot 
purchase; it is a joint partner with health, and the firm 
work together most admirably. Work is the only coin 
that will procure either; patient industry, properly ad¬ 
ministered, will secure health, and the two acting 
together, will yield a rich store of knowledge, the essen¬ 
tial element of success in all our undertakings. 
In commencing our operations for the coming season, 
let us carefully review the past, wherever success 
crowned our efforts, repeat the operations that contrib¬ 
uted to it; wherever we failed, or were unsuccessful in 
growing any desired plant, do not undertake the same 
again, without at first finding out the cause of failure, 
and also a remedy, if one can be found. Never for a 
moment loose sight of one fact in gardening, viz., that 
no one soil and situation is suited to all kinds of vegeta¬ 
tion. Many plants will adapt themselves readily to their 
adopted homes, others refuse absolutely to grow in 
foreign la ids, unless the conditions are such as to nearly 
harmonize with those of their native homes. Conse¬ 
quently what will do well with one will not w ith another. 
We do not place as much importance in the character of 
the soil for the production of a given crop, as many do, 
yet we know there is a great difference in the relative 
value of soils for gardening purposes; there is, also, quite 
as much difference in climate as in soil, in fact, we consider 
climatic influences more powerful in their effects upon 
vegetable growths than the soil in which they grow. 
Under natural conditions the two act in the most per¬ 
fect harmony; they were designed for each other, conse¬ 
quently they must harmonize. 
It is well understood that there are many plants 
which we desire to grow that are foreign to all the 
conditions we have for them, and that many of them 
refuse to grow at all, and others but moderately well ; 
again others will do better when removed from the 
land of their birth. For instance, in Mexico, the home 
of the Dahlia, .its flowers are always single, and they 
cannot be induced to assume the form they do with us, 
and though we take the roots of our best double sorts 
to their native homes, they will, in one season, return to 
the o'riginal type. The Rose Mallow (Hibiscus mos- 
cheutos), common in our saline marshes, will produce 
larger, and more highly-colored flowers when removed 
to a higher situation. Thus it may be seen that natural 
conditions are not always to be sought for the best re¬ 
sults in floriculture. On the contrary, ofttimes, un¬ 
natural conditions only bring the desired results ; this 
is particularly the case with nearly all doable flowers, 
all of which are simply floral monstrosities, the direct 
results of unnatural cultivation. 
It is, therefore, important to select such plants for our 
gardens as we know will thrive under the conditions 
we can furnish, sure we may be that some flowering- 
plants will grow wherever any other class of vegetation 
will thrive, and for all the care and attention 
given them reward us ten-fold with their beautiful 
flowers. 
What we grow must depend entirely upon what we 
can grow, this, in a measure, is only determined by 
trial. For bedding out plants in light sandy soils, we 
should not select Geraniums, but Petunias or Portulac- 
cas; on heavy loam or clayey soils the Geranium is 
perfectly at home and will make a finer display than 
any other bedding-plant. In some situations Lilies 
cannot be induced to grow satisfactory to the gardener; 
in such, it would be folly to persist in growing them. 
The same may truly be said of each and every plant. 
Therefore, our business now is to make up our lists of 
such plants, and such only as will luxuriate in the 
places we have for them, ever bearing in mind that a 
plant that grows freely and fondly is a far more beauti¬ 
ful object, in the garden, it matters not what flowers 
it may produce, than a poor, sickly, half-starved looking 
specimen of the rarest plant in existence. In gardens 
we visit, the rarest plants we find are well-grown planes, 
and rare it is to find any plant well grown. The popu¬ 
lar taste is for “novelties,” plants for the “first time 
introduced.” 
If you want your gardens attractive, and to be able 
at all times to have flowers with which you can delight 
your friends and make your homes attractive, make 
such a selection as you know is suited to the places you 
have for them, and do it now. 
NEW YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’S EXHIBITION 
OF DESIGNS AND CUT-FLOWERS. 
What Shall we Say? 
The magnificence of the display at the last meeting really good floral pieces on exhibition at one time, 
was beyond question. We have never seen so many neither have we seen so few monstrosities and absurdi 
