THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
69 
mas Rose). It is herbaceous and hardy, only requiring 
a little compost in the fall. One very acceptable feature 
about this plant is the fact of its thriving in partial shade, 
and as almost everybody has some such place which is 
rather hard to fill, it just supplies the want. 
Early in summer we have Pcronia tenidfoliitm , with its 
delicately cut foliage and double flowers the color and 
size of a Jacqueminot Rose. This is also an herbaceous 
plant. 
The new hardy Amaryllis Hallii is very beautiful. It 
makes its foliage early in the spring, and after maturing 
it dies down. Late in the summer the flower-stalks 
spring up almost like magic, so rapid is its growth, and 
produce a number of pink blossoms, which are unlike 
any other Amaryllis or Lily with which I am acquainted. 
I consider it a great acquisition to the list of hardy 
bulbs. 
Euphorbia corolata is an exceedingly valuable plant. 
The flowers are white, quite small, in panicles, and keep 
a long time after being cut, making it very useful for 
cut-flowers. It is also a member of the herbaceous 
family. 
The Oriental Poppy is a very showy flower, and de¬ 
serves a place in the garden. It is a perennial, but is 
easily grown from seed, and blooms the second year. 
Most people like it because it makes so much show>when 
in bloom, and after that it requires no care. It is also 
Very hardy. 
The Hardy Pensiemons are useful flowers, and are 
well worth cultivating. They are very easily grown, and 
I should miss mine very much. I shall not touch on 
shrubs, as they form a subject by themselves. 
The Hollyhock is a great favorite. People who have 
grown Hollyhocks in old times remember them as purely 
single flowers, or at most semi-double, and they look on 
the Hollyhock of to-day as entirely disconnected with 
the old-fashioned flower of long ago. Their plants were 
hardy and came up year after year; ours must be pro¬ 
tected or the place where they were will be vacant in the 
spring. They must be taken up and covered in a cold 
frame or protected in such a manner as not to feel the 
effects of freezing and thawing. It is a good plan when 
you have one or two rows to put some compost and 
leaves around the plants and cover with sashes and mat¬ 
ting, or something of the kind, or, what is easier, plant 
against a fence, and a stake will keep the sashes in place 
without the trouble of making frames. They are grown 
extensively from seed, and the seedlings require no pro¬ 
tection the first year beyond a little compost around the 
roots. Each year brings a more'varied range of color. 
From white to black we have almost every color and 
shade. 
The Clematis is considered hardy, but many complain 
that a blight has fallen on some of their plants. Many 
times they flourish in the same location for years. I have 
a number of varieties which get no special care beyond 
a little mulching in the autumn. They have been out a 
number of years, always come up strong in the spring, 
and flower profusely through the season. I think Cle¬ 
matis fiammula one of the finest climbers we have. It 
seems more like a Jasmine than Clematis. Indeed, I 
first saw it in a private garden, where it was called 
C. jasminoides, and under that name I tried more 
than two years to get it. The foliage is unlike any Cle¬ 
matis that I know. It is small and bright. The flowers 
are pure white, very delicate, covering the whole plant, 
and very like the Jasmine in fragrance. C. viticella I 
find very hardy, and C. viticella alba has survived two 
winters. C. Jackmani and some other old varieties, as 
I have said before, I have no difficulty in growing, but 
some newer sorts which I have tried the last two or three 
years have' come up and suddenly withered and dfed 
Some dealers assert there is a disease among them and 
they dare not recommend them as they used to do. All 
I can say is, they disappear, and from no apparent 
cause. 
There is a great range in bedding plants ; some are de¬ 
sirable for cut-flowers, some only valuable for garden 
decoration, and some answer both purposes. Among 
the last named are the semi-double Geraniums, and they 
are so beautiful and useful we might discard the single 
ones altogether and gain by it. 
I cannot stop to enumerate the annuals, biennials 
and greenhouse plants that help make up our gar¬ 
dens. 
Gladioli we must have, and any one who will may 
grow them. One can hardly go astray in selecting vari¬ 
eties with the descriptive catalogues sent out by reliable 
dealers, but, as a rule, it would be better to select from 
exhibition flowers, from which one can judge better than 
by description. A great many new varieties do not sat¬ 
isfy our expectations, and there are so many of the com¬ 
paratively new ones that are really fine and reasonably 
cheap, it does not pay to invest much by way of experi¬ 
ment. On the other hand, some fine varieties never are 
cheap, because they propagate slowly either by increase 
of bulbs or by bulblets. I have some that I have had 
several years with little increase, and I can see by them 
why the price keeps about the same on some bulbs while 
others just as good are comparatively cheap. There is 
Eugene Scribe, which increases rapidly and never pro¬ 
duces a poor spike, I wish there were more varieties as 
good, yet it is cheap and accessible to all. The seedlings 
grown in this country are, in my opinion, as fine in pro¬ 
portion to the number grown as those grown in France, 
and England. I had some unbloomed seedlings last 
season from C. L. Allen & Co. Garden City, among 
which I found some spikes of rare merit. A few which 
they had set aside for name were superb. Also by 
courtesy of Mr. Allen I bloomed their seedling General 
Sheridan, a very fine scarlet not yet on the market. I 
have also had seedlings from V. H. Hallock, Son & 
Thorpe, which were very fine. James Vick has furnished 
us with some excellent varieties. I think Longfellow 
very fine indeed. 
There is no need of mentioning the fine seedlings pro¬ 
duced by the members of this society, as they have 
spoken for themselves when on exhibition. With the 
seedlings that are being produced in this country there 
will soon be no need to send abroad, if, indeed, there is 
now. I have purchased bulbs from home and abroad, 
and I find I cannot get as satisfactory results the first 
