THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
71 
prising, perhaps, twenty-five varieties. One bed I 
mulched about three inches with stems that had been 
steeped to syringe Rose-bushes. I threw them wet 
about the stalks, and let them remain through the sea¬ 
son. Although the plants were perfectly covered with 
the pests the previous season, none came last year. The 
others were as bad as they could be, and I doubt very 
much if some of them come up this spring. I brushed 
and syringed with tobacco water and cold water, but all 
to no purpose. 
It is time to think of sowing seed. Annuals must be 
sown soon in order to have them bloom early, for the 
time between seed-time and harvest is short, and we 
must be up and doing. Biennials, if sown early, will 
many of them bloom the first year, and those that do not 
will, by being started early, make stronger plants and be 
’ better able to withstand the winter. Truly the spring is 
a busy time to all growers of flowers. Dame Nature 
has been storing her forces, and spring flowers are only 
awaiting her orders to appear. The Snowdrop and Cro¬ 
cus will soon be here, and the thought of the dainty 
blossoms fills us with gladness and delight. Birds will 
not tarry long, for, despite the weather, they come, bring¬ 
ing comfort to hearts weary with waiting for winter to be 
over. No matter how hard the storms are after they 
come, winter cannot stay long, we know, for the couriers 
of spring have arrived. And let us remember, as we 
admire the beauties of the floral kingdom, 
“ God might have made the earth bring forth 
Enough for great and small, 
The oak-tree and the cedar-tree, 
Without a flower at all. 
We might have had enough, enough 
For every want of ours, 
For luxury, medicine, and toil, 
And yet have had no flowers. 
Then wherefore, wherefore were they made, 
All dyed with rainbow light ; 
All fashioned with supremest grace, 
Upspringing day and night ; — 
Springing in valleys green and low, 
And on the mountains high, 
, And in the silent wilderness 
Where no man passes by ? 
Our outward life requires them not— 
Then wherefore had they birth ? 
To minister delight to man, 
To beautify the earth ; 
To comfort man—to whisper hope, 
Where’er his faith is dim, 
For whoso careth for the flowers 
Will care much more for Him ! ” 
Mrs. T. L. Nelson. 
IMATOPHYLLUMS. 
T HE genus Imatophyllum belongs to the natural order 
Amaryllidacece, and is composed of but a small 
number of species, all of which are natives of Africa. 
The genus includes some of the most beautiful and 
useful plants for the greenhouse, and they are also well 
adapted for the window-garden. Any plant that pro¬ 
duces gaily-colored or sweet-scented flowers during 
winter or early spring has strong claims upon our atten¬ 
tion, and all such plants are or should be greatly es¬ 
teemed, and doubly so if they are adapted to ordinary 
house culture, as there are so few really choice plants 
that thrive well in the living-room. We cannot under¬ 
stand why amateurs, such as have a small conservatory, 
or a large window-garden, should reject such plants as 
the Imatophyllum, which produce their handsome flowers 
freely and profusely, and select such only as produce 
flowers but rarely, and then only moderately well. As 
an illustration of what we mean, take the subject of this 
article, plants that were introduced from Africa more 
than thirty years ago, and thrive well in the conservatory 
or as window plants. They are not difficult to cultivate. 
They are very free flowering, and do not lack in beauty. 
In fact, there is not a genus of this natural order that 
furnishes more showy or truly beautiful flowers than 
this, and [hey are more easily managed than the Ama¬ 
ryllis, now so popular. They remain long in flower, so 
that with half a dozen plants a successive bloom can be 
kept up nearly the whole season by changing their 
periods of rest, conditions to which they readily adapt 
themselves. When at rest they can be kept under the 
benches in the greenhouse, or in a dry cellar, free from 
frost. 
The following kinds are of special value, and deserve 
a place in every collection : 
/. miniatum. —This is a very striking species, one of 
the most ornamental greenhouse or window plants we 
have, and so readily managed that it should be generally 
cultivated. It has stout, bold-looking leaves, ranged in 
two opposite rows, from one to two fept high, broadly 
sheathed at the base, and of an intense green color on 
both sides. The flower stems rise to about the same 
height as the leaves, and support a large umbel of from 
ten to twenty blossoms, which are individually upward 
of two inches across and about the same in length, 
somewhat vase-shaped, the outer half of the segments a 
fine deep orange color, shading to vermilion ; the lower 
part of a deep buff, and the anthers and style bright 
yellow. 
I. miniatum cruentum (see Illustration).—This is one 
of the newest as well as one of the very finest of the 
varieties, and for exhibition specimens is of much value. 
It has the free habit of the species, and produces flowers 
much larger in size, finer in form, and of a much richer 
color, the latter being a brilliant shade of orange scarlet. 
I. miniatum Marie Reimers. —A magnificent variety, 
of bold habit, and remarkable for the large size of its 
umbels, which range from twelve to eighteen inches in 
diameter; the flowers are of large size and splendid 
form, and of a rich orange scarlet with white centre. 
I. Gardeni. —This very handsome winter-blooming 
