88 
THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
tions of growth have plenty of food. When the plant is 
growing, and especially when flowering, weak liquid 
manure may be applied. Bone and potash act favorably 
early in the spring. A frequent sprinkling of water 
adds health to the foliage, and prevents injury by insects. 
The earth should be watered only when dry, and then 
thoroughly.” * 
* ' * 
M. H. Lester, gardener to Professor Richardson, New 
Orleans. La., writes us as follows : 
“ If there be any part of my work that I like better 
than another it is handling ferns. Adiantum capillus- 
veneris used to be my favorite, but I think I have 
changed off to A. Andreanum, it is such a nice bushy 
little fellow, does not grow sideways, but covers up the pot 
nicely all around. I grow a great many Adiantums here. 
A. macrophyllum , A. formosum and A. Farleyense rep¬ 
resent some of the larger growing varieties. A lady 
from Boston, on a visit to the Exposition, in going through 
the houses told me, the other day, that she had never seen 
a prettier plant than one of my A. gracilis. But the 
most delightful Adiantum of all (so the ladies say) is 
A. lunulatum ; this variety makes a young plant on the 
end of every frond, and if it be planted in a basket, and 
the young plants attached to the outside with a hook-peg, 
or a hairpin, they will root in the moss and then form 
other plants until the basket is completely covered. I 
usually give this variety a rest, starting it again at this 
season. It is a very rapid grower and anyone unacquaint¬ 
ed with the variety would be surprised to find how soon 
a beautiful specimen can be obtained. 
The Horticultural Hall at the Exposition is about two 
blocks long (600 feet) and has a large fountain in the cen¬ 
tre. A double row of tables, containing the fruit exhibit, 
is arranged from door to door through the main portion of 
the building, and plants fill the wings of the building at 
the right and left of the fruit exhibit. The ladies go into 
ecstasies over some work done by the Mexicans in one 
of these departments, with Cactus, Agave and rocks. 
The Mexican Government makes a large and very inter¬ 
esting exhibit including miscellaneous plants, Cactus, 
Agave, Orchids and pulque, which is nothing more nor 
less than the juice or sap of the Agave americana and 
is about the consistency of the average well prepared 
milk-wagon milk. To produce it in sufficient quantities 
to make it an object, the plant must be started for bloom ; 
the flower stem is then cut out and thrown away, and 
the pulque collects in the stump sufficiently to be dipped 
out with a dipper. The Mexicans say this climate is too 
variable to do justice to their national beverage, but they 
have imported several large plants in the above condition 
and anyone is welcome to a glass of pulque at their 
exhibit table. I must say, however, that it tastes rather 
buttermilkish, particularly to anyone so near the border¬ 
line of Kentucky as the city of New Orleans happens to 
be.” * 
* * 
Soils.— We are often requested to state what soils are 
the best for a given variety of plants. We say, in all 
cases, the best you have. The soil in which any garden 
or field vegetable will thrive, will answer equally as well 
for a flowering plant. The condition of the soil when 
the seeds are put in, and the manner of cultivation after¬ 
ward, are the essentials to floricultural success. For all 
crops, dig deep, enrich heavily, cultivate frequently, grow 
your weeds in a separate field from your flowers or vege¬ 
tables, thin out your plants so that each can grow in its 
integrity; if a climbing plant furnish it support, if a tender¬ 
stemmed one, tie up carefully to suitable stakes, and you 
will have no occasion to say “ flowers won’t grow in my 
soil.” Nature has fitted the earth for vegetable produc¬ 
tions, with other conditions to suit, and there need be 
no excuses offered when failure comes, at least the soil 
should not be blamed. Charge the failure up to the firm 
of Ignorance & Laziness, and next year commence with 
intelligence and industry. 
* 
* * 
Gladiolus “Innocence.” —Vicks’ Monthly for February 
has a colored plate of their Seedling Gladiolus “ Inno¬ 
cence.” We quote what they say of it, but beg to differ 
with them as to the fact of its being the first pure white 
variety ever seen. It is probably the first they have ever 
seen, but had they visited one of the Long Island Gladioli 
farms during the flowering season of the past three years, 
they would have come to a very different conclusion. 
Japanese Boltonia, B.indica .— A very graceful species, 
from Japan, with slender stems bearing pale green leaves. 
It grows about three feet in height, producing pretty flower- 
heads, with lilac-colored florets and a yellowish-brown 
disk. It is useful for the mixed border, and succeeds in 
ordinary soil. 
Literary Notes. 
The Orchids of New England : A Popular Monograph. By 
Henry Baldwin. 8 vo., pp. 159. New York: John 
Wiley & Sons. 
The introduction to this charming book gives us to 
understand that it is the work of an amateur, but both 
illustrations and reading-matter show accurate .knowl¬ 
edge and sympathetic appreciation, qualities too often 
divided in such works. It is very modestly styled a 
popular monograph, and popular it deserves to be, for it 
is a novelty in botanical literature, and should fill a long- 
felt want. In describing this as popular we do not mean 
that it is written in the penny-a-liner style affected by 
some of our would-be popular botanists—we have had a 
surfeit of such ci-devant botany of late—but it is popular, 
inasmuch as it tells us just what we want to know, in the 
pleasantest manner possible. 
Though nominally dealing with New England Orchids 
only, it will be found a text-book of most North Amer¬ 
ican genera, and deserves to take permanent rank as 
such. The introduction gives the leading characteristics 
of the family, their development, growth and habit, and 
contains much information relative to their fertilization, 
one of the most interesting studies in botanical science. 
A synopsis of the Orchis family in New England is 
arranged in scientific order, as in Gray’s Manual, but in 
his descriptions Mr. Baldwin places the species accord¬ 
ing to time of flowering, a most convenient plan for the 
