THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
127 
The freesias scarcely require any further description, as 
they were illustrated and described in a recent number of 
The Floral Cabinet. 
The babianas have slightly woolly foliage and showy 
spikes of brilliant sweet-scented flowers. The ixias, with 
their erect wire-like stems, are most elegant; the flowers, 
being one inch in diameter, are star-shaped, with very 
symmetrical outlines; six petals formed exactly alike, 
widely opened, displaying a very marked Centre or ring. 
The colors are of all shades of yellow, pink, red and pure 
white. The most remarkable of all in the group is 
/. veridiflora, with brilliant metallic green flowers, and 
should be in every collection. The sparaxis have cup or 
salver-shaped flowers in spreading racemes, often six or 
more flowers opening at the same time; the deep maroon 
shades, with gold centres, are among the most beautiful. 
Other combinations are red-margined petals with blotches 
of pure white in each petal and white centres. There are 
also white-mottled flowers of distinct character. The enjoy¬ 
ment afforded by these beautiful plants will surely repay 
the little trouble that is required to cultivate them, and 
every lover of flowers should not neglect having some of 
these little gems in his collection of house-plants, and if 
they are grown according to the instructions given, they 
will be fully appreciated. 
M. Thorpe. 
GOOD WINDOW PLANTS. 
T HERE is a great similarity in plant-windows. If you 
visit a friend who keeps plants, she has about the 
same collection that another friend has, and so on. If you 
pass along the street and look at the windows where 
plants are kept, you see almost the same variety over and 
over again, geraniums, petunias, heliotropes, fuchsias, callas 
lilies, an oxalis, now and then a carnation pink, a few bego¬ 
nias, a coleus or two, and sometimes an abutilon, or prim¬ 
rose make up the general variety. 
Now, these plants are all good,, and if rightly managed 
will be a source of pleasure all winter ; but there are other 
plants just as easily managed, that are not as frequently, 
seen as those just mentioned. The genista is a small 
bushy plant, with neat foliage and small pea-shaped bright 
yellow flowers, that are fragrant; it will bloom nearly all 
winter; likes a warm sunny window and moderately rich 
compost; can be started in the spring and grown through 
the summer, or bought already grown in the fall. A pretty 
contrast in color to this plant, is an ageratum called John 
Douglass ; a pretty dwarf plant,'!-,with lavender blue flowers ; 
and if grown from a cutting started in July, it will make a 
good-sized plant, and bloom profusely all winter; every 
shoot that comes out being crowned with clusters of blos¬ 
soms ; it can be grown from seed very easily, but cut¬ 
tings make the best shaped plants. 
Habrothamnns elegans makes a fine window-plant if 
prepared the summer before; it needs to be set in the 
ground, or have the pot containing the plant sunk in the 
ground, and grown through the summer ; the ends of the 
branches should be pinched back to make them bushy; 
bring in when the nights grow cool and place in a warm 
window. It is a native of South America, so it needs 
heat and sun. The flowers grow in clusters, and are 
light crimson in color. 
The bouvardias do well with the same treatment, only 
they need a little more pinching to make them grow 
bushy, for the more branches you have the more flowers 
can be obtained. The browallia makes a nice window 
How much on woman does the world depend 
To gain at length a blest, a glorious end ; 
All dear in love, in friendship and in home, 
In woman’s heart find a most sacred throne. 
plant, if started from seed or cuttings in July; pinch 
the top when six inches high to induce it to throw out 
side shoots, and it will bloom most of the winter; the 
small flowers are “true blue,” a rare color in winter¬ 
flowering plants. 
The calendula, “ Meteor,” although an annual, makes a 
gay window plant. The true “ Meteor ” has very double 
flowers of orange regularly striped with creamy yellow, 
or the other way ; sometimes I am at a loss to tell which 
is the color and which is the stripe, as they vary on differ¬ 
ent plants. They can be propagated by cuttings, which 
root easily in wet sand and should be started in August; 
or seeds can be sown at that time ; in the latter case, they 
may prove like the parent plant and they may not. Out 
of a dozen plants which I have raised from seed, no two 
are just alike; some are the most intense orange, some of 
palest yellow; some are double to the centre, others 
show centres of dark-brown, medium-orange and light. 
They have been full of bloom all winter, and show no 
sign of stopping. Each plant should have a six-inch pot, 
and a good compost to grow in. Chrysanthemum frutes- 
cens , or French Marguerite, as it is sometimes called, 
makes a good window plant. It is a profuse bloomer all 
winter, has pretty foliage, and the snow-white flowers 
look like refined daisies. It can be grown from a cutting 
in July and makes a good-sized plant by cold weather. 
In the spring it cfen be turned out of the pot into the 
garden to grow through the summer ; and when taken 
into the house again it will be a large bush, with a 
hard, woody stem and a great many flowers. 
The cyclamen make the finest of window plants. The 
foliage of all varieties is pretty, and some have very hand¬ 
some leaves ; the flowers are very odd-looking, of different 
shades of crimson and white. 
A good-sized plant will have from thirty to fifty flowers, 
and they retain their beauty a long time. They are easily 
grown from seed, and if well grown will bloom in a year 
or less from the time of sowing. M. J. Plumstead. 
’Tis hers to plant along life’s pathway flowers, 
Restore the long-lost charms of Eden’s bowers, 
Entice to virtue, all temptation spurn, 
And make earth’s first and holiest scenes return. H. F. 
