232 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
us to give away 500 bulbs to every village in the 
country. 
There is a great deal of untrodden ground for us to go 
over yet and where we can do mnch good, especially 
among gentlemen’s gardeners and amateurs. There are 
nearly 2,000 gardeners in the employ of gentlemen who are 
holding positions of trust and responsibility; to these we 
ought to be known and countenanced. There is a way 
of reaching them, and it would be best accomplished by 
members sending to the secretary the names of those 
known to them. The gentlemen's gardeners are always 
well informed and would be a valuable aid to the so¬ 
ciety. 
There are also thousands of amateurs having fine gar¬ 
dens and greenhouses, and who do not have any profes¬ 
sional help, who would be delighted to join us, if only for 
the sake of encouraging us; we can always promise in 
our published proceedings such information as will al¬ 
ways be acceptable to our supporters. The very fact of our 
members being composed of those interested in the best 
methods of cultivation guarantees our being heard and 
appreciated among amateurs. The horticultural societies 
of the country should be enlisted in our interest; their in¬ 
terests should be our interest and so help each other at 
every turn. The past season’s trade among florists, not¬ 
withstanding the general depression in other branches of 
industry, was never better; this proves that lovers of 
flowers are generally not prevented from buying flowers, 
though other trades do suffer from general depression. 
It is a very cheerf.ul outlook under the circumstances, 
and we may look forward to still more support when the 
tide of prosperity again sets in. 
Flowers and their Associations. 
Of all the beauties there are to be found in nature, 
flowers stand pre-eminently first. They evidently are 
intended by the Creator to be companions of the human 
family. The man or woman is not born who does not 
inherently love flowers; it is only those who have unfor¬ 
tunately been denied the opportunity of ever seeing 
flowers that do not love them. I have a very intimate 
friend who five years ago did not know one flower from 
another. He is a very active business man in one of our 
large cities, and well supplied with the world’s goods. 
At one of the flower shows, held close to his house at 
that time, he was attracted to visit it. The impression 
left upon him was so deep that he determined to have 
flowers of his own. His city lot was unkempt and un¬ 
cared for. What did he do? He immediately set to 
work, had the lot.nicely turfed over, walks laid out, with 
borders on each side, a circular bed in the centre planted 
with coleus and other plants. The interest awakened 
his love for flowers, and grew until he determined to have 
a greenhouse. .To-day he has a greenhouse that has cost 
him over two thousand dollars. He has a collection of 
plants that no professional man need be ashamed of. 
He is a critic in many varieties of plants, capable of 
judging as correctly as are many florists. There is not 
a florist’s window that he does not stop to look in, and 
you could not buy the pleasure he has now for untold 
money. Here is a case where true love, when once 
awakened, has not faltered. I frequently have occasion 
to pass through the poorer quarters of New York city. 
There the love of flowers is to be seen among the poor 
children. Many probably have never seen a green field. 
How their little faces brighten up, their eyes beaming 
with delight at the sight of a few flowers. If they could 
be constantly associated with flowers would they not 
grow up better men and women than they are likely to 
do without ? Again, I claim that florists are among the 
best educators in the country. They teach by example 
as well as precept all that is good and true; they will 
mold the character of generations to come ; they help 
those afflicted with sickness, and make the long hours of 
pain more endurable. They teach also that, with even 
all the buffetings of life, there is really something worth 
living for, and that withal the beauties of nature are ever 
truthful, full of inspiration, and prompt us all to do that 
which is right. 
SPRUCE TREES FOR THE GARDEN. 
S PRUCES are among the commonest of our garden 
evergreens, and the Norway spruce perhaps the 
commonest species grown. For small gardens we want 
small trees, and with this end in view should avoid using 
the rapid-growing Norways in prominent places. And 
bear in mind, if you can accommodate only a few trees, 
better have something choice, neat and handsome than a 
coarse, common tree ; the care is the same. Who would 
plant a Norway spruce in preference to an Engelmann’s 
or Colorado blue spruce ? But the matter of size to a 
considerable extent rests with ourselves. By judicious 
pruning we can give to breadth what naturally would 
run too much to height, and that, too, with benefit to 
the tree. If we would have handsome trees, even 
spruces, we should be prepared to give them fairly good 
soil and shelter from biting winds. 
Picea alba (White Spruce).—Native of our northern 
borders and far northward through British America. A 
small tree, common and inexpensive, nevertheless, while 
young especially, a beautiful garden evergreen. We use 
it as an avenue tree, isolated specimens on the lawn, 
and grouped oif a northwestern bluff for landscape effect 
and shelter from the fierce sea-winds. As a wind-break 
in exposed places it is the best of our common spruces, 
even better and more reliable than the Norway spruce, 
but not as good as the Austrian pine. There is nothing 
delicate about it. It differs a good deal in color, varying 
from deep to bluish green. Apart from the normal form 
there are some pretty garden varieties of it. 
P. Ajanensis (the Ayan Spruce).—Native of Nipon, 
Yesso, the region of the Amour and Kamtchatka. A 
pretty spruce of recent introduction, in the way of P. Al- 
