THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
257 
be. The new Zanzibar balsam D m P a ^ ens Sul/am'), in 
rich, moderately moist ground, is growing and blooming 
abundantly, but has not set any seeds; on light, sandy 
land it died off; in pots it blossoms more copiously, 
throws its flowers up well above the leaves, and ripens 
lots of seed. I have no room for it in winter, therefore I 
raise it from seed every spring. 
Nierembergias bloom all summer, but they are of no 
use for cutting ; I treat them as annuals. Torenia Four- 
neri is a little gem, blooming all the time, but sometimes 
it damps off unaccountably. The double sweet alyssum 
didn’t grow or bloom much till six weeks ago ; now it is 
a bank of white, and perfumes the atmosphere about 
where it grows. Raise it from cuttings only. The double 
white feverfew is in full bloom a second time ; it is in 
much demand for cutrflowers. I keep over an old root 
or two in a cold frame or pit, start them to grow early in 
spring, then “ strike ” the slips. Heliotropes are better 
now than they have been; we like them as cut-flowers, 
and prefer the darker varieties. Sweet-peas, sown in 
April in heavy ground, blossomed till the middle of Au¬ 
gust ; now they are succeeded by a sowing put in in the 
middle of May. 
Between June and August I found difficulty in raising 
a good crop of mignonette, but now it is coming up 
readily enough. Petunias are aglow in sandy places 
where little else would thrive, Eschscholtzia, creeping 
milkweed, marigolds ( Tagetes ), globe amaranths and 
lantanas are capital plants for dry ground, but bear in 
mind that they, like most other plants, will attain propor¬ 
tionately greater perfection in good ground. I never saw 
anything in the way of marigolds finer than the Eldo¬ 
rado strain John Thorpe gave me last spring; the blos¬ 
soms are self-colored, pale to deep yellow, and as large 
and double as a dahlia flower. July-sown, also self- 
sown, Meteor marigolds are coming into bloom and shall 
continue in flower till November. They blossom beauti¬ 
fully in spring and fall, and as pot plants in winter, but 
during the dry, warm part of summer they become much 
deteriorated. During August and September China asters 
are in perfection, and what a grand display they make! 
My April sowings are past; May sowings still good. 
Chrysanthemum-flowered, rose-flowered and Victoria- 
needle types are fine, but much depends on the strain of 
seed you grow. Between types and varieties of these 
types I now have in bloom seventy-two kinds of “ China ” 
asters and seven thousand plants, and all are lovely. 
The seeds of these asters are raised for the trade mostly 
in Germany, but let me say here that in America we can 
raise a better and fuller crop of aster seeds than the 
growers can in Germany. 
Under ordinary circumstances ten-week stocks are not 
worth much after July, but some of the biennial sorts, as 
Intermediate and East Lothian, from March sowings, are 
blooming with moderate freedom. Brompton stocks sel¬ 
dom bloom in fall. Those I wish for spring blooming 
were raised from seeds sown in July, and are now in pots 
plunged in open cold frames. 
Gaillardias are very serviceable plants; they keep in 
bloom from June till November. Lorenz’s double is ex¬ 
cellent, and its parent, G. picta, very copious, but the 
brightest of all is G. Amb/yodon, and it is long-lived and 
copious. The lance-leaved coreopsis is bearing a pro¬ 
fusion of bright yellow flowers. It is a hardy perennial, 
neat and extremely free flowering, and comes into blos¬ 
som in May and lasts in bloom till destroyed by frost. 
It seeds freely and self-sows itself abundantly. C. trip- 
teris, C. senifolia, C. delphinifolia and C. verticillata 
also bloom freely but less beautifully than C. laticeolata. 
The fountain-leaved sunflower (. Helianthus orgyalis) is 
in full bloom, Maximilian’s fast advancing and the single 
and double varieties of H. multiftortis are among the gay¬ 
est of herbaceous plants. Among annual sunflowers the 
small cucumber-leaved, the wooly leaved H. argophyllus 
and the Western H. lenticularis all have neater and more 
beautiful flowers than the great gawky things within the 
negro’s fence or that farmers grow for chickens. 
Snapdragons blossomed full in June and July, and now 
they are bearing a good second crop. Raise them every 
year from seed. Perennial larkspurs that were cut back 
as soon as they had done blooming are again in flower, 
as are also young plants raised from seed last spring. 
Scabios or mourning bride, as we often call it, is in good 
bloom, and so is the white, fragrant tobacco plant (. Nico - 
liana affinis). The white day-lily and the lance-leaved 
plantain-lily are in full bloom. These and all other 
funkias love good ground and shady quarters. Several 
herbaceous phloxes are still in fine flower, notably a pure 
white one. They should be lifted, divided and replanted 
every second year. After the flower-heads of Sedum 
spectabile were pretty well developed and before the buds 
began to open I cut off a lot of them and planted them 
close together as a border edging; they live, thrive and 
blossom out as prettily as they would if left on the parent 
plants. They now are in full beauty. 
Zinnias are very showy. Where I had them in large 
masses they are past their best, but where they occurred 
in clumps of only three or four plants together, these 
are finer than they were in July. Drummond phlox was 
very fine till midsummer, then on account of the hot, dry 
weather, it became rather seedy; but the rains of August 
came and the phlox revived and still is good. My best 
phloxes now are from early June sowings in a frame, and 
thence transplanted to the open ground. Pentstemon 
pidchellus , from last spring-sown seed, is now and has 
been in good bloom for nearly two months. Mixed pent- 
stemons (varieties of P. Hartwegi), raised from seed last 
spring are in good bloom, but old plants, also plants 
raised from cuttings, are past. These varieties, if kept 
over winter, should be protected a little by means of 
mulching or a cold frame. Carnations raised from cut¬ 
tings last fall, also plants that were bloomed in the green¬ 
house last winter, cut back in spring, set out in good soil, 
have yielded a fair crop of flowers since midsummer. 
Of course, the plants for blooming indoors next winter 
were not allowed to blossom in summer. Vinca rosea, 
white, purple, or white, with red eye, are capital plants 
for dry summer weather; they love the warmest and 
sunniest places to grow in, are in bloom when set out in 
May or June, and continue to grow and bloom till de¬ 
stroyed by frost. You may sow the seeds in November 
and keep the little plants in their seed-pots till February, 
