The striped Petunia we have always recommended, and can say that, all things considered, it 
has few equals. It is of easy culture, the seed germinates freely, a few plants cover a large 
space, and will give a constant show of flowers, growing better and better every day, from June 
until destroyed by frost. Every season we see scores of baskets and vases filled with plants that 
are costly and difficult to manage, where the Petunias would have done much better, and could 
have been grown almost without cost or trouble. True, it is a common flower, and our greatus. 
blessings are common and cheap— air and water and sunshine, and the beauties of nature, and the 
luxury of living, and loving, and breathing, and seeing, and walking and talking, are free to all. 
This is the reason, perhaps, that we have been left almost alone to speak the praises of this hum¬ 
ble yet beautiful flower — if our correspondent is correct; for really in our zeal we thought every¬ 
body must be in love with the Petunia. The article below, to which we have alluded, is from a 
lady of Bethlehem, Connecticut: 
Dear Mr. Vick : — T am not going to ask or suggest that anything shall be added to the cares that are already 
yours, but I have been reading the last number of the Guide and have found so much pleasure in the familiar talk, 
good advice, and valuable hints with which you fill out its pages, that I think I cannot better express my apprecia¬ 
tion of all, than to say that I wish the Guide could come to me as a monthly rather than a quarterly guest. But 
there is a special matter of which I wish to write. Among the floral treasures you send me every spring is one dear 
little flower whose praises have never been sounded, so far as I have been able to discover, by any but yourself. I 
think it very unfair to you and very unjust to your beautiful Striped Petunias, that you should be left unaided and 
alone to write their merits. I am so fond of everything that wears the form and coloring of a flower that it would 
be extremely difficult for me to designate any special one as my favorite, but it seems to me ‘hat if I were obliged 
to cofine myself to the culture of a single variety, I would give up anythi g sooner than my bed of Striped and 
Blotched Petunias. Other plants excel them in fragrance, beauty of form, texture and foliage, but they can be 
exceeded by none in the beautiful blending of colors, and the mass of brilliant bio m affords such endless variation, 
that they are a source of constant daily interest. It is a regular morning pastim with me to go out and search for 
new faces among the freshly opened flowers, and I always find them waiting to smile upon me their thanks for the 
cherishing care that has brought them into life and beauty. Two exactly alike I have scarcely ever found, and I 
have tried many times, 'fell your customers, Mr. Vick, that there is a world of beauty, interest and companion¬ 
ship in a bed of Striped Petunias. — H. M. F. 
FRIENDS EVERYWHERE. 
Our subscribers and customers are scattered all over the wide world — in India, China, Japan, 
the mountains of Syria, even under the shadows of the Cedars of Lebanon. We have now before 
us a letter from a lady dated Bijnour, India, a part of which may be interesting: 
Mr. Vick : — Dear Sir: — I very much desire your Floral Guide for 1875, but how am I to get it away over 
here in the shadows of the Himalaya Mountains, and without a scrip in my pocket. I would inclose my fifty cent 
pocket piece, but some Arab would surely steal it and throw the letter away, so I make bold to ask you to send it 
gratis. American seeds are highly prized in India, which is wonderfully beautiful in Flora. — Mrs. M. A. 
McHenry. 
We were never more highly pleased than when on a trip to the pea-growers of Canada last 
summer, after the transaction of necessaiy business, we took a run to the Northern Canada Lakes. 
Observing smoke ascending from the woods, we sought its cause, and soon came upon an Indian 
encampment. Noticing one who seemed to be the chief of the party we said, “Good morning,” 
to which he promptly responded, at the same time inquiring of our home. On being informed, 
he further inquired if we knew a certain seedsman, and when informed that he stood before him, 
he seemed at first incredulous and afterwards highly pleased, declaring with a hearty shake of the 
hand that he would sooner see us than Queen Victoria. He took our Guide; and the Indians 
that could read, all borrowed and perused it, but like white folks, did not always return the num¬ 
bers, so he had lost several, which we agreed to supply. 
An Outrage. — The Irishman who had just arrived in New York, and was attacked bv a 
savage looking dog, ran to the street for a cobble-stone, and not finding one loose, thought this was 
a pretty country, with the dogs let loose and the stones fastened down. It is a pretty country 
that will make seedsmen pay a heavy duty for what seeds they import, and high postage; and 
then take the money and buy seeds to give away, and to be sent free through the mails. Such an 
outrage is not committed on any other class of business men in this country — nor on a??y class of 
business men in any other civilized country in the world — and all to make offices for a few per¬ 
sons at Washington, and friends for the politicians. 
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