TIIE LADIES ’ FLORAL CABINET. 
4 1 
Sweet Peas.— Miss S. F. asks the reason why her 
Sweet Peas do not bloom well, and if there is any par¬ 
ticular method in culture that will enable her to have 
these flowers, the loveliest of annuals, throughout the 
Summer. 
Answer.— We cannot say why you have failed, but 
can truly say there is no reason why you cannot grow 
Sweet Peas to the greatest perfection, if your garden is 
other than a sand-bank. This plant, if properly grown, 
will bloom for months; failure arises from poor soil, sow¬ 
ing too thickly, and not allowing a well-developed and 
luxuriant growth. The soil should be very rich, the 
Peas sown at least an inch apart in the row, and planted 
live inches in depth. To keep up the bloom from early 
Summer until frost, the seed pods must be promptly re¬ 
moved, as the growth and ripening of feeds would ex¬ 
haust the strength of the plant. By this process 
the plants will keep in constant bloom the entire 
season. 
Plants in Garden Vases.—Please tell me what are 
the best plants for my vases on tlio lawn and in the 
garden. I have been filling them with miscellaneous 
plants, flowering and ornamental leaved, but they 
neither succeed well or seem suitable for their places. 
H. E. R. 
Answer. —An Agave, or a Yucca, planted in a garden 
vase, is always suitable, and requires no special care or 
management. The Dracaena Indivisa and several of the 
Palms, make splendid objects for vases, and are also 
not liable to injury by neglect. 
Earth Worms in Pots.— Subscriber. This troublesome 
pest will generally succumb when treated with a liberal 
dose of lime-water or tobacco-water. These remedies, 
however, sometimes fail. A correspondent of the 
Floral World , having failed with the above, tried a new 
remedy, and was more successful. He says: “I put 
ten drops of carbolic acid in a pint of water, and 
poured that on the earth in the pot, and it acted 
like a charm, killed all the worms, and the plants 
began to improve at once. It has been a month 
since this was applied, and they are all in a nice grow¬ 
ing condition, and I think it is time enough to show 
what it will do. 
White and Scarlet Mignonette.— Florence H. asks 
if there are really such varieties, or if they are trade 
names ? 
Answer .—If any one imagines they can get a Mig¬ 
nonette with flowers of as bright a scarlet as the General 
Grant Geranium, or as pure a white as the rocket Can¬ 
dytuft, they will be sadly mistaken. Color, as applied 
to flowers, is relative. A white-flowered Mignonette, is 
a variety with flowers much lighter than the type, 
and having at first sight the appearance of a white 
flower. The same is ti-ue of the scarlet. These terms 
must not be taken literally. 
Red Snow.— Cam-ie. The so-called Red Snow is a 
lichen bearing the botanical name of Protococeus 
Nivalis. It is so plentiful in some Alpine districts, 
notably in the Appennines, covering certain spots as 
with a bloody pall, that the credulous inhabitants 
looked upon it as an augury of misfortune. It- has an im¬ 
mense geographical distribution, being found on the 
line of perpetual snow, in European as well as Arctic 
regions. It was first discovered by the celebrated Alpine 
traveler, De Saussure.in 1760,on Mount Breven in Switzer¬ 
land, afterwards on the Pennine Alps, and in the Col du 
Grant, during that indefatigable traveler’s ascent of 
Mont Blanc. Seen under the microscope, the germ 
presents a most curious aspect. It forms a most 
interesting reticulated ball, and is certainly alto¬ 
gether one of the wonders of vegetable life, capa¬ 
ble of enduring the greatest amount of cold, and yet 
living and multiplying itself in a comparatively tem¬ 
perate region. 
Begonias .—Adclia L., Brooklyn, N. Y. Nearly all 
the Begonias make splendid house-plants; they will 
stand more heat, and do with less light, at the same 
time produce their flowers more freely than any other 
class of plants that we have ever tried. Begonia Rubra 
is a charming plant when in flower. 
Watering Plants.— Amateur. It is an injury to 
plants to frequently water on the surface; to water 
thoroughly when the plants require it, is essential. Re¬ 
flection will convince any one that a pot full of soil and 
a mass of roots in the centre, cannot receive sufficient 
water to wet the roots thoroughly, if applied on the top 
of the pot, in moderate quantities, daily. It is time 
saved, once a week, to place the plants in a deep 
vessel of water, keep in the water until the air bub¬ 
bles cease; and also syringe over and under the 
leaves: it will keep the plants healthy, as does the 
evening dew. 
Concentrated Manure.— Amateur. There are now so 
many artificial manures, all of them more or less valua¬ 
ble for house-plants, that it is difficult for us to say which 
is the best. One thing, however, is certain: you cannot 
go astray by taking raw-bone meal and hard-wood 
ashes, mix in equal parts, adding sufficient water to 
moisten, but not enough to make the mass sticky. A 
large teaspoonful put on the surface of the soil around 
each plant, and covered thinly with moss, is one of the 
best of fertilizers. For rapid growing plants, it should 
be applied twice during the season. 
Calochortus.— S. A. Y., Thomasville, Ga. These ele¬ 
gant flowering bulbs, and the Brodiceas, can all be grown 
in the open border. "With you they would not require 
protection. In the Northern States they must be grown 
in a frame, or the bed must be protected by mulching. 
Plant for Name.— H. C. G., Corpus Christi, Teas. Jas- 
mimun Poeticum. 
Oxalis .—Miss Thomson, Pa. Your pink Oxalis can 
be rapidly increased by division. Cut the crown of the 
roots in small pieces, plant singly in small pots. The 
bulbous varieties increase naturally, several new bulbs 
taking the place of the old one ; these should be potted 
singly, or there may be three or four bulbs planted in a 
six-inch pot. Our subscriber will excuse us for not 
believing the pink Oxalis will produce white flowers 
when grown in the same pot with the white flowering 
sorts; we think her mistaken. Typographical errors 
will occasionally occur, particularly in the names of 
plants. 
