6 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
ing in exquisite symmetry of form, grace of bearing, 
and dewy freshness. The color, flesh-pink, is a shade 
whose refined transparent purity defies description. 
The effect is heightened by the hazy morning light, 
and the gladdened eyes rest in dreamy, trance-like 
admiration upon this glorious vision of transfigured 
beauty. 
An adjoining rose forms a pleasing contrast to the 
chaste' beauty of the Baroness. The plant is thickly 
studded with great gleaming globes of flamboyant color, 
a color which asserts the individuality of the flowers 
with graphic distinctness. The broad satiny petals are 
lined with velvet of incomparable finish, a velvet never 
equaled by the deftest Lyons loom. This is the Gen. 
Jacqueminot. A little farther on stand Jean Liabaud 
and Baron de Bonstetten, arrayed in dusky, glowing 
crimson, with broad, black velvety bands. Their bar¬ 
baric splendor of color is admirably heightened by the 
contrast which their neighbor, Madame Plantier, affords. 
She, decked in purest white, is most lavish of her chaste 
charms, and at this weird hour shines with almost 
supernatural purity. Thus you go the rounds, admiring 
in turn the florid beauty of Marie Baumann, the delicate 
grace of La France, the lovely, aristocratic Miss Hassard, 
the gorgeous trappings of Prince Camille de Rohan, 
the portly La Reine, the bright little Bourbon, Louise 
Odier, and many others. At midday these are lovely ' 
and seem to fill the measure of all legitimate desire in 
that respect, but in the early morning they possess a. 
beauty infinitely superior, and countless added charms, 
all in perfect harmony with their exceptional surround¬ 
ings. Amongst the many striking features, we are im¬ 
pressed with the rare consistency of petal; the immacu¬ 
late freshness and vivid brilliancy of color; the peculiar 
and startling distinctness with which each individual 
flower stands out from its dewy verdant background. 
In the hazy atmosphere and mystic light of this early 
hour, they seem crowned with a halo of subtle, magic 
beauty, radiant and etherial, but whose perfections are, 
alas ! transient—evanescent as 
“ The pearly dewdrops stolen by the thirsty sun.” 
Hence, the only terms upon which this fleeting vision 
of resplendent beauty shall be vouchsafed to you. are 
these: Cheerfully forego your customary modicum of 
“solid comfort” and pay no tribute to Morpheus—at 
least, not in the balmy mornings of the month of Roses, 
sunny June. F. Lax'CE. 
CATALOGUES AND WINTER GARDENING. 
We are quite familar with gardening in all its forms, 
out-of-doors and in-doors, gardening for pleasure and 
gardening for profit; our greatest pleasures come from 
gardening for profit, and our greatest profit comes when 
we garden for pleasure. This is a profit that is lasting; 
it is true, because it is inward; it is a profit that makes 
the heart rich, a profit that makes happy the whole 
household; an investment that declares dividends at all 
hours, and just as large as you can carry. Our fields, 
when in their glory, give us indescribable pleasure, as 
well as every passer by, besides filling the evening air 
with the most delicious fragrance. No investment ever 
paid such dividends as we receive from the various hos¬ 
pitals into which some of our flowers find their way. 
What joy the conservatory affords, scarlet geraniums 
all aglow, smiling in the face of this, our first winter 
storm ; and the Daphne Odora, so sweet that the room 
seems all daphne, although there is but one small plant, 
and that is almost hidden by the ferns, and the “ wee ” 
little primroses dressed in pink and white, as happy as 
children at Christmas. 
Great as the pleasures are that spring from all these 
sources, still greater are those by our side, our paper 
gardens. This is catalogue month, and what pleasure is 
equal to that which we derive from a secdman’s cata¬ 
logue? what garden ever furnished such flowers as we 
find in them ? and what field ever contained half so 
many rare and beautiful objects, as we have (in our 
hearts) as we look them all over, selecting new Roses, 
new Lilies, Gladioli, Geraniums, annuals and perennials 
in the greatest profusion? What shall we select? or 
rather, What shall we reject ? XSrAdplanting time, we will 
take the whole, and have such a garden as the imagina¬ 
tion only can picture. 
What a variety of catalogues there are to select from, 
each vies with the other in “ novelties,” each has a spec¬ 
ialty that the other has not that makes it interesting for 
a certain class, known in the trade as catalogue hunters, 
and their name is legion; they make it their business to 
“ get a collection,” and send for every one that is 
“ mailed free to all applicants.” Occasionally tins class 
will order ten cents worth of seeds, but not often. 
Sometimes a fever of this kind breaks out in a country 
school, where the teacher has a taste for the beautiful, 
and wishing to encourage it in the pupils, she (and some¬ 
times he) gets up a club, which is the whole school, aud 
down they come on some favored seedsman or florist for 
catalogues, one letter containing fifty applicants, that 
all told do not buy as many cents worth of seeds. 
There is another and large class, that truly appreciates 
the labor bestowed on a catalogue ; they always send 
stamps in payment for postage, and not unf requently for 
the catalogue as well, and what is still better they al¬ 
ways show their appreciation by returning a liberal 
order for the various seeds, bulbs or plants listed. There 
are but few books published so complete in information 
on all subjects pertaining to the garden as many of our 
best catalogues, and we should advise the use of such as 
text-books on gardening. They give full instructions in 
every branch concise and plain, so that no one need go 
astray. In most cases, a voluminous work on gardening 
is only a seedman’s catalogue “ blown up ” with super¬ 
fluous words. 
There is annually a marked improvement in the gen¬ 
eral appearance as well as in the matter contained in 
the vast number of catalogues now sent out. In this 
work the spirited rivalry, of the dealers is plainly mani¬ 
fest. Either, of those already received contains far 
