112 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
autumn by bright scarlet berries, which last through 
the winter aud ofttimes into the next season. 
Summer wanes, and we look now for the bright car¬ 
dinal flower (Lobelia Cardinalis). growing on marshy 
ground and beside the brooks. It is an herb, becoming 
perennial by offsets, and easily domesticated. The flowers 
are seen at a distance, owing to their bright color and 
height from the ground. Near by we shall find 
Clematis Virginiana climbing everywhere, covering old 
stumps, bushes and piles of stones, making wherever 
it grows a bower of beauty. The flowers, which are 
pure white, are succeeded by the conspicuous feathery 
tails of the fruit. Asters and Golden-rod come now, 
and their name is legicn : but what a world of beauty 
is there in both species. 
Last comes the beautiful Fringed Gentian— 
“ Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye 
Look through its fringes to the sky. 
Blue, blue, as if that sky lot fall 
A flower from its cerulean wall.” 
AVe have reviewed some of the beauties of the floral 
kingdom, but how small a part it is. I know I have 
left out a great many that deserve to be named, but wo 
might fill the pages of this magazine and yet ask for 
mote room. I have only named some of my favorites, 
for we all have particular friends both in people and 
flowers. We shall not have long to wait, for already 
the birds are here, atul with t lie birds come flowers. 
*' There was never mystery, 
But 'tis floured in the flowers ; 
Was never secret history, 
But birds tell it in the bowers/’ 
Worcester, Mrs. T. L. N. 
PERPETUAL OR TREE CARNATIONS. 
At no time perhaps in their history have the Tree Car¬ 
nations enjoyed so high a degree of popularity as now, 
and great must be the gratification of those who have 
persistently urged upon cultivators their value for sup¬ 
plying winter flowers. A few years ago it was gravely 
stated that these beautiful flowers were steadily declin¬ 
ing in public favor, and that the blooms grown for com¬ 
mercial purposes would become a drug on the market. 
But instead of their declining in popularity they have 
steadily increased, and now they are very extensively 
grown in most gardens in which a demand for cut flowers 
lias to be met during the Winter season, and in nurseries 
large stocks may be met with where a few years since 
hardly a plant was to be seen. The attention they are 
receiving at the hands of trade growers is one of the best 
proofs of the esteem in which they are generally held 
that could possibly be had, for the English nurserymen 
are as a rule too shrewd to grow plants for which there 
is practically no demand. Moreover, I have heard more 
than one nurseryman complain of the demand for choice 
varieties outstripping the supply. With the full knowl¬ 
edge that the Tree Carnation is receiving from trade and 
private growers alike the attention it so well merits, 
there is no occasion to dwell upon its beauty and useful¬ 
ness. 
The fact must not, however, be overlooked that 
as well-grown examples bloom freely and continuously 
from early in the Autumn until late in the Spring, the 
Tree Carnations are well able to afford immense assist¬ 
ance to those who require flowers in abundance during 
the two periods mentioned. Nor should it be forgotten 
that they have an attractive appearance whether grown 
in a small structure by themselves or arranged in the 
conservatory with the general collection of plants; or 
that the flowers are admirably adapted for hand and 
button-hole bouquets and for dressing epergnes and fill¬ 
ing vases of every description. The value of these 
flowers has been materially increased of late by the large 
number of very beautiful varieties that have been intro¬ 
duced. Cultivators should become acquainted with the 
recent introduction?, for they not only prdduce flowers 
larger, richer in color, and finer in form than those of' 
the old favorites, but they have a stronger constitution. 
The last mentioned is an important point in their favor, 
fer without a robust growth it is impossible to obtain an 
abundant supply of flowers, as many cultivators have 
found in dealing with the old sorts. It would probably 
be well for private as well as trade growers to devote 
more attention to the raising of seedlings, and in making 
selections to be careful to give a preference to those 
robust in growth, provided, of course, they are in other 
respects worth keeping. The raising of a hundred 
plants from seed annually would not impose a very 
heavy tax upon either time or space, as they could be 
bloomed in five-inch pots, and the most inferior flowers 
could be used in some way or other for in-door decora¬ 
tions. But provided care is taken to save seed from the 
finest varieties the greater portion of the seedlings will 
be decidedly good, even if they do not surpass the 
parents.— Gardener's Magazine. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Farfugium Grande.— Mrs. W. E. Nichols, Boothlaij 
Hill, Md. Your Farfugium (Tiissilago farara) is not the 
variegated variety, and no treatment you can give it 
■will make it “spot.” There are two varieties—one 
plain, the other variegated. 
Narcissus Failing to Bloom .—Lydia H. C., Troy, 
N. Y. Your failure in blooming the Poet’s Narcissus, 
was from no fault of yours, rather from the fact that 
they are not adapted for the purpose, at least 6uch as 
are annually imported. By taking up an old, well- 
established clump from the garden, in Autumn, using 
- care not to disturb the roots, putting the clump in a 
box or large pot, and after giving it thorough watering, 
covering up with newly-fallen leaves or litter of any 
kind, and leaving it in any out-of-the-way place until 
