ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Editoi s Floral Cabinet:—I see in the August number 
of Floral Cabinet an answer to an inquiry about the 
Night-blooming Cereus. I was interested from the fact 
that I have one which is not two years old until Jan¬ 
uary next, and it has put out' six blooms—one last 
summer and five this. Only the one this summer came 
to beautiful perfection, and I would love to know why 
all the blooms but one dropped off. Was the plant too 
young? It grew most wonderfully rapid all last winter 
and spring. Just before I read the answer to your cor¬ 
respondent, I had re-potted it, putting into a much 
larger pot than you suggest as large enough for one 
“ with twenty blooms.” I did it to save the one bloom. 
Do you think the plant will be injured ? 
I wish also to ask if it is usual for Violets to bloom in 
the yard during August and September ? I send two 
little ones of mine. They are not large but sweet. 
Should the roots be separated in the fall or spring, or 
just be let alone? 
I have had so much delight in my flowers all sum¬ 
mer! No one attends them but myself. How many 
sick ones have shared with me their beauty and per¬ 
fume, I may not name. Day Lilies, Night-blooming 
Jessamine, Plumbago, Geraniums, Tuberoses,and others, 
too numerous to mention, have gladdened even the 
dying, and I think God made them bloom so grandly 
because I plucked so many flowers for His suffering 
children. S. V. B. 
Ans.—The reason why your Night-blooming Cereus 
did not perfect its flowers, was because the plant had 
not become well established in its new home. We 
should infer that the cutting that you had was from 
old or flowering wood, with the buds already formed; 
such being the case, they would not develop perfectly. 
When the new growth is two years old, if strong and 
healthy, you may expect perfect flowers. If you do not 
over-water, the size of the pot will not injure the plant. 
If the month of July has been hot and dry, and the 
following months wet, Violets will be quite apt to 
flower. The Neapolitan Violets always come into 
flower in August and September, and continue in bloom 
through the winter. The roots should be separated in 
the spring, and planted out in the garden in rich, heavy 
soil, and all the runners should be cut off. 
In Trouble.—Mrs. N. L., Brooklyn—We can very 
well see why you do not wish to give up your Gera¬ 
niums, Lantanas, Heliotropes, Coleus, and other bedding 
plants, after their having afforded you so much pleasure 
during the summer. Like all other attachments, they 
must be severed. Nearly all plants must have a season 
of rest as well as of growth. Now is the time for yours 
to rest. You cannot take them up without checking 
their growth to such a degree as to make them unsightly, 
to say the least. Plants, of the kind you name, when 
wanted for winter blooming must be grown on in pots 
during the summer, and but very slowly, giving them 
but little water, and a sunny situation. This treatment 
will make them dwarf and vigorous. When ready to 
be taken into the house, shift them into pots a size 
larger than the ones in which they have been growm 
using good, strong, rich soil. Then you will have plants 
that will bloom the entire winter. Your Ice Plant, 
Mesembi'yanthemum, can be taken up and potted, but a 
better plan will be to take a cutting from it, and start a 
new plant-. Your western exposure is not as favorable 
as a southerly one, yet plants may do well in it. 
Tuberoses.— Mrs. S. J. Blount —After a Tuberose has 
flowered it is of. no further use. They are increased 
from the offsets, which should be planted four inches 
deep, in very rich soil, in a sunny situation; treat the 
same as you would potatoes, if you were trying to pro¬ 
duce an enormous crop. If the sets are large they will 
make flowering bulbs in one year; if not, it will require 
two years to perfect them. 
Carnations.— Mrs. J. W. Black —The young Carna¬ 
tions that you have grown from seed, should be potted 
singly, and grown on in a sunny and moderately cool 
situation until they come into flower. It is better to 
cut them back, to within an inch of the ground, to make 
them more stocky. We do not consider old plants of 
any use, excepting that some of the young branches 
may be used for cuttings. For this purpose they should 
be taken off in February, and as soon as rooted, put into 
small pots and grown on until about the first of May, 
when they should be planted out in the garden, to make 
a growth for winter flowering. A plant that has flow¬ 
ered during the summer, will have outlived its useful¬ 
ness. Take up your Amaryllis Johnsoni, and put it in 
any out-of-the-way place, cover with dry sand, until it 
shows signs of growth, and the first will be a flower 
bud, then re-pot and treat like any house-plant. 
Plant for Name.— C. M. K. Smith, Chatham—Salvia 
purpurea. 
A spout is an accidental change in the stem or branch, 
either in the color of the leaves or flower, but more 
generally in the flower, and which, if secured, seldom 
goes back to the original, although cases have been 
known where high cultivation has caused it to change 
back again. Botanists appear at a loss to account for 
these changes; some attribute them to dry seasons, 
others to wet seasons, and some to chemical agencies in 
the soil; but it is certain that some varieties of flowering 
plants are more mutable than others. For instance, the 
white, pink and double flowering varieties of the Bou- 
vardia are all sports, and reference to florists and seeds¬ 
men’s catalogues will show us how much we are in¬ 
debted to these “sports,” or accidental variations, for 
many of the more valuable flowers under cultivation. 
Seedling Tulips, when they first bloom, produce flowers 
without any stripes or markings, the base of the flower 
being, usually, yellow, while the upright portion of the 
petals is self-colored, brown-red, purple, scarlet or rose. 
These usually are grown many years without variation, 
finally they break into stripes, and ever after remain the 
same, the variegations never changing, the offsets pro¬ 
ducing the same flowers as the parent bulb, and by 
means of which any particular variety is propagated. 
