annuals. 
By the time this article reaches our reader's, many of 
them will have lost then' summer flowers by frost’s re¬ 
lentless hand; other's, in more favored climes, will scarcely 
have given their loss a thought, surrounded, as they 
must be, with Autumn flowers, and the still more 
beautiful Autumnal foliage—trees “whose vii'tues, and 
not then' sins, have made them as scarlet.” Now, while 
in the midst of flower's, or while tire pleasrrres they have 
afforded rrs are sliU fresh in our memories, is the proper 
time to make an inventory of the garden, and see which 
of our plants, or wlrat class of plants has afforded us the 
greater pleasm'e in propor-tion to what it has cost, and, 
as well, without regard to cost. In doing tliis the 
conclusion will be astonislring; one lover of “bedding 
plants,” will find his outlay to have been at least ?25, in 
return for which he has had some half dozen beds, or 
“mounds,” filled with Geraniums, Heliotropes, Vincas, 
Coleus, etc., etc., that have during the latter part of the 
season made a good display, exciting the envy, perhaps, 
of his neighbor, who would have had fiowers if he had 
in his soul that sentiment or principle essential to their' 
enjoyment—love. Theinventory that will show the best 
balance is the one where the debit side is the smallest, 
in fact nothing, relatively, and where the returns have 
been simply enormous. It is of this class, and for this 
class, the growers of annuals, that we wish to speak. 
Dr. Lindley said: “The love of fiowere is a holy feeling, 
inseparable from our very nature; it exists alike in 
savage and civUized society; and it speaks with the same 
powerful voice to the great and we^thy, as to the poor 
and lowly.” 
The truth of these observations must be felt by every¬ 
one. We love flowers in our earliest childhood, and in 
old age we do not forget them; on the contrary, the love 
for them increases with our years, and their presence 
inspires us -with the glow of youth. The love of flowers 
has a tendency to improve our best feelings, and to 
subdue our bad ones; and we can hardly contemplate 
the beauty and richness of a flower-garden without 
feeling in our hearts a spirit of thankfulness and grati¬ 
tude to the Oeator for the privilege of enjoying the 
more beautiful of His handiwork. Of all kind of flowers, 
the ornamental garden annuals, are the most generally 
interesting; and the easiness of their culture renders it 
peculiarly suitable for a feminine pursuit. The pruning 
and training of trees, and the culture of garden vegeta¬ 
bles, requires too much strength and manual labor; but 
a lady, with the assistance of the strong hand of the 
husband or brother to prepai'e the ground, may turn a 
barren waste into a flower-garden with her own hands. 
Sowing the seeds of annuals, watering them, trans¬ 
planting when necessary, traim'ng the plants by tying 
them to sticks, or by leading them over ti'ellis-work 
and cutting off the dead flowers, or gathering the 
seed for the next year’s crop, are all suitable feminine 
occupations; and they have the additional advantage 
of inducing exei-cise in the open air. “ 
It is astonishing how much beauty may be displayed 
in a garden, either large or small, by a tasteful arrange 
meat of annual flowera. All that is required is a knowl 
edge of the colors, foms, and habits of growth of the 
different kinds. Many of the flowers now grown in om- 
gardens are not worth culture, but they are grown year 
after year because their cultivators have them, and 
know them, and do not know^ of anything better. Many 
very beautiful flowers have been introduced, gi'own for 
a season or two, and thrown out of cultivation, because 
fashion dictated something else. How ridiculous for 
fashion to interfere with the beautiful in nature, to rule 
out, or order in, according to its whimsical caprice! We 
submit, under protest, when “They” say we must wear 
this or that, this year; but w-e rebel and resist with all 
the vigor of our manhood when fashion says we must 
grow Sunflowers and throw away our Petunias; it is an 
unwarrantable interference with our love of the beauti¬ 
ful that cannot be tolerated for a moment. 
The culture of annuals has two gi'eat advantages over 
the culture of all other flowers whatever. In the first 
place, it is attended with less expense than any other- 
description of flower-culture ; and in the second, all the 
enjoyment of which it is susceptible is obtained witbin 
the compass of six or eight months. Bulbous or tuber¬ 
ous-rooted flowers, like annuals, produce their flowers 
in the first year ; they are ■withal objects of great beauty; 
but to have flowers at all times, dm'ing the summer, in¬ 
volves an immense expense, and a vast amount of care. 
Herbaceous perennials, if grown from seed, do not reach, 
with some few exceptions, a flowei'ing state until the 
second or third year; if obtained by roots, the expense 
is as gi'eat as for bulbs, and, like them, can only be pur¬ 
chased and grown when one is to remain a number of 
years -without change. The seeds of annuals, on the 
other hand, cost a mere trifle; and the expense of pre¬ 
paring the soil, so-n'ing them, and thinning them when 
they come up, is also very little ; while the effect pro¬ 
duced is as great or greater, than that of many bulbs or 
tubers, and most herbaceous perennials. The flower of 
a choice Hyacinth, the cost of which will be, say twenty- 
five cents before planting, is not much more beautiful 
than the Kocket Larkspm', which may be grown -with less 
trouble from a seed the cost of wliich -will be about the 
twenty-fifth part of one cent. Annual flowers, therefore, 
are, above all others, stdtable for the gardens of resi¬ 
dences which are hired for not more than a year; while 
they are equally fit for decorating all other gardens. 
Not long since, while visiting in a beautiful New Eng¬ 
land village, on the banks of the Connecticut River, I 
was invited to visit a gentleman’s flower-garden, said to 
be one of the most extensive and beautiful of any in the 
State—one that was known far and -wide, and was visi¬ 
ted by parties from all the adjoining towns and coun¬ 
ties. Of course. I expected a floral treat, notwithstanding 
the “ best flower-gardens ” are quite common throughout 
the country; nor .was I at all disappointed. The owner 
of the grounds was only too happy to show us through 
about five acres of the most showy flowers we have ever 
met away froin home. Unfortunately, our kind gardener 
■was too ntuch embarrassed to enjoy our visit; oru' reputa¬ 
tion as a gar dener had gone bef or-e us, and the owner called 
us aside, soon as possible, and apologized for his flowers, 
as they were nothing but annuals, and he supposed we 
wanted to see choice flowers. I assured him in aU ear- 
