the AMERIC^ 
gaRD^^- 
tOoTi) 
186 
lu our 
»r”rrv;o.e>.. 
wliicl' 
aristo- 
o£ old 
family 
or lu 
too wet. You can hardly give VioUt^ 
enough water in cold weather. Only t-H 
earth is dry several inches deep, ^ '"‘lie 
...„tov them, which will ho ®®yon 
belated. 
A single Buttercup I fouml, 
A star upon my weary way, „ 
..... i,ov hcatccl round, 
As summer closed her boated 
And ushered in the avitunm d } • 
A Uttle memory of May 
That slept too late, as T l»aA o > 
And so imlcnowlng gone astray. 
And now stood lonely in the sun. 
It seemed with anxious look to .ask. 
Are all my bright comp.anions dead! 
Or have I slept, forgetting task, 
Until tlie lovely May lias sped ? 
for generations und . eyfuining the 
fashionahle houses m they 
air at half a ‘ ^ go^er it is hard to 
should be so resei a m 
say. The Violet is a h y 1^^^^^ 
the ungraeious chma e the 
suburbs are lovely the Valley bods 
Box hedges and the L y company foi' 
and Violet herders .j,,, jj^^v sweet 
water them, which will be once 1 • 
three weeks. They will hear the 
lifted in snnny noons, and warm wiute^^^S 
for perhaps half an hour; hut avoid 
tlieui get drenched, or having anydrmf « 
the sashes. That brings yellow 
decay among the crowns. ’‘I'l 
Very few people know the varieties e 
of sweet Violets which enrich the Cr?"’ 
Tlio English, the Neapolitan, and some ''' 
call the new Russian varieties, are T 
1' 
-tD 
.11?* 
Ite'', fj'l 
I# 
loiown hy name ; hut you will hardly 
CHI’/' 
it used to bo to stroll in May 
w'ell-eduoated person, not a gardener tj. 
There waves around me autumn gram; 
I see the ripened Apples shine; 
I feel the patter of the rain; 
I see the Grapes that blush with aviuc. 
the old Watertown ,iXand 
.here the Hawthorne 
the Elms were m then- veil _ of English 
and the air was soft with the 
Ay, yes, I slept, I sweetly dreamed 
o/babbliug broolc aud azure sUy, 
And in my foolisb fancy deemed 
Tliat flewers, llifc would never die. 
Violets. I have always Vto^'et 
well of my country hy having a hii„o^ 
bed, and stocking my _Balm 
'could 
garden so full of 
beci, anil o , 
Lavender, Mignonette, and Snow-droi^, Ba 
and other sweet things that they nevei con 
ninout. Ifyou wish to be well remembered, 
From such a dream Avhy should I wake, 
Afar and in another zone — 
Wake, only that the lie.art may break 
To find myself alone, alone! 
And this it is to live too long, 
To overpass our proper time, 
And hear, instead of merry song, 
The bells of death in solcmu cbiine. 
So, too, with man: youth slept away, 
He wakes to find a useless age, 
And wearily from day to day 
Drags out an aimless pilgrimage. 
-Harper's TVecl'Iy. 
SEASONABLE EDITS. 
The first frost, which, in this 
vicinity, 
occurs generally in the second week in 
October, brings with it considerable tvork 
in the flower garden. All tender bulbs have 
to he lifted witliout delay, and prepared for 
winter storage. 
Hyacinths, Tulips, Harcissus, and other 
Dutch Bulbs, although they may be planted 
at any time before the ground freezes, will 
do better if pdanted noiv, while the .soil is 
still dry and mellow, and Ave trust that no 
reader of the Ameeicax Garden will let 
the month pass AA-ithout planting a bulb 
bed, hoAVCA'cr small. To the lover of flowers 
nothing can equal the delight of Avatching 
and caring for his .spring flowers, Avfiieh will 
surely reAvard all the attention bestowed 
upon them Avith their fragi-anee and bright 
spring greeting. 
There is not the least difliculty about their 
cultivation. They avHI groAv in any good, 
rich garden soil mixed with some sand, and 
the only condition absolutely imperative to 
their suceess is that there is never, at any 
season, water standing about their roots. 
Artificial drainage is, therefore, nocossary 
Avhen the ground is not naturally free from 
standing Avater, In small beds, Avhoro an 
outlet is not easily obtainable, this may 
generally ho aceornidished by removing the 
soil to adepth of about throe feet, filling half 
of the space with stones, eoveringthose with 
a layer of sods and filling up with soil, add¬ 
ing plenty of woll-docomposed manui-o, and 
raising the bed a few inches above the level. 
Large bulbs should bo planted from four to 
six inches deep, smaller ones throe inches. 
plant Violets. 
The Violet is a blossom for all the year 
round, and there is not a month when one 
need be without fresh blooms of it from cold- 
frame, garden, or windoAv-boxes. Planted 
in a shady corner of the garden, where yet 
they have an airy, Avell-drained nook, Violets 
will take care of themselves, Avith the kind¬ 
ness of a covering of dead leaves in fall. 
But they last so loug and give such richness 
that the borders are Avorth preparing well. 
Wliat the garden Violet dislikes most of all 
is standing with its feet in the Avet, unlike 
the fragi’ant white wild Violet, AA'hich Ave find 
in meadows and bogs. 
My Violet border is planned to give a siic- 
ecssion of bloom the year round, the earth 
fi-om the three-foot bed being dug out two 
feet deep, and the sides stoned up Avith rub¬ 
ble laid in mortar with which coal-ashes have 
mueh to do. This keeps the Violet roots 
from gadding, and from freezing, likcAA'iso. 
Nine inches of stone are filled in for drainage, 
Avith turf and some old pounded mortar 
above, to keep the earth from Avashing down, 
and the other foot is Violet soil — good 
strong loam for the basis, Avith liberal mixt¬ 
ure of old barn-yard stuff, and the toj) leal- 
mold, rich garden and sand Avitli plenty of 
bone-dust, Avhich Violets love. The hovdoi' 
lies under the lee of a little Avood Avhieli 
skirts the grounds, facing full south, but 
screened by tall p>lauts the other side of the 
walk. Hero the roots will spread into great 
crowns nearly two feet across, within tlio 
year, and every loaf will boar its blossom, 
one may say. In this favored spot one may 
feel sure of limling Violets in any mouth of 
the year. 
In autumn, a wooden frame and Hash goes 
right over the ber.lei’; plants that have been 
growing in the Hhady corners of the garden 
are brought under cover, the old ones well 
onnclied ami half Hinothernd in dead loavim 
whud, are heaped around the framoN, ami 
the Violet season goes merrily i„|,„ 
mas-tido. New plaiils ate coming ink. 
bloom Avlnlo tho old ones are resting, x,'* 
go tlioii Ijoiio-diiHl, Llioir \YoiLk I'.iiii fki’ ..1.1 
loaves, old Avood, 
calling. Avho can tell the difference. Ash 
sAveet Violet, Viola oclorata, is native ij 
England, Russia, Italy, and throughoa" 
Europe aud part of Asia, Ave may look to, 
differences of interest in all. 
yeapolilan Violets are pale, long-sterameil 
and so fragrant that you think of Violet 
Attar in the room Avith a cluster of theia. 
Marie Louise is deeper piu-ple, and a riel 
bloomer, Avliich Avith care, in the open gar- 
den, starting early in a sunny, sheltered 
place, Avill give flowers in spring and antamn. 
The Eudlish Violet is deeper purple still, 
and the standard garden variety for ease of 
cultivation and SAveetness. Roots of this 
should bo planted iu every sheltered spot, 
under shrubbery, on light wooded banks, 
the north side of houses and arbors, wher¬ 
ever one AA^ants the winds to be laden with 
SAA'eetness. 
The true Russian Violet is small; the Czar, 
large, deep pillule, almost black by the side 
of others, aud very SAA^eet. 
The Victoria Regina, a large, deep-hued, 
scented Violet, is not to be confounded hy 
hearsay Avith the Queen of Violets, which is 
Avhitc,’ double, and large, vying with the 
Belle <le Chatenay, inimitable for its tinged 
which suit the &uow-wre£ith 
Si 
pale joetals. 
Heliotrope. 
The Avinter cultivation of Violets is easy, 
and they are the most charming of honse 
plants, bearing dry air aud neglect a"" 
more equanimity than many faA'orites, on) 
(lying o!‘ gas aud overlieatiug. 
East Pedham. 
and 
i I • , voj’y old inaiMiro 
stooped m ram-wnter when tho soil is vow 
diy, and they do nothing but grow ami bloH. 
'''"ig they ask-nol to got 
THE COLEUS. 
All things considered, I think the 
is onr best bedding plant Avith 
loiivos. Of conrso avo have other ^ ^ 
plants Avilh (inor loaves and 
coloring, but none Avith Avlnch 
quaiiiUAd so sturdy and solf-rcliau ■, ® 
able and so little given to disappon' r. 
. ,, i ThavogfO"'' 
Tho best now varieties tluiU iw 
this year are Rvtla 
Maiihc. Rotta Kirlqiatrick is ; jj,„ibly 
variety, with large loaves, eom 
Avaved on tho edges. The eon n,viil 
leaf, and the largest )nirt of 
thing, is a ereainy white ; * n.„8t k’- 
leaf is a bright green, and tlAO e 
t i'hi? 1 av(* colors is vory P gj-oid 
plant is net only an ''"‘1’“*'^*“’'' 
merit when used as a gg, iis ** 
is even more valuable for , "hugr 
forms a striking contrast to al join'- 
ties of Oolons iu Avhieh dark ooloi 
nate. 
;,aloi 
(hi 
hi 
tin 
n 
'h 
ti 
1 
si 
