1884.] 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 
187 
Velvet Mantle is so 
Verscbartelti that I 
much like tl.o old 
Jinnost tlioiifflih fiinf 
variety had »t«rnod up» again wl^on my 
plant was small. But as it grow i dis 
covered that it was a finer variety The 
leaves are very dark, of a purpliai,, velvety 
color, veined with dark crimson when given 
a good light, and when grown with Botta 
Kirkpatrick the effect is very rich and fine 
To bring out the color well in tho house, it 
must be placed near tho glass and got plenty 
of sunshine. If not grown near tho glass, 
tho color will bo neither maroon nor green, 
and not at all satisfactory. ’ 
Mrs. Garfield is a very fine variety, having 
a leaf with a largo maroon blotch in the 
center, veined with 
pink and edged with 
green, with occa¬ 
sional markings of 
yellow. Harlequin is 
another very showy 
variety, being strip¬ 
ed, blotched, and 
spotted with all the 
colors known to the 
Coleus tribe. It 
fades, along toward 
the end of summer, 
into pale tints that 
have a peculiar 
“autumn-leaf” 
effect, and it is then 
that I like this va¬ 
riety best. 
I have always 
grown the Coleus in 
pots, in a mixture 
of ordinary garden 
loam, made quite 
rich with well-rotted 
barn-yard soil, and 
made light with 
sand. In such a 
compost the plants 
grow rapidly, but 
not too much, so as 
to be weak or spind¬ 
ling. Keep the lead- 
ing branches 
pinched in, and you 
■will never fail of 
having bushy, well¬ 
shaped plants. 
To have good 
plants of the Coleus 
in winter, I take cut¬ 
tings before frost. 
They root so readily 
that I stick them 
down anywhere un¬ 
til large enough to 
put in small pots. These soon make good- 
sized plants, and they help to brighten the 
window during a dearth of flowers. In March 
I cut the old plants up, and root as many new 
ones as I expect to use in the garden during 
the summer. 
E. E. Kbxpord. 
mt inferior flower is now tho exception. 
I rom puroudiito there are many ascending 
shades up to deep magenta, approaching 
crimson. Not loss varied and bright in color 
are the single flowers, and tho tints are gen¬ 
erally soft and pleasing. There is nothing of 
the rigid formality of tho Dahlia in tho build 
of tho l-’^rothrum. It is true that the flowers 
are full and symmetrical, but there is an 
outer fringe of guard petals that saves them 
from being too formal. If any one will 
examine a flower of a double Pyrethrum 
they will observe that tho outer edge is 
made of a zone or ring of florets, while 
tho center is filled up with a very large 
numbor of short, quilled florets, and the 
Mm 
the soil; and the better' it can do this, tho 
more vigorous is the gi-owth and finer the 
flowers. It is by no means difficult to culti¬ 
vate, and is perfectly hardy if reasonably 
dry at the roots. It is wet which kills tho 
plants far more than hard frost. 
If the plants can bo grown pennanentlyin 
a bed, they can be better cultivated; they 
are greatly helped by some mulching in early 
summer, by keeping the surface soil stirred 
in hot, dry weather, by watering freely when 
necessary, and by giving a good .surface 
dressing of manure and leaves in autumn, 
which can be forked into the soil in early 
spring just as the plants begin to make 
growth. Pyre thrums are very effective in the 
mixed border, and 
some clumps should 
be dotted about in 
association with 
kindi'ed plants, but 
they cannot be cul¬ 
tivated so success¬ 
fully as in a prepared 
and well-tendedbed. 
PYEETHEUM8, 
if our commonly grown ha.idy 
,y be said to have become im- 
e, says Gardening lUitsirated, 
le aceompaydiig illustration is 
is the Pyi-ethrum, both single 
IS of each are numerous, and 
PYRETHRU MS. 
(Natural .size.) 
thicker these are developed, the more double 
is the bloom. 
The single forms have one or two circular 
rows of large flat florets, much larger and 
broader than in the case of tho double types, 
with a showy and striking golden disk. Both 
types are very pretty, and both have their 
special admirers. 
To propagate Pyrethrums, they are divided 
in autumn and fjotted. By spiing they have 
become well rooted and are then in good 
condition to plant out iu the open groiuid. 
In order to grow a collection, it is best to 
plant them in a prepared bed of free, rich 
loam, made light and friable by digging, and 
fm'ther enriehied by the addition of manure. 
The Pyrethrum strikes its roots freely into 
Av - 
WUfTEEIffG EOSES. 
To winter Hybrid 
Perpetual Hoses in 
a climate where the 
thermometer occa¬ 
sionally indicates 
thirty degrees below 
zero is an important 
question. The prin¬ 
cipal aim of the 
gi'ow'er should be to 
so ripen and harden 
the plants that, by 
the first of Novem¬ 
ber, they are in a 
comparative state of 
rest. In this condi¬ 
tion, and, if possi¬ 
ble, just before hard, 
stinging frosts, take 
up the plants, cut 
out all soft, watery 
gi'owth, sort care¬ 
fully, tie up in neat, 
Snug bunches of 
twenty-five or less, 
s .' w-' and they are ready 
for winter quarters. 
Select dry, well- 
drained ground, dig 
two trenches, each 
a foot or more in 
width and about two 
feet deep, parallel 
to each other, leav¬ 
ing a wall of earth a foot wide between; 
pile all the soil that will stay on this middle 
di'vision, the rest outside; then put in the 
bunches closely together, the tops meeting 
over the middle ridge. At the proper place 
put long stakes with name and number; 
throw in enough soil to thoroughly cover the 
roots, fii-m it down, take clean, long straw, 
covering completely all the exposed por¬ 
tions, fill in the trenches with remaining 
soil, on and against the straw. 
Just before winter sets in, we finish by 
banking up with soil on both sides, entirely 
covering the plants, reminding one somewhat 
of Celery when banked up for the last,time. 
— S. T. Phoenix, before the Ameriean Nurserg- 
men’s Association. 
