Gardening, Flowers.WE, as a nation, are not a happy, home-loving people. The “spirit of unrest” pervades all classes.This enterprising, uneasy spirit, has been, and is, of benefit to us as a comparatively new country, in settling and breaking our wild Western lands.But the time has come, when it is well to curb that spirit, and cultivate all quiet, home-loving influences.Therefore, I beseech you, parents, to begin in earliest infancy, to cultivate a love of the beautiful in nature, give your little ones flowers; and as soon as they are able to play in the garden, give them a little spot of their own to dig in; and when they can understand the process, give them seeds to plant, and some few flowers to cultivate. I can tell you of a happy cottage home, where the children, from earliest infancy, have lived among flowers. Each had their tiny garden, with spade, hoe, trowel and watering-pot. The father and mother would also assist with their own hands in training vines, roses and shrubs, in artistic beauty. The good father never went to his counting-room without some flowers in his hand, or inthe button-hole of his coat, the valued gift from the tiny garden of one of his darlings. Years passed and fortune favored them, but they never would exchange their cottage home, with its vines, trees and shrubs, for all the stately mansions in the town. And as the daughters married, and the sons left to seek their fortunes, they would look back with intense longing to their loved home; and joyous were their meetings around the home Christmas tree.On Sundays they always, even in midwinter, ornamented their social table with flowers, for they are God’s smiles. Therefore, my friends, I speak from observation, and from seeing the effect of an opposite course. If you wish to lessen your doctor’s bill, and give the beauty of robust health and happiness to your children, girls or boys, give them a garden and let them plant, weed and water it. If your children bring you even a simple field daisy, express your pleasure to them, and let them not see you cast it aside.Teach your boys the use of a pruning-knife, and how to graft; then give them some trees to experiment upon. You may save them from dissipation, by giving them a taste for Horticulture. It is a happy, health-giving employment.Decorate even your barn with graceful vines. The poorest house can be made an agreeable place, by transplanting a few of the many simple, wild vines. It is not natural to love intensely a stiff, ungainly object.I have often thought, as I have roamed about the farming districts of New England, and have seen the many great, stiff, square houses, with not a graceful tree, or flower to relieve their nakedness, (though now and then a syringa, or lilac bush, or cinnamon rose, and perhaps a stately old butternut, may be seen,) the sons and daughters of those households will surely emigrate. Utility is our hobby. Some farmers think it waste time to plant a flower, as it yields no fruit.Remember the old saying, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” You that dwell in a city, strive to have a small spot in the country to which you may send your children in Summer, to roam at will. I heard a little child, in urging her mother to go into the country in vain, cry out, “It is too,too bad, mamma, I know God did not make the city for little children, because he loves us.”Do not waste your money at fashionable watering-places. Even in early years, take your children to the woods and let them see nature in its wild state. There is nothing like a day in the woods for refreshing us all, in body and mind. The wild music of running brooks is so lulling, the birds carol their “native wood-notes wild” so sweetly, the strange blended odor of the damp mould, the leaves, the wild flowers, and the prospect of the distant meadow, are so delightful; the play of the sunlight through the dense foliage, and on the sylvan walks, is so beautiful, and the quiet is so marked, after the hum and roar of a city, that the mind is tranquilized, and both you and your children will be nearer to God, and nearer to one another, for every hour so spent. Our whole country is full of wild beauty. Spend your spare money in decorating your homes with trees, flowers and shrubs. The influence upon your children will be far more beneficial.If your children wish for money to purchase seeds and flowers for their gardens, if possible, give it cheerfully. It is far better so spent than in dress and toys. Let them plan their own gardens and experiment as much as they please. A very pretty fence can be made round such gardens, by a number of stakes of equal lengths pointed at one end to drive into the ground, square at the top, and painted green. Then place them at equal distances around your garden, and bore holes about six or seven inches apart for the twine, which should be brown linen. Pass the twine through the holes, in lines all around the garden. Plant vines which run rapidly,such as Cypress Vine, Madeira Vine, Nasturtium, Maurandya Barclayanna, Dwarf Convolvulus, Mountain Fringe, &c., &c. By midsummer your simple fence will be very beautiful.Having spent many years in cultivating flowers, perhaps a few practical directions from my own experience may be of service to my readers.HOW TO PLANT SEEDS.Weoften think because the seed we plant does not germinate that we have purchased poor seed, when the fault is in the manner of planting.Nearly all kinds of flower seeds require transplanting, therefore it is best to plant in boxes, pots, or hot-beds. Old cigar boxes are convenient and are easily handled, but first bore holes in the bottom of the boxes, and in your pots or boxes place either broken clam or oyster shells or pieces of old flower pots as a drainage; then take light, rich earth and sift it or rub it carefully in your hands to be sure there are no lumps; some bake the earth to destroy any insects which may be in it, but it answers the same purpose to pour boiling water on it. After you have filled your boxes or pots with this prepared earth, sprinkle your seed carefully over it, and sift over them light soil sufficient to cover them, moisten them with warm water, and place the box where there is but little light and throw a piece of paper over the top. A warm place will start them best. Let them remain thus several days, till the seeds have a chance to swell, before you give them much light, and keep the earth moist; (a sponge is excellent to water them, as it does not disturb the position of the seeds; also use warm water,) as soon as you see they are sprouting give them light, and air, if not too cold, or else the plant willnot have strength to grow well. Hot-beds are the best, and can be made with but little expense, by taking some old box, and if you do not possess an old window sash you can purchase one of some builder for a trifling sum of money, and fit it to your box by nailing strips at the sides; dig a place the size of the box and two or three feet deep, fill it with horse manure mixed with straw, which is the most heating, then sprinkle soil over the top about six inches deep, place your box on the top, carefully heaping the earth around the outside, and your hot-bed is made, in which you can start your seeds and slips by either placing your boxes or pots in the earth on top of the manure and plant your seeds and slips in them, or as many prefer, planting in the soil of your hot-bed. After your seedling plants are of sufficient size to transplant, if you first transplant them into small pots, you can easily plant them in your flower beds without disturbing the roots, and the plants will not require covering; you must first dig a hole and pour water into it, then carefully slip the plant, dirt and all, from the pots and place into the hole made for it and press the earth tight around it. Of course they must remain in the pot till they are well rooted. In raising slips you need to mix in full half common scouring sand with the soil, and they must be shaded from the light several days.All who care for flowers will desire to raise Verbenas, as they blossom all Summer. If you wish to raise them from seed they should be sown in February or first of March. One secret in raising fine Verbenas is change of soil. It would be better to plant them every year in a different location, but if you renew the soil it will do to plant them twice in the same bed, but never three years in succession. Indeed, flowers as well as vegetables need constant change of soil; they soon exhaust the earth. Seeds are better that are raised in locations distant from the place where they are to be sown. Flowers soon deteriorate if you continue to plant over and overfrom seed raised in the same spot; that is one of the reasons why seeds from Europe are generally preferred by florists. Japan Pink seed should be planted in March, in order to have them flower the first year; they are hardy and blossom also the second year. Pansy seed should be planted as early as Verbenas. Ten Weeks’ Stock, Phlox Drummondi, Double Zinnias, Lobelia, Petunias, Portulaca, Salpiglossis, Candytuft, Larkspur, &c., should be planted in April. If you desire to raise Picotee or Carnation Pinks for the next year, and Canterbury Bells and Fox Gloves, sow in April. Sow Asters of all kinds the last of April or first of May. Some of the climbers, such as Maurandya, Barclayanna, Tropæolum, commonly called Nasturtium, Cypress Vine, Thunbergia, &c., need transplanting, and better be sown early. Sweet Peas should be sown in the open soil about three inches deep, early in April. It is better to soak the seed in warm water before sowing. When they have germinated and as they begin to climb, fill in earth around them, and water now and then thoroughly with soap suds. Mignonette should not be transplanted; sow the seed in the open soil the first of May. Candytuft and Sweet Alyssum, are hardy, and the seed can be sown out of doors; but if you have once had them, they will come up self sown; look over your beds in Spring and take up such plants, when you have the soil prepared and beds made, then you can plant them back again where you desire. Joseph’s Coat is a very brilliant plant, its leaves are all shades of green, red and yellow; the seed can be sown either in or out of doors by the first of May, also Golden Calliopsis. Balsams will grow better if the seeds are not planted till the second week in May out of doors.All the flowers I have mentioned are desirable even in a small garden; of course there are hundreds of varieties of even annuals, but unless you have a gardener it is impossible to raise them all, for it is desirable even in a small garden tohave some flowers raised by slips, or bought from some greenhouse, such as Fuchsias, Double Feverfews, Scarlet Geraniums, Heliotropes, Rose Geraniums, Lemon Verbenas, Monthly Roses and Hardy Perpetuals, &c. Hardy Perpetual Roses are desirable in every garden, they grow so thrifty and blossom all summer, and with a little covering will live out all Winter; and if they are showered often early in the Spring while the dew is on the roses, with whale oil soap suds, using a syringe to shower them, it will prevent the usual damage done by the slug. If you have a shady, moist place in your garden there you can plant your Lily of the Valley, double blue English Violet, Forget-me-not, and Pansy.Fuchsias also require some shade. Heliotropes and Geraniums will bear enriching more than most plants; often watering with guano water is excellent. A table-spoonful of guano to a common water-pail full of water is sufficiently strong. It also improves Pansies, Fuchsias and nearly all plants except Roses. Soap suds is better for Roses and Verbenas, at least according to my experience. Nearly all plants make a finer show in a garden arranged either in beds, each variety by itself, or in clusters. Before planting your garden in Spring it is well to carefully consider the nature of each flower, and arrange your garden so that each flower can be displayed to advantage; never plant promiscuously; it is astonishing what a difference landscape gardening will make in the general aspect of even a small place. It is quite as desirable as to arrange the colors in a picture to harmonize. Even an old stump of a tree can be made beautiful by planting vines around it, or by scooping out the top and filling in soil, and planting Nierembergia, Lobelia, Double Nasturtium, Variegated Myrtle, &c., in it. Those I have mentioned blossom all Summer, except the Myrtle, the leaves of which are as beautiful as many flowers.If we ladies would spend less time on our dress and in arrangementsfor the table, and take that time for working in our gardens with our children, we should not only make our homes more attractive but we should gain in health and strength. Early every Spring call a family council to decide the arrangement of your flower garden. Let your boys have a place to raise vegetables as a pastime. Encourage them to diligence by promising to purchase all they will raise; in that way they can earn money to give to the poor, or for their Christmas presents; even children will take far more pleasure in giving what they have really earned with their own hands.FERNERIES.Isit not, my friends, very pleasant to have a bit of the Summer woods in our parlors in midwinter? Such a pleasure is within the reach of us all, with but little trouble and expense. Those who live in cities and cannot go into the country, surely must have some friend who can supply them, or the materials can be obtained at any public greenhouse. First you require a glass dome, or what is still better, take five panes of glass any size you please, four to form the sides, one for the top, fasten the glass together with a light wooden frame, then take any tin dish, like a baking pan, or if round a tin plate or jelly cake pan, or a tin dish can be made to fit it for a trifling sum of money; paint the tin green on the outside. Then collect some pieces of broken flower pots, or still better, bits of marble, granite or any stone and scatter them around the tin dish, placing in the center some moss-grown stump or stick, and pile the stones around it; then collect from the woods, ferns, mosses, partridge-vines with its bright red berries, (indeed, any plant will grow in these ferneries which can be found in moist places in the woods;) take upa little of the leaf mould in which they grow, they need but little soil, arrange your plants spreading the roots carefully over the stones, scattering a little leaf mould on them, and placing your mosses around the whole. The tallest plants should form the center, but in arranging even ferneries, it is more agreeable to exercise your own taste. Before placing your globe or glass frame over your fernery, sprinkle the plants thoroughly, then cover with the glass, and let it remain a few days in the shade. You can keep them where you please, but I think they grow better near a window; be very careful not to water them too often, once a month is generally sufficient; if too wet they will mould and die; when there is but little moisture on the glass, it is well to raise the glass to ascertain if it is dry. My fernery has been made four years, it has required but little care; now and then I add a new fern, some moss, or any suitable plant gathered from the woods, and remove any dried ferns or leaves. It often renews itself. Trailing arbutus and partridge-vines will blossom in ferneries. It is always pleasant to the eye and no care after the first expense and trouble. Ivy and Lycopodium grow well in ferneries, but the rare ferns, &c., from green-houses do not flourish as well as those plants taken from our native woods.IVIES.English Iviesare a great ornament to our rooms, and are hardy and require very little care. After the first two years they grow quite rapidly, therefore it is well to procure two year old plants, train them on your curtains, over your windows and pictures. Many make a mistake by changing the pots very often, thinking they require a very large pot, which is not so, for they do not require as much earth asmany plants, only keep them moist, and have rich loam for the soil; it is well to water them every month with guano water, prepared according to the same rule given for flowers. The poet’s ivy is very pretty, the leaf being quite small. The most beautiful ivy I ever saw was one that never was removed from its place Summer or Winter; it filled a large bay window, encircled the whole room and wound around many pictures; now and then a gardener came and changed the soil, and the leaves were occasionally washed. Hanging baskets of moss with flowers growing in it, are exceedingly pretty in Winter.PRESSED FLOWERS.Topress flowers, to be arranged on paper like a painting, you must take some plain white wrapping paper, (in Paris you can obtain paper prepared by a chemical process to preserve the colors) and place your flowers or leaves carefully between two sheets of the paper. Then press them by placing a heavy weight over them, (letter presses are excellent) and leave them a day or two, then change the paper; thus the juices of the flowers are absorbed. It takes a week or two to press perfectly, and in Summer often longer. When dry, place them in a book or some air-tight box ready for use. A year is required to make a varied and handsome collection, as each flower has its own season for blossoming. Wild flowers retain their colors better than cultivated; but experience alone will teach you what flowers will retain their color best. Many pretend to be able to preserve all kinds of flowers, but it is impossible. I will give a list of flowers which are known to retain their color by this mode of pressing.All Geraniums (except the horse-shoe and sweet-scented), preserve their color. They are very essential, as their colors are brilliant and keep for years. All yellow flowers bothwild and cultivated retain their color. The Violet and Pansy, Dwarf Blue Convolvulus, Blue Larkspur, Blue Myrtle, Blue Lobelia, Heaths, the small original Red Fuchsia, Wild Housatonia, and many tiny blue, and even white flowers press perfectly.For green, Ivy, Maiden Hair, Ferns or Brake, Mosses, &c., retain their color best. Rarely a cultivated green leaf presses well. Autumn leaves, if small, and the youngest oak leaves mix in well. Certain kinds of stems such as Pansy, and others of similar character, are best adapted for pressing.After your collection is made, take some card-board, without a polish if possible, and arrange your flowers as you design to have them. Gum them to the paper with tragacanth, using a camel’s hair brush, then press on the paper and flower with a cloth, carefully absorbing all moisture, as well as firmly pressing the flower on the paper. Geraniums and some large flowers look better if each leaf is glued on separately.In forming your bouquet, it is better to arrange the stems first and work upwards. Baskets and vases of moss with flowers are pretty. To form these, you must trace out with a pencil your vase or basket, and glue on the moss. Then arrange your flowers.I have heard amusing criticisms on the coloring of such bouquets, from persons who mistook them for paintings. Framed and covered with a glass, they make ornamental pictures.It is a pleasant way of preserving mementos of friends, places or events. Flower albums or journals are very beautiful. Wreaths arranged of different varieties of Pelargoniums mixed in with any pretty green, and other little flowers, such as Lobelias, are very handsome and the colors are durable. Pansies of different shades look well, and brilliant wreaths may be made of all the varieties of flowers that hold their color. The oval shape looks the best for wreaths.There are innumerable varieties of Ferns, Lycopodiums and Maiden Hair, both native and foreign, suitable for pressing.By pasting each specimen on a separate sheet and interspersing specimens of our beautiful Autumn leaves also on separate sheets, and fastening them together, either bound as a book or in a portfolio, you will possess a beautiful and attractive book with but little expense.Crosses can be arranged with ferns and shaded to appear as if painted in perspective, and look like a cross standing on a mossy bank, with flowers, &c., growing around and over it. First draw and shade your cross as a guide, then take the small leaflets of the darkest colored ferns you can procure, and glue them on carefully where the cross should be in shadow darkest, then take the brighter green ferns (such as are gathered in Spring,) and end with the white ferns (which can only be obtained in the Fall), using them for the lightest shade; be careful to cover every part and shade it with nature’s colors as you would with paint; in a cross six inches high and suitably proportioned, full two hundred of the tiny leaflets of the fern may be used to good advantage before it is completed. Then take wild Lycopodium if you can obtain it, if not, the finest of the cultivated, and arrange it on your cross to look like a vine growing over and hanging from it; also paste on to it tiny little pressed Lobelias, and arrange small ferns, mosses and any little flowers (wild ones are preferable), around the base of the cross to look like a mossy bank. Different designs can be arranged in the same way.Be very careful in pasting on flowers and leaves that every part, however small, is firmly fixed to the paper; press them on after pasting with a dry cloth.STRAWBERRIES.A fewhints as regards the cultivation of Strawberries may be useful to both boys and girls; for fine berries can be raised even on a small plot of ground, if the soil be rich. Plantsfor a new bed should be set out early in the Spring; the roots will then grow strong and the plants will be better able to bear the cold of Winter. Some gardeners prefer to plant their strawberry roots in August, or even late in the Autumn, and if the Winter is mild, or deep snows cover the ground, the vines will live and bear fruit the next Summer. Some prefer to raise strawberries in hills, but the most prolific vines are those planted in beds about three feet wide with a path between, filled with straw, to keep the fruit from the ground; it is well to cut off most of the runners. Of course the beds should be kept free from weeds. There are many new varieties, but the old Hovey’s Seedling is as reliable as any and very prolific. The Russell is easily propagated; vines planted in April will often yield fine strawberries in June. The Wilson is a profitable strawberry for the market because of its large yield, but it is hardly equal in flavor to the Hovey. The Hovey will soon run out if planted by itself; it requires some other kind to be planted with it. The Pine is usually the variety selected for that purpose. It is useless to enumerate the several varieties, for nearly every locality has its favorite strawberry. Some kinds will scarcely bear a perfect berry in some locations, while in a different locality the same berry will be loaded with perfect fruit. Sometimes a healthy and vigorous looking bed of strawberry-plants will produce but few berries—then you must examine the blossoms, those which bear fruit will have the berry formed in the flower—while others will blossom freely but do not bear fruit; these are the male plants and it is better to leave but few of them in your strawberry beds. When you plant the new roots dig a hole with a trowel and fill it with water, then spread out the roots and pack the earth close around them, but when they are fully rooted and commence to grow, the earth should be kept loose around them.Strawberry plants should be replanted every third year; itis best to change the location of the bed if possible, or at least to renew the soil. Boys or girls who raise and gather from their own little garden a dish of strawberries will find great pleasure in presenting it to their friends as fruits of their own labor.GRAPES.Thecare of the grape-vine is a pleasant occupation. To gather the rich, ripe bunches of its delicious fruit is a grand enjoyment. Almost every one can command a spot of ground sufficient for the liberal support of a grape-vine. It may be planted in any unappropriated corner about the house—a sunny spot is to be preferred, but a vine may do well with but little direct sunshine, if it is well sheltered and properly cared for. It may be planted at the foot of a tree, the branches of which are not near the ground, and it will find its way high up the tree and will yield large crops of fine fruit hidden among its own thick foliage and that of the tree, provided the ground immediately about its roots can be reached and kept warm by the sun’s rays.As it grows it will endeavor to adapt itself to the circumstances that surround it, and will take the direction your taste or convenience require it to follow. Its flexible branches are obedient to the gentle hand of the careful cultivator. You may train it upon stakes six or eight feet high, or upon a low trellis where the fruit will be within easy reach of your hand. You may have the fruit within a few inches of the ground, or by removing all the lower branches of the vine, you can cause the ripe bunches to hang in graceful festoons around and over the window of your chamber, high above the reach of accident and pilferers. The grape-vine will do as it is bid, whichis much more than can be said of some young people, whose eyes sparkle at the sight of its fruit.In preparing the ground in which to plant the vine, reference must be had to the character of the soil. If the soil is clayey and cold, or if the neighboring surface is such as to turn an undue proportion of the rains upon the place where you propose to plant your vine, care must be taken to secure for the roots of the vine a sufficient drainage. If the roots of the vine are surrounded by wet and cold earth, the fruit will mature slowly and will be endangered by the early frosts. You will secure a sufficient drainage by digging a hole three feet deep and five or six feet in diameter and throwing into it small stones, fragments of bricks or other like rubbish, to the depth of about eighteen inches, and filling to the surface with the soil. If the soil in which you propose to plant your vine is light, no artificial drainage will be necessary.Dig over the ground and mix with it some well rotted manure or bone dust to the depth of your spade. The plan of trenching and deep manuring is of questionable advantage. The roots of the vine prefer to run near the surface, but they will seek the rich soil wherever it may be; and if they are drawn away from the surface of the ground and out of their natural direction to the colder soil below, the effect upon the fruit may be unfavorable, both as to quality and quantity.In the ground thus prepared set your young vine from the nursery. First, drive down a stake to which you can tie the young vine, then place the roots of the vine three inches below the surface of the ground, carefully spreading the roots so that they will be as nearly as possible in the position in which they grew in the nursery.The beautiful operations of nature will then commence. The roots of the vine will at once begin to adapt themselves to their new home, and their delicate fibres will firmly clasp the particles of the well-prepared soil; the warm days of theearly Spring will draw the sap up through the whole length of the vine, the buds will open and exhibit their delicate tints, new shoots and broad green leaves will follow, and you can soon eat the fruit of your own labor, sitting beneath the shadow of your own vine.DESIGNS FOR FLOWERS.Thereare many beautiful ways of arranging flowers, besides in our costly vases. For example, take a basket and knit like a garter pieces of different shades of moss colored worsted; then dip in hot water and press them; when dry ravel nearly out, only leaving an end which can be fastened on to the basket with sewing silk or green glace thread and a large needle. A basket tastefully covered in this way looks as if it were made of moss, and it retains its beauty longer; a tin dish should be made to fit it, and painted green; keep it filled with natural flowers. I should prefer such an ornament to costly porcelain. Many fill such baskets with exquisite French flowers, which imitate nature perfectly.To form a pyramid of flowers, take three, four or five wooden bowls according to the size you wish for your pyramid, let them be a regular gradation in size, procure some round pieces of wood, like ribbon blocks, graded in size, glue the tallest into the centre of the largest bowl so that it will stand upright, and upon top of that glue the bowl next in size, and so on to the smallest bowl. Varnish the inside several coats; paint the outsides green and cover with moss; some have a stand made and glued to the bottom of the largest bowl. When filled with flowers, it is a lovely sight. Baskets made of tin and painted green, then covered with moss, make the prettiest hanging baskets possible. Tin ringslarge enough to surround vases placed inside, and made to hold water, with little wires across the top and painted green, when filled with flowers, form the prettiest mats in the world; the wires keep the flowers in place. I saw one filled with only small Rose-buds, blue Forget-me-nots and Geranium leaves. It is an improvement to cover the outside with moss. Crosses made in the same way are very beautiful and are appropriate to place on the grave of any beloved friend. In that way flowers can be preserved a long time, if there is a sufficient supply of water to preserve them.There are innumerable ways of arranging flowers. The poorest person can afford to purchase a tin basin, and with a little common paste and moss, which can be found in all country places, a pretty dish for flowers is soon made. Shells make lovely vases. The large shells sailors polish so exquisitely to resemble mother-of-pearl, make elegant hanging vases; bore holes on each side and hang them with strong cords.Decorate your rooms with flowers if possible. If you have sick friends at home or abroad, carry them flowers; it will cheer them more than you can realize unless you too have been sick.TO PRODUCE VARIOUS FLOWERS FROM ONE STEM.Scoopthe pith from a small twig of elder; split it length-ways, and fill each of the parts with seeds that produce different colored flowers. Surround the seed with earth; tie the two bits of wood together, and plant the whole in a pot filled with earth. The stems of the different plants will thus be so incorporated as to exhibit to the eye only one stem, throwing out branches with the different flowers you have planted. Bychoosing the seeds of plants which germinate at the same time, and which are nearly similar in the texture of their stems, an ingenious person may obtain artificial plants extremely curious.TO PRESERVE ROSES TILL WINTER.Itis pleasant to see the Summer flowers in midwinter, and they who cannot have Roses blooming at that period within doors can preserve them in Summer to decorate their table in Winter. First select from your Rose-trees the most beautiful specimens as they are just ready to blossom; tie a piece of fine thread around the stalk of each; do not handle the bud, or the stalk; cut it from the tree with the stalk two or three inches in length; melt sealing-wax and quickly apply it to the end of the stalk; the wax should only be just warm enough to be ductile; form a piece of paper into a cone-like shape, and place the Rose within it; twist it at the ends to exclude the air; put it in a box, and put the box into a drawer; this is to be sure that it is air-tight. In Winter take it out, cut off the end of the stalk, place it in luke-warm water, and in two or three hours it will become fresh and fragrant. If the room is very warm it will answer to put it in cold water.
Gardening, Flowers.WE, as a nation, are not a happy, home-loving people. The “spirit of unrest” pervades all classes.This enterprising, uneasy spirit, has been, and is, of benefit to us as a comparatively new country, in settling and breaking our wild Western lands.But the time has come, when it is well to curb that spirit, and cultivate all quiet, home-loving influences.Therefore, I beseech you, parents, to begin in earliest infancy, to cultivate a love of the beautiful in nature, give your little ones flowers; and as soon as they are able to play in the garden, give them a little spot of their own to dig in; and when they can understand the process, give them seeds to plant, and some few flowers to cultivate. I can tell you of a happy cottage home, where the children, from earliest infancy, have lived among flowers. Each had their tiny garden, with spade, hoe, trowel and watering-pot. The father and mother would also assist with their own hands in training vines, roses and shrubs, in artistic beauty. The good father never went to his counting-room without some flowers in his hand, or inthe button-hole of his coat, the valued gift from the tiny garden of one of his darlings. Years passed and fortune favored them, but they never would exchange their cottage home, with its vines, trees and shrubs, for all the stately mansions in the town. And as the daughters married, and the sons left to seek their fortunes, they would look back with intense longing to their loved home; and joyous were their meetings around the home Christmas tree.On Sundays they always, even in midwinter, ornamented their social table with flowers, for they are God’s smiles. Therefore, my friends, I speak from observation, and from seeing the effect of an opposite course. If you wish to lessen your doctor’s bill, and give the beauty of robust health and happiness to your children, girls or boys, give them a garden and let them plant, weed and water it. If your children bring you even a simple field daisy, express your pleasure to them, and let them not see you cast it aside.Teach your boys the use of a pruning-knife, and how to graft; then give them some trees to experiment upon. You may save them from dissipation, by giving them a taste for Horticulture. It is a happy, health-giving employment.Decorate even your barn with graceful vines. The poorest house can be made an agreeable place, by transplanting a few of the many simple, wild vines. It is not natural to love intensely a stiff, ungainly object.I have often thought, as I have roamed about the farming districts of New England, and have seen the many great, stiff, square houses, with not a graceful tree, or flower to relieve their nakedness, (though now and then a syringa, or lilac bush, or cinnamon rose, and perhaps a stately old butternut, may be seen,) the sons and daughters of those households will surely emigrate. Utility is our hobby. Some farmers think it waste time to plant a flower, as it yields no fruit.Remember the old saying, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” You that dwell in a city, strive to have a small spot in the country to which you may send your children in Summer, to roam at will. I heard a little child, in urging her mother to go into the country in vain, cry out, “It is too,too bad, mamma, I know God did not make the city for little children, because he loves us.”Do not waste your money at fashionable watering-places. Even in early years, take your children to the woods and let them see nature in its wild state. There is nothing like a day in the woods for refreshing us all, in body and mind. The wild music of running brooks is so lulling, the birds carol their “native wood-notes wild” so sweetly, the strange blended odor of the damp mould, the leaves, the wild flowers, and the prospect of the distant meadow, are so delightful; the play of the sunlight through the dense foliage, and on the sylvan walks, is so beautiful, and the quiet is so marked, after the hum and roar of a city, that the mind is tranquilized, and both you and your children will be nearer to God, and nearer to one another, for every hour so spent. Our whole country is full of wild beauty. Spend your spare money in decorating your homes with trees, flowers and shrubs. The influence upon your children will be far more beneficial.If your children wish for money to purchase seeds and flowers for their gardens, if possible, give it cheerfully. It is far better so spent than in dress and toys. Let them plan their own gardens and experiment as much as they please. A very pretty fence can be made round such gardens, by a number of stakes of equal lengths pointed at one end to drive into the ground, square at the top, and painted green. Then place them at equal distances around your garden, and bore holes about six or seven inches apart for the twine, which should be brown linen. Pass the twine through the holes, in lines all around the garden. Plant vines which run rapidly,such as Cypress Vine, Madeira Vine, Nasturtium, Maurandya Barclayanna, Dwarf Convolvulus, Mountain Fringe, &c., &c. By midsummer your simple fence will be very beautiful.Having spent many years in cultivating flowers, perhaps a few practical directions from my own experience may be of service to my readers.HOW TO PLANT SEEDS.Weoften think because the seed we plant does not germinate that we have purchased poor seed, when the fault is in the manner of planting.Nearly all kinds of flower seeds require transplanting, therefore it is best to plant in boxes, pots, or hot-beds. Old cigar boxes are convenient and are easily handled, but first bore holes in the bottom of the boxes, and in your pots or boxes place either broken clam or oyster shells or pieces of old flower pots as a drainage; then take light, rich earth and sift it or rub it carefully in your hands to be sure there are no lumps; some bake the earth to destroy any insects which may be in it, but it answers the same purpose to pour boiling water on it. After you have filled your boxes or pots with this prepared earth, sprinkle your seed carefully over it, and sift over them light soil sufficient to cover them, moisten them with warm water, and place the box where there is but little light and throw a piece of paper over the top. A warm place will start them best. Let them remain thus several days, till the seeds have a chance to swell, before you give them much light, and keep the earth moist; (a sponge is excellent to water them, as it does not disturb the position of the seeds; also use warm water,) as soon as you see they are sprouting give them light, and air, if not too cold, or else the plant willnot have strength to grow well. Hot-beds are the best, and can be made with but little expense, by taking some old box, and if you do not possess an old window sash you can purchase one of some builder for a trifling sum of money, and fit it to your box by nailing strips at the sides; dig a place the size of the box and two or three feet deep, fill it with horse manure mixed with straw, which is the most heating, then sprinkle soil over the top about six inches deep, place your box on the top, carefully heaping the earth around the outside, and your hot-bed is made, in which you can start your seeds and slips by either placing your boxes or pots in the earth on top of the manure and plant your seeds and slips in them, or as many prefer, planting in the soil of your hot-bed. After your seedling plants are of sufficient size to transplant, if you first transplant them into small pots, you can easily plant them in your flower beds without disturbing the roots, and the plants will not require covering; you must first dig a hole and pour water into it, then carefully slip the plant, dirt and all, from the pots and place into the hole made for it and press the earth tight around it. Of course they must remain in the pot till they are well rooted. In raising slips you need to mix in full half common scouring sand with the soil, and they must be shaded from the light several days.All who care for flowers will desire to raise Verbenas, as they blossom all Summer. If you wish to raise them from seed they should be sown in February or first of March. One secret in raising fine Verbenas is change of soil. It would be better to plant them every year in a different location, but if you renew the soil it will do to plant them twice in the same bed, but never three years in succession. Indeed, flowers as well as vegetables need constant change of soil; they soon exhaust the earth. Seeds are better that are raised in locations distant from the place where they are to be sown. Flowers soon deteriorate if you continue to plant over and overfrom seed raised in the same spot; that is one of the reasons why seeds from Europe are generally preferred by florists. Japan Pink seed should be planted in March, in order to have them flower the first year; they are hardy and blossom also the second year. Pansy seed should be planted as early as Verbenas. Ten Weeks’ Stock, Phlox Drummondi, Double Zinnias, Lobelia, Petunias, Portulaca, Salpiglossis, Candytuft, Larkspur, &c., should be planted in April. If you desire to raise Picotee or Carnation Pinks for the next year, and Canterbury Bells and Fox Gloves, sow in April. Sow Asters of all kinds the last of April or first of May. Some of the climbers, such as Maurandya, Barclayanna, Tropæolum, commonly called Nasturtium, Cypress Vine, Thunbergia, &c., need transplanting, and better be sown early. Sweet Peas should be sown in the open soil about three inches deep, early in April. It is better to soak the seed in warm water before sowing. When they have germinated and as they begin to climb, fill in earth around them, and water now and then thoroughly with soap suds. Mignonette should not be transplanted; sow the seed in the open soil the first of May. Candytuft and Sweet Alyssum, are hardy, and the seed can be sown out of doors; but if you have once had them, they will come up self sown; look over your beds in Spring and take up such plants, when you have the soil prepared and beds made, then you can plant them back again where you desire. Joseph’s Coat is a very brilliant plant, its leaves are all shades of green, red and yellow; the seed can be sown either in or out of doors by the first of May, also Golden Calliopsis. Balsams will grow better if the seeds are not planted till the second week in May out of doors.All the flowers I have mentioned are desirable even in a small garden; of course there are hundreds of varieties of even annuals, but unless you have a gardener it is impossible to raise them all, for it is desirable even in a small garden tohave some flowers raised by slips, or bought from some greenhouse, such as Fuchsias, Double Feverfews, Scarlet Geraniums, Heliotropes, Rose Geraniums, Lemon Verbenas, Monthly Roses and Hardy Perpetuals, &c. Hardy Perpetual Roses are desirable in every garden, they grow so thrifty and blossom all summer, and with a little covering will live out all Winter; and if they are showered often early in the Spring while the dew is on the roses, with whale oil soap suds, using a syringe to shower them, it will prevent the usual damage done by the slug. If you have a shady, moist place in your garden there you can plant your Lily of the Valley, double blue English Violet, Forget-me-not, and Pansy.Fuchsias also require some shade. Heliotropes and Geraniums will bear enriching more than most plants; often watering with guano water is excellent. A table-spoonful of guano to a common water-pail full of water is sufficiently strong. It also improves Pansies, Fuchsias and nearly all plants except Roses. Soap suds is better for Roses and Verbenas, at least according to my experience. Nearly all plants make a finer show in a garden arranged either in beds, each variety by itself, or in clusters. Before planting your garden in Spring it is well to carefully consider the nature of each flower, and arrange your garden so that each flower can be displayed to advantage; never plant promiscuously; it is astonishing what a difference landscape gardening will make in the general aspect of even a small place. It is quite as desirable as to arrange the colors in a picture to harmonize. Even an old stump of a tree can be made beautiful by planting vines around it, or by scooping out the top and filling in soil, and planting Nierembergia, Lobelia, Double Nasturtium, Variegated Myrtle, &c., in it. Those I have mentioned blossom all Summer, except the Myrtle, the leaves of which are as beautiful as many flowers.If we ladies would spend less time on our dress and in arrangementsfor the table, and take that time for working in our gardens with our children, we should not only make our homes more attractive but we should gain in health and strength. Early every Spring call a family council to decide the arrangement of your flower garden. Let your boys have a place to raise vegetables as a pastime. Encourage them to diligence by promising to purchase all they will raise; in that way they can earn money to give to the poor, or for their Christmas presents; even children will take far more pleasure in giving what they have really earned with their own hands.FERNERIES.Isit not, my friends, very pleasant to have a bit of the Summer woods in our parlors in midwinter? Such a pleasure is within the reach of us all, with but little trouble and expense. Those who live in cities and cannot go into the country, surely must have some friend who can supply them, or the materials can be obtained at any public greenhouse. First you require a glass dome, or what is still better, take five panes of glass any size you please, four to form the sides, one for the top, fasten the glass together with a light wooden frame, then take any tin dish, like a baking pan, or if round a tin plate or jelly cake pan, or a tin dish can be made to fit it for a trifling sum of money; paint the tin green on the outside. Then collect some pieces of broken flower pots, or still better, bits of marble, granite or any stone and scatter them around the tin dish, placing in the center some moss-grown stump or stick, and pile the stones around it; then collect from the woods, ferns, mosses, partridge-vines with its bright red berries, (indeed, any plant will grow in these ferneries which can be found in moist places in the woods;) take upa little of the leaf mould in which they grow, they need but little soil, arrange your plants spreading the roots carefully over the stones, scattering a little leaf mould on them, and placing your mosses around the whole. The tallest plants should form the center, but in arranging even ferneries, it is more agreeable to exercise your own taste. Before placing your globe or glass frame over your fernery, sprinkle the plants thoroughly, then cover with the glass, and let it remain a few days in the shade. You can keep them where you please, but I think they grow better near a window; be very careful not to water them too often, once a month is generally sufficient; if too wet they will mould and die; when there is but little moisture on the glass, it is well to raise the glass to ascertain if it is dry. My fernery has been made four years, it has required but little care; now and then I add a new fern, some moss, or any suitable plant gathered from the woods, and remove any dried ferns or leaves. It often renews itself. Trailing arbutus and partridge-vines will blossom in ferneries. It is always pleasant to the eye and no care after the first expense and trouble. Ivy and Lycopodium grow well in ferneries, but the rare ferns, &c., from green-houses do not flourish as well as those plants taken from our native woods.IVIES.English Iviesare a great ornament to our rooms, and are hardy and require very little care. After the first two years they grow quite rapidly, therefore it is well to procure two year old plants, train them on your curtains, over your windows and pictures. Many make a mistake by changing the pots very often, thinking they require a very large pot, which is not so, for they do not require as much earth asmany plants, only keep them moist, and have rich loam for the soil; it is well to water them every month with guano water, prepared according to the same rule given for flowers. The poet’s ivy is very pretty, the leaf being quite small. The most beautiful ivy I ever saw was one that never was removed from its place Summer or Winter; it filled a large bay window, encircled the whole room and wound around many pictures; now and then a gardener came and changed the soil, and the leaves were occasionally washed. Hanging baskets of moss with flowers growing in it, are exceedingly pretty in Winter.PRESSED FLOWERS.Topress flowers, to be arranged on paper like a painting, you must take some plain white wrapping paper, (in Paris you can obtain paper prepared by a chemical process to preserve the colors) and place your flowers or leaves carefully between two sheets of the paper. Then press them by placing a heavy weight over them, (letter presses are excellent) and leave them a day or two, then change the paper; thus the juices of the flowers are absorbed. It takes a week or two to press perfectly, and in Summer often longer. When dry, place them in a book or some air-tight box ready for use. A year is required to make a varied and handsome collection, as each flower has its own season for blossoming. Wild flowers retain their colors better than cultivated; but experience alone will teach you what flowers will retain their color best. Many pretend to be able to preserve all kinds of flowers, but it is impossible. I will give a list of flowers which are known to retain their color by this mode of pressing.All Geraniums (except the horse-shoe and sweet-scented), preserve their color. They are very essential, as their colors are brilliant and keep for years. All yellow flowers bothwild and cultivated retain their color. The Violet and Pansy, Dwarf Blue Convolvulus, Blue Larkspur, Blue Myrtle, Blue Lobelia, Heaths, the small original Red Fuchsia, Wild Housatonia, and many tiny blue, and even white flowers press perfectly.For green, Ivy, Maiden Hair, Ferns or Brake, Mosses, &c., retain their color best. Rarely a cultivated green leaf presses well. Autumn leaves, if small, and the youngest oak leaves mix in well. Certain kinds of stems such as Pansy, and others of similar character, are best adapted for pressing.After your collection is made, take some card-board, without a polish if possible, and arrange your flowers as you design to have them. Gum them to the paper with tragacanth, using a camel’s hair brush, then press on the paper and flower with a cloth, carefully absorbing all moisture, as well as firmly pressing the flower on the paper. Geraniums and some large flowers look better if each leaf is glued on separately.In forming your bouquet, it is better to arrange the stems first and work upwards. Baskets and vases of moss with flowers are pretty. To form these, you must trace out with a pencil your vase or basket, and glue on the moss. Then arrange your flowers.I have heard amusing criticisms on the coloring of such bouquets, from persons who mistook them for paintings. Framed and covered with a glass, they make ornamental pictures.It is a pleasant way of preserving mementos of friends, places or events. Flower albums or journals are very beautiful. Wreaths arranged of different varieties of Pelargoniums mixed in with any pretty green, and other little flowers, such as Lobelias, are very handsome and the colors are durable. Pansies of different shades look well, and brilliant wreaths may be made of all the varieties of flowers that hold their color. The oval shape looks the best for wreaths.There are innumerable varieties of Ferns, Lycopodiums and Maiden Hair, both native and foreign, suitable for pressing.By pasting each specimen on a separate sheet and interspersing specimens of our beautiful Autumn leaves also on separate sheets, and fastening them together, either bound as a book or in a portfolio, you will possess a beautiful and attractive book with but little expense.Crosses can be arranged with ferns and shaded to appear as if painted in perspective, and look like a cross standing on a mossy bank, with flowers, &c., growing around and over it. First draw and shade your cross as a guide, then take the small leaflets of the darkest colored ferns you can procure, and glue them on carefully where the cross should be in shadow darkest, then take the brighter green ferns (such as are gathered in Spring,) and end with the white ferns (which can only be obtained in the Fall), using them for the lightest shade; be careful to cover every part and shade it with nature’s colors as you would with paint; in a cross six inches high and suitably proportioned, full two hundred of the tiny leaflets of the fern may be used to good advantage before it is completed. Then take wild Lycopodium if you can obtain it, if not, the finest of the cultivated, and arrange it on your cross to look like a vine growing over and hanging from it; also paste on to it tiny little pressed Lobelias, and arrange small ferns, mosses and any little flowers (wild ones are preferable), around the base of the cross to look like a mossy bank. Different designs can be arranged in the same way.Be very careful in pasting on flowers and leaves that every part, however small, is firmly fixed to the paper; press them on after pasting with a dry cloth.STRAWBERRIES.A fewhints as regards the cultivation of Strawberries may be useful to both boys and girls; for fine berries can be raised even on a small plot of ground, if the soil be rich. Plantsfor a new bed should be set out early in the Spring; the roots will then grow strong and the plants will be better able to bear the cold of Winter. Some gardeners prefer to plant their strawberry roots in August, or even late in the Autumn, and if the Winter is mild, or deep snows cover the ground, the vines will live and bear fruit the next Summer. Some prefer to raise strawberries in hills, but the most prolific vines are those planted in beds about three feet wide with a path between, filled with straw, to keep the fruit from the ground; it is well to cut off most of the runners. Of course the beds should be kept free from weeds. There are many new varieties, but the old Hovey’s Seedling is as reliable as any and very prolific. The Russell is easily propagated; vines planted in April will often yield fine strawberries in June. The Wilson is a profitable strawberry for the market because of its large yield, but it is hardly equal in flavor to the Hovey. The Hovey will soon run out if planted by itself; it requires some other kind to be planted with it. The Pine is usually the variety selected for that purpose. It is useless to enumerate the several varieties, for nearly every locality has its favorite strawberry. Some kinds will scarcely bear a perfect berry in some locations, while in a different locality the same berry will be loaded with perfect fruit. Sometimes a healthy and vigorous looking bed of strawberry-plants will produce but few berries—then you must examine the blossoms, those which bear fruit will have the berry formed in the flower—while others will blossom freely but do not bear fruit; these are the male plants and it is better to leave but few of them in your strawberry beds. When you plant the new roots dig a hole with a trowel and fill it with water, then spread out the roots and pack the earth close around them, but when they are fully rooted and commence to grow, the earth should be kept loose around them.Strawberry plants should be replanted every third year; itis best to change the location of the bed if possible, or at least to renew the soil. Boys or girls who raise and gather from their own little garden a dish of strawberries will find great pleasure in presenting it to their friends as fruits of their own labor.GRAPES.Thecare of the grape-vine is a pleasant occupation. To gather the rich, ripe bunches of its delicious fruit is a grand enjoyment. Almost every one can command a spot of ground sufficient for the liberal support of a grape-vine. It may be planted in any unappropriated corner about the house—a sunny spot is to be preferred, but a vine may do well with but little direct sunshine, if it is well sheltered and properly cared for. It may be planted at the foot of a tree, the branches of which are not near the ground, and it will find its way high up the tree and will yield large crops of fine fruit hidden among its own thick foliage and that of the tree, provided the ground immediately about its roots can be reached and kept warm by the sun’s rays.As it grows it will endeavor to adapt itself to the circumstances that surround it, and will take the direction your taste or convenience require it to follow. Its flexible branches are obedient to the gentle hand of the careful cultivator. You may train it upon stakes six or eight feet high, or upon a low trellis where the fruit will be within easy reach of your hand. You may have the fruit within a few inches of the ground, or by removing all the lower branches of the vine, you can cause the ripe bunches to hang in graceful festoons around and over the window of your chamber, high above the reach of accident and pilferers. The grape-vine will do as it is bid, whichis much more than can be said of some young people, whose eyes sparkle at the sight of its fruit.In preparing the ground in which to plant the vine, reference must be had to the character of the soil. If the soil is clayey and cold, or if the neighboring surface is such as to turn an undue proportion of the rains upon the place where you propose to plant your vine, care must be taken to secure for the roots of the vine a sufficient drainage. If the roots of the vine are surrounded by wet and cold earth, the fruit will mature slowly and will be endangered by the early frosts. You will secure a sufficient drainage by digging a hole three feet deep and five or six feet in diameter and throwing into it small stones, fragments of bricks or other like rubbish, to the depth of about eighteen inches, and filling to the surface with the soil. If the soil in which you propose to plant your vine is light, no artificial drainage will be necessary.Dig over the ground and mix with it some well rotted manure or bone dust to the depth of your spade. The plan of trenching and deep manuring is of questionable advantage. The roots of the vine prefer to run near the surface, but they will seek the rich soil wherever it may be; and if they are drawn away from the surface of the ground and out of their natural direction to the colder soil below, the effect upon the fruit may be unfavorable, both as to quality and quantity.In the ground thus prepared set your young vine from the nursery. First, drive down a stake to which you can tie the young vine, then place the roots of the vine three inches below the surface of the ground, carefully spreading the roots so that they will be as nearly as possible in the position in which they grew in the nursery.The beautiful operations of nature will then commence. The roots of the vine will at once begin to adapt themselves to their new home, and their delicate fibres will firmly clasp the particles of the well-prepared soil; the warm days of theearly Spring will draw the sap up through the whole length of the vine, the buds will open and exhibit their delicate tints, new shoots and broad green leaves will follow, and you can soon eat the fruit of your own labor, sitting beneath the shadow of your own vine.DESIGNS FOR FLOWERS.Thereare many beautiful ways of arranging flowers, besides in our costly vases. For example, take a basket and knit like a garter pieces of different shades of moss colored worsted; then dip in hot water and press them; when dry ravel nearly out, only leaving an end which can be fastened on to the basket with sewing silk or green glace thread and a large needle. A basket tastefully covered in this way looks as if it were made of moss, and it retains its beauty longer; a tin dish should be made to fit it, and painted green; keep it filled with natural flowers. I should prefer such an ornament to costly porcelain. Many fill such baskets with exquisite French flowers, which imitate nature perfectly.To form a pyramid of flowers, take three, four or five wooden bowls according to the size you wish for your pyramid, let them be a regular gradation in size, procure some round pieces of wood, like ribbon blocks, graded in size, glue the tallest into the centre of the largest bowl so that it will stand upright, and upon top of that glue the bowl next in size, and so on to the smallest bowl. Varnish the inside several coats; paint the outsides green and cover with moss; some have a stand made and glued to the bottom of the largest bowl. When filled with flowers, it is a lovely sight. Baskets made of tin and painted green, then covered with moss, make the prettiest hanging baskets possible. Tin ringslarge enough to surround vases placed inside, and made to hold water, with little wires across the top and painted green, when filled with flowers, form the prettiest mats in the world; the wires keep the flowers in place. I saw one filled with only small Rose-buds, blue Forget-me-nots and Geranium leaves. It is an improvement to cover the outside with moss. Crosses made in the same way are very beautiful and are appropriate to place on the grave of any beloved friend. In that way flowers can be preserved a long time, if there is a sufficient supply of water to preserve them.There are innumerable ways of arranging flowers. The poorest person can afford to purchase a tin basin, and with a little common paste and moss, which can be found in all country places, a pretty dish for flowers is soon made. Shells make lovely vases. The large shells sailors polish so exquisitely to resemble mother-of-pearl, make elegant hanging vases; bore holes on each side and hang them with strong cords.Decorate your rooms with flowers if possible. If you have sick friends at home or abroad, carry them flowers; it will cheer them more than you can realize unless you too have been sick.TO PRODUCE VARIOUS FLOWERS FROM ONE STEM.Scoopthe pith from a small twig of elder; split it length-ways, and fill each of the parts with seeds that produce different colored flowers. Surround the seed with earth; tie the two bits of wood together, and plant the whole in a pot filled with earth. The stems of the different plants will thus be so incorporated as to exhibit to the eye only one stem, throwing out branches with the different flowers you have planted. Bychoosing the seeds of plants which germinate at the same time, and which are nearly similar in the texture of their stems, an ingenious person may obtain artificial plants extremely curious.TO PRESERVE ROSES TILL WINTER.Itis pleasant to see the Summer flowers in midwinter, and they who cannot have Roses blooming at that period within doors can preserve them in Summer to decorate their table in Winter. First select from your Rose-trees the most beautiful specimens as they are just ready to blossom; tie a piece of fine thread around the stalk of each; do not handle the bud, or the stalk; cut it from the tree with the stalk two or three inches in length; melt sealing-wax and quickly apply it to the end of the stalk; the wax should only be just warm enough to be ductile; form a piece of paper into a cone-like shape, and place the Rose within it; twist it at the ends to exclude the air; put it in a box, and put the box into a drawer; this is to be sure that it is air-tight. In Winter take it out, cut off the end of the stalk, place it in luke-warm water, and in two or three hours it will become fresh and fragrant. If the room is very warm it will answer to put it in cold water.
WE, as a nation, are not a happy, home-loving people. The “spirit of unrest” pervades all classes.
This enterprising, uneasy spirit, has been, and is, of benefit to us as a comparatively new country, in settling and breaking our wild Western lands.
But the time has come, when it is well to curb that spirit, and cultivate all quiet, home-loving influences.
Therefore, I beseech you, parents, to begin in earliest infancy, to cultivate a love of the beautiful in nature, give your little ones flowers; and as soon as they are able to play in the garden, give them a little spot of their own to dig in; and when they can understand the process, give them seeds to plant, and some few flowers to cultivate. I can tell you of a happy cottage home, where the children, from earliest infancy, have lived among flowers. Each had their tiny garden, with spade, hoe, trowel and watering-pot. The father and mother would also assist with their own hands in training vines, roses and shrubs, in artistic beauty. The good father never went to his counting-room without some flowers in his hand, or inthe button-hole of his coat, the valued gift from the tiny garden of one of his darlings. Years passed and fortune favored them, but they never would exchange their cottage home, with its vines, trees and shrubs, for all the stately mansions in the town. And as the daughters married, and the sons left to seek their fortunes, they would look back with intense longing to their loved home; and joyous were their meetings around the home Christmas tree.
On Sundays they always, even in midwinter, ornamented their social table with flowers, for they are God’s smiles. Therefore, my friends, I speak from observation, and from seeing the effect of an opposite course. If you wish to lessen your doctor’s bill, and give the beauty of robust health and happiness to your children, girls or boys, give them a garden and let them plant, weed and water it. If your children bring you even a simple field daisy, express your pleasure to them, and let them not see you cast it aside.
Teach your boys the use of a pruning-knife, and how to graft; then give them some trees to experiment upon. You may save them from dissipation, by giving them a taste for Horticulture. It is a happy, health-giving employment.
Decorate even your barn with graceful vines. The poorest house can be made an agreeable place, by transplanting a few of the many simple, wild vines. It is not natural to love intensely a stiff, ungainly object.
I have often thought, as I have roamed about the farming districts of New England, and have seen the many great, stiff, square houses, with not a graceful tree, or flower to relieve their nakedness, (though now and then a syringa, or lilac bush, or cinnamon rose, and perhaps a stately old butternut, may be seen,) the sons and daughters of those households will surely emigrate. Utility is our hobby. Some farmers think it waste time to plant a flower, as it yields no fruit.
Remember the old saying, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” You that dwell in a city, strive to have a small spot in the country to which you may send your children in Summer, to roam at will. I heard a little child, in urging her mother to go into the country in vain, cry out, “It is too,too bad, mamma, I know God did not make the city for little children, because he loves us.”
Do not waste your money at fashionable watering-places. Even in early years, take your children to the woods and let them see nature in its wild state. There is nothing like a day in the woods for refreshing us all, in body and mind. The wild music of running brooks is so lulling, the birds carol their “native wood-notes wild” so sweetly, the strange blended odor of the damp mould, the leaves, the wild flowers, and the prospect of the distant meadow, are so delightful; the play of the sunlight through the dense foliage, and on the sylvan walks, is so beautiful, and the quiet is so marked, after the hum and roar of a city, that the mind is tranquilized, and both you and your children will be nearer to God, and nearer to one another, for every hour so spent. Our whole country is full of wild beauty. Spend your spare money in decorating your homes with trees, flowers and shrubs. The influence upon your children will be far more beneficial.
If your children wish for money to purchase seeds and flowers for their gardens, if possible, give it cheerfully. It is far better so spent than in dress and toys. Let them plan their own gardens and experiment as much as they please. A very pretty fence can be made round such gardens, by a number of stakes of equal lengths pointed at one end to drive into the ground, square at the top, and painted green. Then place them at equal distances around your garden, and bore holes about six or seven inches apart for the twine, which should be brown linen. Pass the twine through the holes, in lines all around the garden. Plant vines which run rapidly,such as Cypress Vine, Madeira Vine, Nasturtium, Maurandya Barclayanna, Dwarf Convolvulus, Mountain Fringe, &c., &c. By midsummer your simple fence will be very beautiful.
Having spent many years in cultivating flowers, perhaps a few practical directions from my own experience may be of service to my readers.
HOW TO PLANT SEEDS.
Weoften think because the seed we plant does not germinate that we have purchased poor seed, when the fault is in the manner of planting.
Nearly all kinds of flower seeds require transplanting, therefore it is best to plant in boxes, pots, or hot-beds. Old cigar boxes are convenient and are easily handled, but first bore holes in the bottom of the boxes, and in your pots or boxes place either broken clam or oyster shells or pieces of old flower pots as a drainage; then take light, rich earth and sift it or rub it carefully in your hands to be sure there are no lumps; some bake the earth to destroy any insects which may be in it, but it answers the same purpose to pour boiling water on it. After you have filled your boxes or pots with this prepared earth, sprinkle your seed carefully over it, and sift over them light soil sufficient to cover them, moisten them with warm water, and place the box where there is but little light and throw a piece of paper over the top. A warm place will start them best. Let them remain thus several days, till the seeds have a chance to swell, before you give them much light, and keep the earth moist; (a sponge is excellent to water them, as it does not disturb the position of the seeds; also use warm water,) as soon as you see they are sprouting give them light, and air, if not too cold, or else the plant willnot have strength to grow well. Hot-beds are the best, and can be made with but little expense, by taking some old box, and if you do not possess an old window sash you can purchase one of some builder for a trifling sum of money, and fit it to your box by nailing strips at the sides; dig a place the size of the box and two or three feet deep, fill it with horse manure mixed with straw, which is the most heating, then sprinkle soil over the top about six inches deep, place your box on the top, carefully heaping the earth around the outside, and your hot-bed is made, in which you can start your seeds and slips by either placing your boxes or pots in the earth on top of the manure and plant your seeds and slips in them, or as many prefer, planting in the soil of your hot-bed. After your seedling plants are of sufficient size to transplant, if you first transplant them into small pots, you can easily plant them in your flower beds without disturbing the roots, and the plants will not require covering; you must first dig a hole and pour water into it, then carefully slip the plant, dirt and all, from the pots and place into the hole made for it and press the earth tight around it. Of course they must remain in the pot till they are well rooted. In raising slips you need to mix in full half common scouring sand with the soil, and they must be shaded from the light several days.
All who care for flowers will desire to raise Verbenas, as they blossom all Summer. If you wish to raise them from seed they should be sown in February or first of March. One secret in raising fine Verbenas is change of soil. It would be better to plant them every year in a different location, but if you renew the soil it will do to plant them twice in the same bed, but never three years in succession. Indeed, flowers as well as vegetables need constant change of soil; they soon exhaust the earth. Seeds are better that are raised in locations distant from the place where they are to be sown. Flowers soon deteriorate if you continue to plant over and overfrom seed raised in the same spot; that is one of the reasons why seeds from Europe are generally preferred by florists. Japan Pink seed should be planted in March, in order to have them flower the first year; they are hardy and blossom also the second year. Pansy seed should be planted as early as Verbenas. Ten Weeks’ Stock, Phlox Drummondi, Double Zinnias, Lobelia, Petunias, Portulaca, Salpiglossis, Candytuft, Larkspur, &c., should be planted in April. If you desire to raise Picotee or Carnation Pinks for the next year, and Canterbury Bells and Fox Gloves, sow in April. Sow Asters of all kinds the last of April or first of May. Some of the climbers, such as Maurandya, Barclayanna, Tropæolum, commonly called Nasturtium, Cypress Vine, Thunbergia, &c., need transplanting, and better be sown early. Sweet Peas should be sown in the open soil about three inches deep, early in April. It is better to soak the seed in warm water before sowing. When they have germinated and as they begin to climb, fill in earth around them, and water now and then thoroughly with soap suds. Mignonette should not be transplanted; sow the seed in the open soil the first of May. Candytuft and Sweet Alyssum, are hardy, and the seed can be sown out of doors; but if you have once had them, they will come up self sown; look over your beds in Spring and take up such plants, when you have the soil prepared and beds made, then you can plant them back again where you desire. Joseph’s Coat is a very brilliant plant, its leaves are all shades of green, red and yellow; the seed can be sown either in or out of doors by the first of May, also Golden Calliopsis. Balsams will grow better if the seeds are not planted till the second week in May out of doors.
All the flowers I have mentioned are desirable even in a small garden; of course there are hundreds of varieties of even annuals, but unless you have a gardener it is impossible to raise them all, for it is desirable even in a small garden tohave some flowers raised by slips, or bought from some greenhouse, such as Fuchsias, Double Feverfews, Scarlet Geraniums, Heliotropes, Rose Geraniums, Lemon Verbenas, Monthly Roses and Hardy Perpetuals, &c. Hardy Perpetual Roses are desirable in every garden, they grow so thrifty and blossom all summer, and with a little covering will live out all Winter; and if they are showered often early in the Spring while the dew is on the roses, with whale oil soap suds, using a syringe to shower them, it will prevent the usual damage done by the slug. If you have a shady, moist place in your garden there you can plant your Lily of the Valley, double blue English Violet, Forget-me-not, and Pansy.
Fuchsias also require some shade. Heliotropes and Geraniums will bear enriching more than most plants; often watering with guano water is excellent. A table-spoonful of guano to a common water-pail full of water is sufficiently strong. It also improves Pansies, Fuchsias and nearly all plants except Roses. Soap suds is better for Roses and Verbenas, at least according to my experience. Nearly all plants make a finer show in a garden arranged either in beds, each variety by itself, or in clusters. Before planting your garden in Spring it is well to carefully consider the nature of each flower, and arrange your garden so that each flower can be displayed to advantage; never plant promiscuously; it is astonishing what a difference landscape gardening will make in the general aspect of even a small place. It is quite as desirable as to arrange the colors in a picture to harmonize. Even an old stump of a tree can be made beautiful by planting vines around it, or by scooping out the top and filling in soil, and planting Nierembergia, Lobelia, Double Nasturtium, Variegated Myrtle, &c., in it. Those I have mentioned blossom all Summer, except the Myrtle, the leaves of which are as beautiful as many flowers.
If we ladies would spend less time on our dress and in arrangementsfor the table, and take that time for working in our gardens with our children, we should not only make our homes more attractive but we should gain in health and strength. Early every Spring call a family council to decide the arrangement of your flower garden. Let your boys have a place to raise vegetables as a pastime. Encourage them to diligence by promising to purchase all they will raise; in that way they can earn money to give to the poor, or for their Christmas presents; even children will take far more pleasure in giving what they have really earned with their own hands.
FERNERIES.
Isit not, my friends, very pleasant to have a bit of the Summer woods in our parlors in midwinter? Such a pleasure is within the reach of us all, with but little trouble and expense. Those who live in cities and cannot go into the country, surely must have some friend who can supply them, or the materials can be obtained at any public greenhouse. First you require a glass dome, or what is still better, take five panes of glass any size you please, four to form the sides, one for the top, fasten the glass together with a light wooden frame, then take any tin dish, like a baking pan, or if round a tin plate or jelly cake pan, or a tin dish can be made to fit it for a trifling sum of money; paint the tin green on the outside. Then collect some pieces of broken flower pots, or still better, bits of marble, granite or any stone and scatter them around the tin dish, placing in the center some moss-grown stump or stick, and pile the stones around it; then collect from the woods, ferns, mosses, partridge-vines with its bright red berries, (indeed, any plant will grow in these ferneries which can be found in moist places in the woods;) take upa little of the leaf mould in which they grow, they need but little soil, arrange your plants spreading the roots carefully over the stones, scattering a little leaf mould on them, and placing your mosses around the whole. The tallest plants should form the center, but in arranging even ferneries, it is more agreeable to exercise your own taste. Before placing your globe or glass frame over your fernery, sprinkle the plants thoroughly, then cover with the glass, and let it remain a few days in the shade. You can keep them where you please, but I think they grow better near a window; be very careful not to water them too often, once a month is generally sufficient; if too wet they will mould and die; when there is but little moisture on the glass, it is well to raise the glass to ascertain if it is dry. My fernery has been made four years, it has required but little care; now and then I add a new fern, some moss, or any suitable plant gathered from the woods, and remove any dried ferns or leaves. It often renews itself. Trailing arbutus and partridge-vines will blossom in ferneries. It is always pleasant to the eye and no care after the first expense and trouble. Ivy and Lycopodium grow well in ferneries, but the rare ferns, &c., from green-houses do not flourish as well as those plants taken from our native woods.
IVIES.
English Iviesare a great ornament to our rooms, and are hardy and require very little care. After the first two years they grow quite rapidly, therefore it is well to procure two year old plants, train them on your curtains, over your windows and pictures. Many make a mistake by changing the pots very often, thinking they require a very large pot, which is not so, for they do not require as much earth asmany plants, only keep them moist, and have rich loam for the soil; it is well to water them every month with guano water, prepared according to the same rule given for flowers. The poet’s ivy is very pretty, the leaf being quite small. The most beautiful ivy I ever saw was one that never was removed from its place Summer or Winter; it filled a large bay window, encircled the whole room and wound around many pictures; now and then a gardener came and changed the soil, and the leaves were occasionally washed. Hanging baskets of moss with flowers growing in it, are exceedingly pretty in Winter.
PRESSED FLOWERS.
Topress flowers, to be arranged on paper like a painting, you must take some plain white wrapping paper, (in Paris you can obtain paper prepared by a chemical process to preserve the colors) and place your flowers or leaves carefully between two sheets of the paper. Then press them by placing a heavy weight over them, (letter presses are excellent) and leave them a day or two, then change the paper; thus the juices of the flowers are absorbed. It takes a week or two to press perfectly, and in Summer often longer. When dry, place them in a book or some air-tight box ready for use. A year is required to make a varied and handsome collection, as each flower has its own season for blossoming. Wild flowers retain their colors better than cultivated; but experience alone will teach you what flowers will retain their color best. Many pretend to be able to preserve all kinds of flowers, but it is impossible. I will give a list of flowers which are known to retain their color by this mode of pressing.
All Geraniums (except the horse-shoe and sweet-scented), preserve their color. They are very essential, as their colors are brilliant and keep for years. All yellow flowers bothwild and cultivated retain their color. The Violet and Pansy, Dwarf Blue Convolvulus, Blue Larkspur, Blue Myrtle, Blue Lobelia, Heaths, the small original Red Fuchsia, Wild Housatonia, and many tiny blue, and even white flowers press perfectly.
For green, Ivy, Maiden Hair, Ferns or Brake, Mosses, &c., retain their color best. Rarely a cultivated green leaf presses well. Autumn leaves, if small, and the youngest oak leaves mix in well. Certain kinds of stems such as Pansy, and others of similar character, are best adapted for pressing.
After your collection is made, take some card-board, without a polish if possible, and arrange your flowers as you design to have them. Gum them to the paper with tragacanth, using a camel’s hair brush, then press on the paper and flower with a cloth, carefully absorbing all moisture, as well as firmly pressing the flower on the paper. Geraniums and some large flowers look better if each leaf is glued on separately.
In forming your bouquet, it is better to arrange the stems first and work upwards. Baskets and vases of moss with flowers are pretty. To form these, you must trace out with a pencil your vase or basket, and glue on the moss. Then arrange your flowers.
I have heard amusing criticisms on the coloring of such bouquets, from persons who mistook them for paintings. Framed and covered with a glass, they make ornamental pictures.
It is a pleasant way of preserving mementos of friends, places or events. Flower albums or journals are very beautiful. Wreaths arranged of different varieties of Pelargoniums mixed in with any pretty green, and other little flowers, such as Lobelias, are very handsome and the colors are durable. Pansies of different shades look well, and brilliant wreaths may be made of all the varieties of flowers that hold their color. The oval shape looks the best for wreaths.
There are innumerable varieties of Ferns, Lycopodiums and Maiden Hair, both native and foreign, suitable for pressing.By pasting each specimen on a separate sheet and interspersing specimens of our beautiful Autumn leaves also on separate sheets, and fastening them together, either bound as a book or in a portfolio, you will possess a beautiful and attractive book with but little expense.
Crosses can be arranged with ferns and shaded to appear as if painted in perspective, and look like a cross standing on a mossy bank, with flowers, &c., growing around and over it. First draw and shade your cross as a guide, then take the small leaflets of the darkest colored ferns you can procure, and glue them on carefully where the cross should be in shadow darkest, then take the brighter green ferns (such as are gathered in Spring,) and end with the white ferns (which can only be obtained in the Fall), using them for the lightest shade; be careful to cover every part and shade it with nature’s colors as you would with paint; in a cross six inches high and suitably proportioned, full two hundred of the tiny leaflets of the fern may be used to good advantage before it is completed. Then take wild Lycopodium if you can obtain it, if not, the finest of the cultivated, and arrange it on your cross to look like a vine growing over and hanging from it; also paste on to it tiny little pressed Lobelias, and arrange small ferns, mosses and any little flowers (wild ones are preferable), around the base of the cross to look like a mossy bank. Different designs can be arranged in the same way.
Be very careful in pasting on flowers and leaves that every part, however small, is firmly fixed to the paper; press them on after pasting with a dry cloth.
STRAWBERRIES.
A fewhints as regards the cultivation of Strawberries may be useful to both boys and girls; for fine berries can be raised even on a small plot of ground, if the soil be rich. Plantsfor a new bed should be set out early in the Spring; the roots will then grow strong and the plants will be better able to bear the cold of Winter. Some gardeners prefer to plant their strawberry roots in August, or even late in the Autumn, and if the Winter is mild, or deep snows cover the ground, the vines will live and bear fruit the next Summer. Some prefer to raise strawberries in hills, but the most prolific vines are those planted in beds about three feet wide with a path between, filled with straw, to keep the fruit from the ground; it is well to cut off most of the runners. Of course the beds should be kept free from weeds. There are many new varieties, but the old Hovey’s Seedling is as reliable as any and very prolific. The Russell is easily propagated; vines planted in April will often yield fine strawberries in June. The Wilson is a profitable strawberry for the market because of its large yield, but it is hardly equal in flavor to the Hovey. The Hovey will soon run out if planted by itself; it requires some other kind to be planted with it. The Pine is usually the variety selected for that purpose. It is useless to enumerate the several varieties, for nearly every locality has its favorite strawberry. Some kinds will scarcely bear a perfect berry in some locations, while in a different locality the same berry will be loaded with perfect fruit. Sometimes a healthy and vigorous looking bed of strawberry-plants will produce but few berries—then you must examine the blossoms, those which bear fruit will have the berry formed in the flower—while others will blossom freely but do not bear fruit; these are the male plants and it is better to leave but few of them in your strawberry beds. When you plant the new roots dig a hole with a trowel and fill it with water, then spread out the roots and pack the earth close around them, but when they are fully rooted and commence to grow, the earth should be kept loose around them.
Strawberry plants should be replanted every third year; itis best to change the location of the bed if possible, or at least to renew the soil. Boys or girls who raise and gather from their own little garden a dish of strawberries will find great pleasure in presenting it to their friends as fruits of their own labor.
GRAPES.
Thecare of the grape-vine is a pleasant occupation. To gather the rich, ripe bunches of its delicious fruit is a grand enjoyment. Almost every one can command a spot of ground sufficient for the liberal support of a grape-vine. It may be planted in any unappropriated corner about the house—a sunny spot is to be preferred, but a vine may do well with but little direct sunshine, if it is well sheltered and properly cared for. It may be planted at the foot of a tree, the branches of which are not near the ground, and it will find its way high up the tree and will yield large crops of fine fruit hidden among its own thick foliage and that of the tree, provided the ground immediately about its roots can be reached and kept warm by the sun’s rays.
As it grows it will endeavor to adapt itself to the circumstances that surround it, and will take the direction your taste or convenience require it to follow. Its flexible branches are obedient to the gentle hand of the careful cultivator. You may train it upon stakes six or eight feet high, or upon a low trellis where the fruit will be within easy reach of your hand. You may have the fruit within a few inches of the ground, or by removing all the lower branches of the vine, you can cause the ripe bunches to hang in graceful festoons around and over the window of your chamber, high above the reach of accident and pilferers. The grape-vine will do as it is bid, whichis much more than can be said of some young people, whose eyes sparkle at the sight of its fruit.
In preparing the ground in which to plant the vine, reference must be had to the character of the soil. If the soil is clayey and cold, or if the neighboring surface is such as to turn an undue proportion of the rains upon the place where you propose to plant your vine, care must be taken to secure for the roots of the vine a sufficient drainage. If the roots of the vine are surrounded by wet and cold earth, the fruit will mature slowly and will be endangered by the early frosts. You will secure a sufficient drainage by digging a hole three feet deep and five or six feet in diameter and throwing into it small stones, fragments of bricks or other like rubbish, to the depth of about eighteen inches, and filling to the surface with the soil. If the soil in which you propose to plant your vine is light, no artificial drainage will be necessary.
Dig over the ground and mix with it some well rotted manure or bone dust to the depth of your spade. The plan of trenching and deep manuring is of questionable advantage. The roots of the vine prefer to run near the surface, but they will seek the rich soil wherever it may be; and if they are drawn away from the surface of the ground and out of their natural direction to the colder soil below, the effect upon the fruit may be unfavorable, both as to quality and quantity.
In the ground thus prepared set your young vine from the nursery. First, drive down a stake to which you can tie the young vine, then place the roots of the vine three inches below the surface of the ground, carefully spreading the roots so that they will be as nearly as possible in the position in which they grew in the nursery.
The beautiful operations of nature will then commence. The roots of the vine will at once begin to adapt themselves to their new home, and their delicate fibres will firmly clasp the particles of the well-prepared soil; the warm days of theearly Spring will draw the sap up through the whole length of the vine, the buds will open and exhibit their delicate tints, new shoots and broad green leaves will follow, and you can soon eat the fruit of your own labor, sitting beneath the shadow of your own vine.
DESIGNS FOR FLOWERS.
Thereare many beautiful ways of arranging flowers, besides in our costly vases. For example, take a basket and knit like a garter pieces of different shades of moss colored worsted; then dip in hot water and press them; when dry ravel nearly out, only leaving an end which can be fastened on to the basket with sewing silk or green glace thread and a large needle. A basket tastefully covered in this way looks as if it were made of moss, and it retains its beauty longer; a tin dish should be made to fit it, and painted green; keep it filled with natural flowers. I should prefer such an ornament to costly porcelain. Many fill such baskets with exquisite French flowers, which imitate nature perfectly.
To form a pyramid of flowers, take three, four or five wooden bowls according to the size you wish for your pyramid, let them be a regular gradation in size, procure some round pieces of wood, like ribbon blocks, graded in size, glue the tallest into the centre of the largest bowl so that it will stand upright, and upon top of that glue the bowl next in size, and so on to the smallest bowl. Varnish the inside several coats; paint the outsides green and cover with moss; some have a stand made and glued to the bottom of the largest bowl. When filled with flowers, it is a lovely sight. Baskets made of tin and painted green, then covered with moss, make the prettiest hanging baskets possible. Tin ringslarge enough to surround vases placed inside, and made to hold water, with little wires across the top and painted green, when filled with flowers, form the prettiest mats in the world; the wires keep the flowers in place. I saw one filled with only small Rose-buds, blue Forget-me-nots and Geranium leaves. It is an improvement to cover the outside with moss. Crosses made in the same way are very beautiful and are appropriate to place on the grave of any beloved friend. In that way flowers can be preserved a long time, if there is a sufficient supply of water to preserve them.
There are innumerable ways of arranging flowers. The poorest person can afford to purchase a tin basin, and with a little common paste and moss, which can be found in all country places, a pretty dish for flowers is soon made. Shells make lovely vases. The large shells sailors polish so exquisitely to resemble mother-of-pearl, make elegant hanging vases; bore holes on each side and hang them with strong cords.
Decorate your rooms with flowers if possible. If you have sick friends at home or abroad, carry them flowers; it will cheer them more than you can realize unless you too have been sick.
TO PRODUCE VARIOUS FLOWERS FROM ONE STEM.
Scoopthe pith from a small twig of elder; split it length-ways, and fill each of the parts with seeds that produce different colored flowers. Surround the seed with earth; tie the two bits of wood together, and plant the whole in a pot filled with earth. The stems of the different plants will thus be so incorporated as to exhibit to the eye only one stem, throwing out branches with the different flowers you have planted. Bychoosing the seeds of plants which germinate at the same time, and which are nearly similar in the texture of their stems, an ingenious person may obtain artificial plants extremely curious.
TO PRESERVE ROSES TILL WINTER.
Itis pleasant to see the Summer flowers in midwinter, and they who cannot have Roses blooming at that period within doors can preserve them in Summer to decorate their table in Winter. First select from your Rose-trees the most beautiful specimens as they are just ready to blossom; tie a piece of fine thread around the stalk of each; do not handle the bud, or the stalk; cut it from the tree with the stalk two or three inches in length; melt sealing-wax and quickly apply it to the end of the stalk; the wax should only be just warm enough to be ductile; form a piece of paper into a cone-like shape, and place the Rose within it; twist it at the ends to exclude the air; put it in a box, and put the box into a drawer; this is to be sure that it is air-tight. In Winter take it out, cut off the end of the stalk, place it in luke-warm water, and in two or three hours it will become fresh and fragrant. If the room is very warm it will answer to put it in cold water.