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 will not
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 over from 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 to have 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 arrangements
for 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.
IS it 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 up a 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 IVIES are 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 as
many 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.
TO press 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 both wild 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 FEW hints 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. Plants for 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; it is 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.
THE care 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, which is 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 the early 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.
THERE are 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 rings large 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.