CALADIUM ESCULEXTUM

AVhere one wants a really odd plant, and one with most beautiful foliage, let them purchase a root of the above. In appearance it will remind you of a turnip, but one never knows the beauties that are hidden away in a dry bulb. Let us suppose it is May and your caladium has arrived. You want a good large hole dug, as much as three feet across the top, and about two feet deep; put about a foot of old manure in, then your bulb, and cover it, say six inches deep ; give it plenty of water at all times ; seemingly it can never get enough, and in a few weeks a stalk about a foot high will have grown, this will soon unfold and show you a leaf that from a fancied resem- blance to an elephant's ear, has caused this plant to be so named. I have grown these plants close by a wall so as to supply them abundantly with water and one year got a single leaf which measured thirty-three inches across. It bears a yellow flower, but very seldom produces one. In winter care is about the same as recommended for cannas.

One more bulb is the summer blooming oxalis. For the border of a bed or a walk there is nothing so economical and beautiful. A hundred bulbs of these can be bought for ten cents, and these planted in a row about three inches apart, will by fall have increased to thousands. There are two varieties, Lasindria, the largest with a light green leaf, and a pretty pink upright flower, does not increase so rapidly as Dieppi which has dark foliage and a dwarf creeping habit.

None of the summer bulbs will endure our northern winters. All must be dug up in fall, carefully dried, and kept free from frost until planting time comes again.

THE FLOWER GARDEN. • 1207

Floral Hints.

To Kill Earth-Worms. — Ten drops of carbolic acid in a pint of water, poured over earth in flower-pots will kill all earth-worms.

Sure Shot for Rose Slugs. — Make a tea of tobacco-stems and a soap-suds of whale-oil or carbolic soap, mix and apply to the bush with a sprinkler, turning the bush so as to wet the under as well as the upper part of the leaves ; apply before the sun is up three or four times.

Lily of the Valley. — Those who have this in their gardens may secure flowers of it in the house late in the winter by lifting a bunch late in full. Pack closely with earth in a box and leave out of doors till after frost, giving only a slight watering now and then. Bring into the house about holidays, place in a sunny window and the flowers willsoon develop. They then need an abundance of water.

Freesia Refracta Alba. — Among new bulbs none have so quickly won their way to popularity as quickly as this. Its perfume is delicious, not ob- jectionable as ^re tuberoses. The flowers are a tube-shaped, pure white, with a yellow blotch on the lower petal. Plant the bulbs in fall in sandy soil and keep in the light, water and give little more until growth begins. When done blooming, withhold the water, and when the bulbs are ripe, store away in a dry place until next Fall.

Chinese Primrose. — For a neat, flowering plant for the window, there is nothing better than this. It is not suitable for outdoors, but in a greenliouse or even in a window it will with proper management bloom the year round. Usually, however, the blooming period is in ^'inter and early spring. It needs a moderately warm place, quite near the glass, and good" drainage in the pots. If, as is generally the case, the plant grows top-heavy, it should have a few small sticks placed around to support it. It is raised from seed, and florists supply young plants quite reasonable.

Floioer Pots. — Take common red clay flower pots, scrub them until all spots are removed and they are of one color. Then get a package of silhoutles and paste them not too thickly over the pot. Then give a coat of varnish. They are quite oinamental, and when suspended by a red cord they make a very nice hanging basket. In handsomely or even moderately well fuinished loom the plain red pots seem shabby.

Ivies. — A successful cultivator of ivies feeds them with iron and cod-liver oil ; the iron in form of rusty nails, mixed into the earth. Another produced a luxurious growth by wateiing once a week with tobacco-water; making a tea of refuse tobacco-leaves and stems, or of coarse tobacco. The water f.om the washing of fresh beef or fish is also of great benefit to ivies. Moisten the leaves with a sponge wet in tea, or simply wash with tepid wate- ; as to have success with them they must be kept free from dust. Tea-leaves placed around ivies are good for them.

To Keep Plants Witliout a Fire at Night. — Have made of wood or zinc a tray about four inches deep, with a handle on either end, water-tight — paint it outside and in, put in each corner a post as high as the tallest of your plants, and it is ready for use. Arrange your flower-pots in it, and fill be- tween them with sawdust ; this absorbs the moisture falling from the plants when you water them, and retains the warmth acquired during the day, keeping the temperature of the roots even. When you retire at night spread over the pots a blanket or shawl, and there is no danger of freezing. The tray may be placed on a stand or table and easily moved about.

1208 ' THE FLOWER GARDEN.

Crab Cactus — This is one of the nicest plants for winter bloom. It is easily raised from the slip and requires but little waterin<? or care. It blooms about Christmas, the flowers hist for several weeks, and after tliey are gone the plant c^in be set away in tlie cellar, or cupboard and be watered rarely until spring, when, if phiccil in a sonicwliat sha<ly place it will need no fur- ther attention. It grows thr<jugh the summer and the buds set on in tlie fall.

Window Gardening. — All the varieties of English ivy, the hoyacarnosa, the pas.sion flower, the jasmine, the pilogyne suavis, and begonias are espe- cially sustable for winter culture. Very pretty eflects may be produced at the cost of a few cents, ])y jjlantiug verbenas, morning-glories, cohea scandens, and the maurandias in baskets or flower-pots, which may be concealed behind statuary or bronzes. The ])est fertilizer for them or any other house plants is that sifforded by the tea-pot; the cold tea-grounds usually thrown away, if poured as a libation to these houseliold fairies, will produce a mir- acle of beauty and perfume.

To Prepare A utumn Leaves and Ferns. — Immediately after gathering, take a moderately warm iron, smear it well with white wax, rub over each sur- face of the leaf once, a])])ly more wax for each leaf ; this proce.ss causes leaves to njll about as when hanging on tiie tree. If pressed mure they become brittle and remain ])erfectly flat. Maple and oak are aiiKjng the most desir- able, and may be gathered any time after the severe frosts; but the sumac and ivy must'be secured as soon afier the flrst slight frost, as they become tinted,' or the leaflets will fall fruni the stem. Ferns may be selected any time during the season. A large book must be used in gathering them, aa they will be spoiled for pressing if carried in the hand. A weight should be placed upon them until they are perfectly dry; then, excepting the most delicate ones, it will be wejlto press them like the leaves, as they are liable to curl when placed m a warm atmosphere ; these will form beautiful com- binations with the sumac and ivy.

Soot as a Fertilizer. — Tie some in a bag and <lip up and down in two or three gallons water much in the way blueing is used in laundry. It is applied directly to the house-plants in the usual way with a watering pot, taking care not to get it on the leaves.

Flower-pot Covers. — AVhere one wishes to use plants in decorating a din- ing table or any place, knit or crochet a cover of green yarn or zephyr to slip up over the crock and around base of plant with a cord and tassel run in top of cover. A piece of round pastel)oard, size of bottom of crock can be placed inside of cover before putting in the crock. These covers are very useful aa they hide the crock and enable ont^ to enjoy the flowers without spoiling the plant. It is nice to have two or three of them as they are inexpensive and very easily made.

Fuschias. — When the leaves have fallen off" fuschias it is better to allow the plants to complete their rest. Give just enough water to keep the soil from getting dusty, and let them remain dormant until after the first of Jan- uary. Then repot in fresh soil, water liberally ; when they commence growth, give them all the light and air the rooms aff'ord. It must be remembered, however, that the fuscliia is by no means a winter-flowering jflant, though two varieties, Speciosa, and Mrs Marshall come into bloom very early in the year.