The Portland daily press., 1878-10-10
AGRICULTURAL.
Floral Notes.

In potting plants for window gardening,
which should be done early in autumn, use
only good Light turfy loan never old garden
soil, heavy clayey earth, nor that which is
very sandy. 1t is good plan to cut the tops
well back, excepting hard-wooded plants, as
the cameilla, azalea, etc. Set away in cool
shady place for some time in advance of NOV
ing into the house. They need to make roots
in the new soil before top growth or bloom
begins, but they do not demand a daily
deluge of water. Sprinkling frequently over
the tops is beneficial except during damp
cloudy weather, but one must judge as to
when is the proper time to water by the con.
dition of the soil.
The flower for the million is the pansY, and
no one of the many so-called florists flowers
has been more highly improved of late years
To those not blessed with greenhouse, we
suggest sowing the seeds thinly and evenly
over shallow box of fine soil, and storing in
cool place, protected from rain and wind.
Attend to the watering, however, regularly,
and as soon as the seedlings are of sufficient
size, either pick them out in another box,
or pot off singly into small pots, the former
preferred. They like cool atmosphere at all
times, and high temperature during winter
is especially bad.
Shrubbery and herbaceous perennials do
best when moved early in the season; TO ac-
SouPhSh bhiS successfully, PICK OIL every
Leaf before digging the former, and remove
all the tops of the latter before disturbing
their roots. Most of the snowy perennials
yield more flowers if divided every three or
four years, and the last of this or the be-
ginning of next month is the time to do it.
Some of the more tender may be kept
in the open ground all winter by placing an
empty barrel, minus both heads, over them,
and banking up manure around the outside.
AS an additional protection, stick some ever
green branches inside the barrel to ward off
the rays of the sun. The crape-myftle is a
good example of this class of plants.
Ihat homely but hardy old shrub the
alth9a (Hibscus Syriacus) is familiar to all,
but the elegant new double-foWering va
rieties recently introduced from abroad are
not so well known. Every tint seems now to
have representative in this species, and the
names bid fair soon to be as numerous as
among roses. Gardeners no longer reply upon
the old style of increasing them from cut
tings, as this has proved too unreliable in our
variable climate, but they graft the improved
kinds on seedlings roots, in the same manner
as that vogue for the apple-whip-gr
1t performed during the winter, and the
gratis are slowed away in moss or damp saw
dust until spring when they are dibbled out
into rows, growing the first year from one to
two feet high, and blooming full the next
season.
To cut lily stems down to the ground as
soon as the last flower disappears will either
weaken the bulb for next years blooming
or cause it to decay. Wait till the foliage
stems turn yellow, thus giving evidence
that the bulb is mature and the portion
above ground no longer of any use.
The beauty of Yucca fLan1entosG is COM
mented on by the London journal of Horti-
culture, whose editor found it an especial at
traction in Battersea Park, August 1. There
is at least one other species still more beauti-
fully. recuruifolia. 1t has not the numer-
GUS silky filaments or threads attached to the
leaves, but the foliage is so long and graceful,
to snch rich green, ahd it succeeds so well
in the Middle States, as to fully compensate
us for the omission. The tall snowy pancles
of greenish-white flowers are also especially
pleasing. Y. gloriosa, it may not be known,
will also do we'll in the Middle States in shell.
tered spots, and makes glorious specimen
for the lawn. The panicles of this species are
very snowy, the flowers being large, pure
white, and very numerous. Y. dloioIia, our
remaining Southern species, is quite distinct
from the foregoing, but unfortunately it is
too tender for our hard winter at the North.
IN, Y, Tribune.