The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1883-04-05
Msefnl aud Curious.
The Flower Garden.


The Rev. George Meares Drought, writing
| from Ireland TO the London Times, says:
"For three years have lived in a town. and
| during that time my sitting room has beeu FREE
from dies, three or four only walking about my
breakfast table, while all my neighbors' rooms
were crowded. / often congratulated myself on
nv escape, but never knew the reason Of Ii nm
til two days ago. then had occasion to move
| goods to another house, while l remained two
| days longer. Among the things moved were
| two boxes Of geraniums and calceolarias, which
| stood in my window, the windows being always
open to the full extent, top and bottom. The
| boxes were not gone half an hour before my
1 room was rs full Of flies as those around me.
| This, TO me, is q new discovery, and perhaps il
may serve to encourage others in that which
4 is always a source Of pleasure, and which now
proves also to be of comfort, namely, window
| gardening
| Directions for starting tube-roses: Pat the
bulbs in six Inch pots, three in each, and use a
mixture of equal parts of turfy loan, peat, and
leaf-mold, aud place in the pit Give a very lit
! tie water 1T first, and as they begin to grow
| freely increase it and keep near She glass. When
| they begin to push up their Hover spikes, they
will Of necessity require to be placed where
they will have sufficient space for the proper de-
veiopment Of the tall spikes. These will come
| into bloom from August TO October, when they
| will require a temperature ranging from sixty
degrees to seventy degrees, the latter being pre-
| f-rable. If wanted in bloom earlier, the pots
| should be placed in a warm pit and on tbed
| the temperature of which Is about seyenty-fiv
| degrees, to start them into growth mort quickly.
florist, writing on the subject Of fuchsias,
| says: "Care should be taken to secure a hand
| somely shaped plant. This be done by
pinching out the tips of the branches, when
| ever the tip is taken out, two three branches
| will start and thus with facility, you make
the plant whatever shape yoa please. A good
way is TO let the central stalk grow tall as it
| will, and pinch the ends of the side branches
| when they have grown few inches from the
| main stem. You will in this manner secure a
thick, handsome plant. By cutting back, new
| wood is also produced in greater abundance,
| and therefore more profuse bloom- No plant
| grows more readily from cuttings which start,
those of most other plants do, more readily
| in wet sand. Get box three four inches
| deep, and of any size you may require; fill it
| with sand; then take your cuttings, cut OFF Just
| above an eye, leaving two three inches be-
low, and put them in the sand nearly to the up
| per eye. If Of the new wood (Which will make
| the plant grow more rapidly there will be two
| leaves at the eye. Cut the point OF each leaf
| half way back. Set the box where It will be
convenient TO water, and keep constantly wet;
keep the sand constantly saturated with water,
anal very soon the cutting will send out roots.
As soon as the roots start, plant them separately
| in small pots. In this way you can, with ease,
| multiply your plants TO almost any extent. Ros-
| Is, geraniums, heiiotropes, and many other
| plants can bc raised in the same way