Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-12-31
FACTS ABOUT FLOWERS.
A SOLUTION of tobacco soap will kt

A SOLUTION of tobacco soap will keep the aphis away from honeysuckles.
 CUTTINGS should always be made from healthy plants, otherwise they are sure to be poor and diseased.
 FLORISTS say nothing Is gained by starting gladioli in the house in ad- vance of the outdoor planting time.
 IT is the nature of the poinsettia to drop its leaves after blooming when grown in the sitting-room. 1t often drops them before, unless good deal of water is used on it's foliage.
 AMONG the most beautiful of the late au tumnal blossoms may be mentioned several species of blue gentian. The gentian is one of very few flowers which may be described as Q true blue-most of those generally called blue being in reality more of a purple order.
 As florists flower the orchid will hold far more important place in the near future in this country than in the past, and the day is not far distant when prices of the different orchid blooms will be quoted together with roses and other flowers in the horticultural bulle- tin, and there will be few retail florists
 
 THE beautiful daisy opens at sunrise and closes at sunset, whence it's name, '.day's eye" The morning-glory opens its flower with the day, The "John-go- to-bed- at-noon" awakes four o'clock in the morning, but closes it's eyes in the middle of tho day, and the dandelion is in full bloom only during the hours of strong light. This habit of some flow CTS is certainly very curious, and fur nishes one of the many instances which prove the singular adaptability of every thing in nature.
 THE fringed gentian is the species commemorated by Bryant. It closely resembles it's relatives, but the flowers are few and the stems and leaves simple. It's chief claim to distinction Is its fringed lobes, not petals, as the flower is all one piece, like a trumpet. The corolla is open and the lobes are developed so as to resemble petals of a deep blue with fringed border. The gentians form an interesting family of themselves and include a great number of foreign species.
 CHRYsANTHE,1UMs can be propagated by seeds and cuttings and by separating the old plants. The seed may be sown in February or March in well-drained boxes of mellow soil in which there is some sand. Sift thin covering of fine dirt over the seed, press down into the soil with block and water gently with sprinkler. Keep moist and shaded. They will be up in about week. When the little plants have three leaves sprout in a nicely-prepared bed in the garden, or, if the weather is cool, they may be put in other boxes or in jars, rather closely, say one inch apart.
 ORCHIDS are not short-lived under careful treatment. The constantly in creasing demand there now being five hundred cultivators where there was one when they were first imported) has kept prices up, and the likelihood is that, while flowers may be somewhat cheaper, good plants for florists stock will remain about the same; again, the cost of collecting is constantly increas- ing; it being almost impossible to esti- mate the trouble and hardships under gone, especially as the plants in their native homes become scarce, and the collector must travel greater distances than haretOfOra