The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-05-15

their supreme elegance Of shape no words
OF mine can express. They are pure white.
they are rose pink, they are clear, heavenly
blue, and some are bright scarlet, some
crimson. some lavender, some have dark.
rich Centers, some are white within and
pink without, some of the lavender howers
have a ring of rich red in the center, and
they are all variegated in endless charming
ways. e-Y-
l hope you have mot been impatient if
any of your seeds failed to appear within
a certain time. The state of the weather,
the temperature of the air, the amount OF
rain which falls, make all the differsncstin
the world in the time it takes for the green
leaves to appear. Sometimes il the weather
is cold it is a fortnight before you see the
faint green lines along the planted rows.
When they do appear, you must watch
we'll for the weeds between their ranks,
and SO must all she gardeners in the other
gardens.
There will be clover; that comes up with
a little circular leaf and has q root that
seems to reach all around in the under
world. 1t goes everywhere and holds on the
earth with a grip which is %unequaled by
ANYTHING that grows. Don't leave an atom
OF the root in the ground, for if you do it
will send up shoots, n if not watched
will fill all the space in a few weeks.
Then there is chick-weed, a delicate weed
most difficult to manage. because when you
try to pull it up the tender stalk is likely to
break Just where it leaves the ground, and
all the roots will send up fresh shoots to
atrangle your flowers if you leave it IN
molested.
Then there are the pig-weed, ragweed.
shepherds purse, mallow, mustard and
many others; these come first.
The second crop consists largely of quitch
grass, the very worst Of all, and purseley, of
amusingly in his my Summer in a Gar
den." He has really made the p~urseley
famous. The roots of the .quitoh
grass are strong as steel and run
rapidly everywhere beneath the sur
face, sending up tender shoots that break
off when you touch them. Get hold of the
root and follow it up and pull out every
fibre. Pursely has a fiat, oiive-green leaf
and red, heshy stems, and runs over the
top of the ground in a mat. But this is
easily disposed Of. Only it keeps coming
from time to time all summer. You must
watch for it and pull it up faithfully. VI
You will soon learn all these weeds by
ing planted in rows it will be easy to pull
up everything between these. But some
weeds will come up with the flowers. You
must study the flower plants in the rows,
and pull out the offending strangers.
Thin out your ranks as soon as the plants
get their second leaf-leave three inches
between each two plants side by side.
Water every night, a few weeks, and your
whole garden will soon be covered with its
lovely green. :"@
By the first of July the pretty buds will
begin to rise on the long fine stems, and in
a few days the whole bed will be a waving
mass of delicate bloom. 70 graceful. SO
exquisite that you will be enchanted with ii.
The same rule holds good with this as
with other flowers, "Gather! gather!
eather"' If You want an endless succession
Of bloom. Don't let your flowers exhaust
their strength in forming seeds. Cut
them (and. by the way, every gardener
must have 4 common, cheap pair of scis-
sors OF cutting flowers, to break the stems
or pull them is q most disastrous and cruel
fashion) every day; follow the stalk down
as far as you can find it and cut it as long
as possible; a few buds and leaves will 20
with it, but there il suoh a wealth of flow
cid You can spare the buds.
Tall crystal glasses are best for these
flowers, and they are perfectly beautiful
mixed in all their colors. Then the white
are exquisite alone, and also the blue, and
the blue and white together-the white in
one mass, the blue in another and nut into
one vase together. There 10 no end to
the possibilities of beautiful arrangements
in these flowers. 1 have a rainbow tinted
shell in which I hang them under a chan
delier: they repeat all the eolors in the
shell n are a vision of lovlinesa mover to
be forgotten. MRS. CELIA THAxTER.
Copyright. IT,