garden should be without the double white feverfew; the more you cut it
the more it blooms. _Anthemis tinctoria_, yellow or white, the yellow is
by far the best, and the lance-leaved, large-flowered, larkspur-leaved
and eared coreopsises are fine, seasonable perennials, as are likewise
the yellow, white, and pink yarrows, double sneezewort, the cone
flowers, and large-flowered fleabanes, and all grow readily in
any ordinary garden soil, and with little care. Hollyhocks are in
perfection; feed them well and prevent many sprouts to each stool. Many
kinds of meadow rue, as garden plants, have a bold, graceful appearance;
they love moist soil.
In good soil and a partly shaded spot we have no handsomer plant in
bloom than the tall bugbane (_Cimicifuga racemosa_); from a bunch of
thrifty leaves arise a dozen scapes of racemes, creamy white, and six
feet high. The scarlet lychnis and its many varieties are nearly past,
but the large-flowered, Haag's, and others of that section, are in their
prime, and showy plants they are. They are true and lasting perennials,
bloom well the first season from seed, quite hardy, copious, and
effective; any ordinary garden soil. The pyrenean prunella has large
purple heads; the false dragonhead (_Physostegia_), pale rose-purple
spikes; centranthuses, cymes of red and white; centaureas, heads of
yellow, blue, and purple; pinks, divers shades of red and white; and
monkshoods, hoods of blue or white; and all are very hardy, ready
growers, and copious bloomers. The bee balm, one of our handsomest
perennials, has bright red whorls; it spreads upon the surface of the
ground like mint, and thus may be divided and increased to any extent.
It loves rich, moist land, but is not fastidious. Among the evening
primroses the Missouri one is the brightest and biggest; _speciosa_,
white, from Texas, of blossoms the most prolific; _glauca, riparia,
fruticera_, and _linearis_, all yellow; many others, though perennial,
are best treated as annual or biennial. The spiked loosestrife planted
by the water's edge of a pond is far finer than in the garden border. It
has hundreds of red spikes.
Add to these, everlasting peas, musk mallows, spiderwort, globe
thistles, bold senecios, the finer milkweeds, _Scabiosa, Gallium_,
Chinese _Astilbe_, various kinds of loosestrife (_Lysimachia_), and many
others as perennials, and _Coreopsis_, balsams, zinnias, marigolds,
stocks, Swan river daisy, mignonnette, sweet peas, sweet alyssum,
morning glories, larkspurs, canary flowers, cucumber-leaved sunflowers,
verbenas, petunias, corn flower, Drummond phlox, double and single
poppies, snapdragons, _Phacelia, Gilia, Clarkia_, candytuft, red flax,
tassel flowers, blue _Anchusa, Gaillardia_, and a multitude besides of
seasonable annuals, which can all be raised quite easily without a frame
or green-house, and what excuse has any farmer for having a flowerless
garden in midsummer?--_William Falconer, in Country Gentleman_.
* * * * *
THE TIME-CONSUMING MATCH.
Mr. Edward Prince, splint manufacturer, of Horseshoe Bay, Buckingham
township, is authority for the statement that there are about twenty-two
match factories in the United States and Canada, and that the daily
production--and consequent daily consumption--is about twenty-five