Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1879 — HOME INTERESTS. [ARTICLE]

HOME INTERESTS.

Floriculture. SOME PBACTICAL HINTS. To destroy the vitality of weed seeds in soil, by baking, will, in a great measure, destroy the fertility of the soiL A way to kill weed seeds is to spread the soil out thinly, in a warm place, and keep it moist In a few days most of the seeds will gerniinate, after which the soil should be 'stirred and allowed to become dry. In this manner weeds may effectually bedestroyed. To grow Geranium cuttings : Take coarse, clean sand, about three inches in depth, insert the cuttings about one to one and one-half inches deep therein; press the sand firmly around them, and water freely at first; afterward use it sparingly. One cause of Geranium cuttings turning black is the keeping of them too wet No kind of cuttings are better adapted for sending by mail than Geraniums, as the drying of the cut end is conducive to rooting them easily, and they universally give satisfaction. The list of admirable and choice house plants is a long one, and new ones are added every day. When the lover of flowers has a greenhouse, this long list may be freely selected from; but, if they have only a living-room—-and plants do better in a kitchen than anywhere—the list must be selected with care. The Calla Lily requires plenty of water during the flowering season. It is'one of the best house plants grown, being sure to bloom, in the summer season I set them out under a shady tree and let them rest until the fall, when 1 shako off all the dirt and give new soil. Give your Calla hot water as a stimulant, commencing with it as hot as you can bear your hand in; then, as the Calla becomes used to it, you can give it boiling hot. Give the Calla plenty of pot-room and plenty of water, and you will have no trouble with it. Geraniums when first set out in the beds are very apt to cast their leaves. Do not be discouraged, new ones will come;-for a Geranium is such an accommodating plant it will grow without petting or coaxing, and very often where no other plant will grow? I was asked a day or two since why a person’s geraniums produce such abundunce of leaves but no flowers. On inquiry I found the ground had been very heavily manured. The seeds of perennials, that is plants that throw up their flower-stems, mature their seeds ana then die down, to start up again the following spring, may be sown to bloom next season in June, July, and August; but the earlier sown, so much larger ana stronger will the plants be and therefore more able to stand the winter. Among these perennials we find a great many flowers which our grandmothers used to cultivate. There is the White Lily, which has been in cultivation some 300 years, and is still a favorite. It is a spotless white, perfectly hardy, and very fragrant, and is considered an emblem of purity. Then the Bleeding Heart (1 purposely give the popular name); everybody admires it, with its lovely branches loaded with rosy-red heart-shaped flowers. Lily of the Valley, I know all who read this will appreciate, for it is a universal favorite. It thrives best in a shady place which should be made quite rich with well-rotted manure. The foregoing perennials are increased by divisions of the roots, but very many others are produced from seed. If a good selection is made now and sown in the early summer you will have blooming plants from early next spring, commencing with the pretty Forget-Me Not, and continuing all through the summer with Pansies, Sweet William, Sweet Rocket, Snapdragon, Honesty Larkspur, Fox Glove, Columbine, Hollyhock, Wallflower, Canterbury Bell ana others, and finishing the year with the manycolored Chrysanthemum.’ Then among the perennial climbers we have Everlasting Ped, Honeysuckle and Adlumnia—although this last does not bloom until the second season, it is more properly a biennial. Strawberry patches set out in the spring should now be gone over, and all the runners cut away. Keep the ground mellow between the rows, using the hoe or similar instrument. Few people realize how much profit there is in a well-kept strawberry bed, to say nothing of the pleasure of eating the delicious fruit. They are very reasonable in cost, not more than 50 cents per 100, and 200 plants will supply a family, that is, using them in reason. They may be set out in July and August. Mb. Rennie. Hinsdale, Dupage county, 111.

An Industry for Women. A correspondent tells what was seen in the smoke. Let me tell the sight that greeted me in the strawberry fields. Long rows of vines laden with the delicious fruit, dozens of boys and girls on their knees picking rapidly. A wooden basket holding four boxes is beside each picker; when filled they are carried to the fruit-house, where others are obtained, as also tickets for the number of boxes picked. These boxes are set into crates holding two dozen, and the thin covering easily adjusted, the name marked, and set in a pile for hauling to the depot. The whole business, from the making of boxes while the plants are in bloom to the loading of the wagon, is unceasingly busy. At noon when the lunch baskets are brought beneath the trees and the tired backs rested, there comes a grand frolic and play time equal to any picnic. As there are three fruit farms separated by osage hedges only the noise made by the childish pickers is almost incredible. Often the children become too 'Wearv or too restless to work and wander off for a longtime. There being no compulsion, they work only when in the mood, but occasionally a rivalry occurs regarding speed, and little fingers work rapidly. The fields ar e in various conditions; there are the newly-set vines—those that were planted this spring. They are in long rows, six feet apart, the plants separated by as many inches. Here the plow is turning the soil, a man following with the hoe to remove the weeds from between the plants. Next we see the older beds in various stages; finally one that has stood for years, and is to be plowed under after this crop is picked. Gathering the berries seems easy; but, after kneeling upon the clean prairie grass that formed the protection for the vines in the winter long enough to pick a gallon, I did not wonder that the children required their resting spells; and yet, taking the whole business through, it is something women could follow successfully. I have seen young ladies turn off the boxes very rapidly; and, although not equaling the time that is said to be made by the Lynn shoemakers, where they work so fast that a finished shoe is in the air all of the time, being thrown over the shoulder to get them out of the way, yet these young ladies completed several crates full in a day. If women possessing a few acres of ground would engage In fruit culture instead of renting for a nominal sum, and then sitting down to eke out an existence by sewing, how much more healthy and every way satisfactory the business would prove. I think there are many departures from the old, beaten tracks that would be advantageous to women engaged in earning a livelihood. Mr. Rennie has given the “ Home ” his style of hanging-basket, and now let me give mine I wish his description had embraced the modus operand! of drilling the holes in the bowl I have met with some difficulties in my homemade ornaments. I have frequently made the necessary opening for drainage in crockery by chipping very lightly with the corner of a hatchet, but I feel afraid to try my skill upon a set of little ornamental crocks. A blacksmith agreed to drill the holes, but expected the vases to. break; so they still try to nourish something without drainage rather than see them lying in pieces. My much-admired- hanging basket was bought with peaches in it, containing about a peck. To the thin wood of which it is made I sewed pine cones and sweet gum burrs; some of the cones were cut off so as to lie flak I did not glue them, for, although that is the quicker way, yet the strong thread passed over each

cone preserves it in place when the basket receives one of those sudden knocks to which they are subject The bottom is a solid mass of gum burrs, and, as the basket hangs quite high, the effect is very nice. To prevent the Pressure of dirt being too great for its strength, suspended a crock just the right size to rest upon the strong wood that forms the rim, and in that put the soil and my plants. Four long twines to hang by complete the whole, and it amply repaid the labor expended upon it The vines have interlaced around those twines until the effect is beautifnL Maude Lee. Mattoon, Hl.