Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1876 — The Gems of Spring. [ARTICLE]

The Gems of Spring.

There is no season of the year when opening flowers occasion greater delight than in early spring, after wa have been deprived for months'*of all lout-door Roomers. To JBecifte* theta; Ave must make preparations in autumn, if they are not already provided for. , r The qariy bulbs make the first brilliant I display, among Winch are the snow drops, Siberian squills, the many colored eramiddle of October. Those tehder, like the hyacinth, must, pf cqurse, be edvered on the approach of winter; and soil. It is therefore best,' where the soil inclines to be heavy, to place -fa- small handful of coarse, clean sand beneath each bulb at the time of setting. Some of these bulbs sire so hardy as to endure and h°ld their places wherever set. We have seen a striking appearance presented when the flowers of the crocus gemmed the surface of a smooth .grass lawn, the crocus beds having stood there before the ground was seeded to grass: the btootaing wfe over before'the mower Was used. Nothing has a more beautiful ‘appearance in April than masses of the liqbkiblue flowers of the Siberian squills resting on the surface of a green lawn. Many hardy annuals mgy be -sown in afitumn, rindwill give a more certain and much earlier bloom than from spring sowing. All plants which are seen coming up early in the spring, from the accidental dropping of the seed from the plants which have ripensdthc year before, are suitable for autumn sowing. Among them may be gamed candyduft, rockqt larkspurs, sweet, alyssum, mignonette, portulaca in ’ light soil, and some of the centaureas. Perennials, sown early enough to make a good groWßi before winW, will says that he has received flowers of the pansy from .Sohthem States, nearly four indies m th winter, which had been sown the previous autumn. Herbaceous perennials, such as peonies, campanulas, lartawmg columbines, etc., whioh have stood and for many S 3; These wilt follow theekrly Vulbi, and pre new plantings ! be slightly protected'.-* Country Gentleman.