, hard ground. (2) Deep shade, as when grown under
evergreens or behind thick shrubbery. (3) Spring planting in hot
climates, or (4) clumps allowed to get too dry in droughty summers.
BRUGMANSIA. I admire this plant when in bloom. Its magnificent ivory
trumpets are a grand sight. It is a fine thing for piazza decoration
during summer, and may be grown in a greenhouse or warm plant room in
winter. It is not, however, suitable for ordinary window culture. It
needs good care and freedom from dust, and moreover chills easily. If
placed in the cellar in November it will winter there safely. Bring up
as early as possible in the spring, water with moderation until new
shoots start from the root, then give abundance of water.
EUCHARIS. This is a beautiful flower worth taking a little pains to
grow. It is more often seen in greenhouse than in a window, as it is
easier in the former to secure a warm, moist, even temperature. Shortly
after New Year Eucharis grow very fast. Keep them warm and moist until
through flowering when they can be kept ten to fifteen degrees cooler
and watered less freely. This gives them the needed semi-rest to enable
them to get ready for bloom again. In summer they need plenty of water
again. When fall comes keep them pretty dry for the next three months,
supplying only enough water to keep them from losing their leaves. Pot
them in loam and sand, with a small quantity of old crumbled manure and
leaf loam.
A PLAGUE OF ANTS. A correspondent has suffered for years from annual
raids of ants that literally swarm over everything and everywhere. "Last
year," says this lady, "they killed ever so many plants, from Pansies to
trees. All of our outdoor flowers were almost ruined by them. I have
tried molasses and Paris green, but they only increase in numbers. They
are everywhere, but I cannot find their holes or nest."
There is no use trying to depend on killing all these ants after they
have taken possession. A bushel of pyrethrum powder would not pepper
them all or a hogshead of kerosene emulsion last long enough to get them
all. They must be killed at the fountain head, in their nesting places.
A few years ago a certain set of our pear trees had their blossoms
ruined year after year by hordes of ants. We could not kill them off,
for there were always new ones to take their places. One day we found
their nest, a very large one, but entirely underground. A speedy and
therefore merciful death was decreed f
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