Popular Pastimes for Field and Fireside, or Amusements for young and old

by Caroline L. Smith

Do not waste your money at fashionable watering-places. Even in early years, take your children to the woods and let them see nature in its wild state. There is nothing like a day in the woods for refreshing us all, in body and mind. The wild music of running brooks is so lulling, the birds carol their “native wood-notes wild” so sweetly, the strange blended odor of the damp mould, the leaves, the wild flowers, and the prospect of the distant meadow, are so delightful; the play of the sunlight through the dense foliage, and on the sylvan walks, is so beautiful, and the quiet is so marked, after the hum and roar of a city, that the mind is tranquilized, and both you and your children will be nearer to God, and nearer to one another, for every hour so spent. Our whole country is full of wild beauty. Spend your spare money in decorating your homes with trees, flowers and shrubs. The influence upon your children will be far more beneficial.

If your children wish for money to purchase seeds and flowers for their gardens, if possible, give it cheerfully. It is far better so spent than in dress and toys. Let them plan their own gardens and experiment as much as they please. A very pretty fence can be made round such gardens, by a number of stakes of equal lengths pointed at one end to drive into the ground, square at the top, and painted green. Then place them at equal distances around your garden, and bore holes about six or seven inches apart for the twine, which should be brown linen. Pass the twine through the holes, in lines all around the garden. Plant vines which run rapidly, such as Cypress Vine, Madeira Vine, Nasturtium, Maurandya Barclayanna, Dwarf Convolvulus, Mountain Fringe, &c., &c. By midsummer your simple fence will be very beautiful.

Having spent many years in cultivating flowers, perhaps a few practical directions from my own experience may be of service to my readers.

HOW TO PLANT SEEDS.

We often think because the seed we plant does not germinate that we have purchased poor seed, when the fault is in the manner of planting.

Nearly all kinds of flower seeds require transplanting, therefore it is best to plant in boxes, pots, or hot-beds. Old cigar boxes are convenient and are easily handled, but first bore holes in the bottom of the boxes, and in your pots or boxes place either broken clam or oyster shells or pieces of old flower pots as a drainage; then take light, rich earth and sift it or rub it carefully in your hands to be sure there are no lumps; some bake the earth to destroy any insects which may be in it, but it answers the same purpose to pour boiling water on it. After you have filled your boxes or pots with this prepared earth, sprinkle your seed carefully over it, and sift over them light soil sufficient to cover them, moisten them with warm water, and place the box where there is but little light and throw a piece of paper over the top. A warm place will start them best. Let them remain thus several days, till the seeds have a chance to swell, before you give them much light, and keep the earth moist; (a sponge is excellent to water them, as it does not disturb the position of the seeds; also use warm water,) as soon as you see they are sprouting give them light, and air, if not too cold, or else the plant will not have strength to grow well. Hot-beds are the best, and can be made with but little expense, by taking some old box, and if you do not possess an old window sash you can purchase one of some builder for a trifling sum of money, and fit it to your box by nailing strips at the sides; dig a place the size of the box and two or three feet deep, fill it with horse manure mixed with straw, which is the most heating, then sprinkle soil over the top about six inches deep, place your box on the top, carefully heaping the earth around the outside, and your hot-bed is made, in which you can start your seeds and slips by either placing your boxes or pots in the earth on top of the manure and plant your seeds and slips in them, or as many prefer, planting in the soil of your hot-bed. After your seedling plants are of sufficient size to transplant, if you first transplant them into small pots, you can easily plant them in your flower beds without disturbing the roots, and the plants will not require covering; you must first dig a hole and pour water into it, then carefully slip the plant, dirt and all, from the pots and place into the hole made for it and press the earth tight around it. Of course they must remain in the pot till they are well rooted. In raising slips you need to mix in full half common scouring sand with the soil, and they must be shaded from the light several days.

All who care for flowers will desire to raise Verbenas, as they blossom all Summer. If you wish to raise them from seed they should be sown in February or first of March. One secret in raising fine Verbenas is change of soil. It would be better to plant them every year in a different location, but if you renew the soil it will do to plant them twice in the same bed, but never three years in succession. Indeed, flowers as well as vegetables need constant change of soil; they soon exhaust the earth. Seeds are better that are raised in locations distant from the place where they are to be sown. Flowers soon deteriorate if you continue to plant over and over from seed raised in the same spot; that is one of the reasons why seeds from Europe are generally preferred by florists. Japan Pink seed should be planted in March, in order to have them flower the first year; they are hardy and blossom also the second year. Pansy seed should be planted as early as Verbenas. Ten Weeks’ Stock, Phlox Drummondi, Double Zinnias, Lobelia, Petunias, Portulaca, Salpiglossis, Candytuft, Larkspur, &c., should be planted in April. If you desire to raise Picotee or Carnation Pinks for the next year, and Canterbury Bells and Fox Gloves, sow in April. Sow Asters of all kinds the last of April or first of May. Some of the climbers, such as Maurandya, Barclayanna, Tropæolum, commonly called Nasturtium, Cypress Vine, Thunbergia, &c., need transplanting, and better be sown early. Sweet Peas should be sown in the open soil about three inches deep, early in April. It is better to soak the seed in warm water before sowing. When they have germinated and as they begin to climb, fill in earth around them, and water now and then thoroughly with soap suds. Mignonette should not be transplanted; sow the seed in the open soil the first of May. Candytuft and Sweet Alyssum, are hardy, and the seed can be sown out of doors; but if you have once had them, they will come up self sown; look over your beds in Spring and take up such plants, when you have the soil prepared and beds made, then you can plant them back again where you desire. Joseph’s Coat is a very brilliant plant, its leaves are all shades of green, red and yellow; the seed can be sown either in or out of doors by the first of May, also Golden Calliopsis. Balsams will grow better if the seeds are not planted till the second week in May out of doors.

All the flowers I have mentioned are desirable even in a small garden; of course there are hundreds of varieties of even annuals, but unless you have a gardener it is impossible to raise them all, for it is desirable even in a small garden to have some flowers raised by slips, or bought from some greenhouse, such as Fuchsias, Double Feverfews, Scarlet Geraniums, Heliotropes, Rose Geraniums, Lemon Verbenas, Monthly Roses and Hardy Perpetuals, &c. Hardy Perpetual Roses are desirable in every garden, they grow so thrifty and blossom all summer, and with a little covering will live out all Winter; and if they are showered often early in the Spring while the dew is on the roses, with whale oil soap suds, using a syringe to shower them, it will prevent the usual damage done by the slug. If you have a shady, moist place in your garden there you can plant your Lily of the Valley, double blue English Violet, Forget-me-not, and Pansy.

Fuchsias also require some shade. Heliotropes and Geraniums will bear enriching more than most plants; often watering with guano water is excellent. A table-spoonful of guano to a common water-pail full of water is sufficiently strong. It also improves Pansies, Fuchsias and nearly all plants except Roses. Soap suds is better for Roses and Verbenas, at least according to my experience. Nearly all plants make a finer show in a garden arranged either in beds, each variety by itself, or in clusters. Before planting your garden in Spring it is well to carefully consider the nature of each flower, and arrange your garden so that each flower can be displayed to advantage; never plant promiscuously; it is astonishing what a difference landscape gardening will make in the general aspect of even a small place. It is quite as desirable as to arrange the colors in a picture to harmonize. Even an old stump of a tree can be made beautiful by planting vines around it, or by scooping out the top and filling in soil, and planting Nierembergia, Lobelia, Double Nasturtium, Variegated Myrtle, &c., in it. Those I have mentioned blossom all Summer, except the Myrtle, the leaves of which are as beautiful as many flowers.