On being asked to decorate part of the house on the event of a social gathering, I was puzzled; our exotics were not showy enough for the occasion. A pleasing sensation of relief crept over me when I recollected that thirty-five or forty different varieties of geraniums were in pots sunk in the large bed. Imagine the effect of these when grouped together at night time with other foliage plants in a cheerful, illuminated hall, gold and green, silver, bronze, zoned and variegated leaves in tasteful masses under a forest of blossoms of numerous colors.

Conspicuous among those plants detailed by me for indoor decorations and outdoor recesses, is the new, scented geranium, "Little Pet." The name is very appropriate and should need no further comments than what the name indicates. When we make new acquaintances or meet with new associates, we cannot always judge them accurately by their outward appearances. Neither can we guarantee the merits of a new plant until we cultivate it and see it in bloom. "Little Pet" is an acquisition to the scented geranium family that we cannnot dispense with, and we hail it joyfully to our gardens and dwellings. Branched low it forms a compact pyramidal, supported on a small woody stem. Leaves, coarse green, very fragrant and cut deeply into six distinct lobes, edges along the lobes delicately cut and ruffled; petals handsome, upright; bright, intense carmine, sprinkled with dark markings along the inner base; calyx large, thick and compressed; panicles short and wiry, scarcely throwing the buds higher than the level of the foliage. Imagine then the effect of from twenty to thirty expanded buds sparkling on the surface of a compact foliage like precious gems set among dazzling rubies. Peduncles start numerously from side and center, some bearing only two buds, some four, and others five and six.

Cincinnati, Ohio.