STATE HORTICULTFRAL SOCIETY. 147 



dish of sand, which must not be allowed to get dry. In two weeks, 

 or a little more, they should ])e rooted. Put them now into small 

 pots from two to three inches across, and filled with good rich dirt. 

 The })lants should be partially shaded, and thoroughly watered after 

 this transplanting. 



Verbenas, coai, f uschias, lantanas, hibiscus, and heliotropes, can 

 be started at this tini? ])r()fitably in the same way. 



An easier method, perhaps, to start geraniums, is to cut or break 

 them partially from the stalk, and let them hang there till the break 

 has healed or ''cicatrized;"' they may then be taken oft" and put di- 

 rectly into dirt in the small pots: thus saving one handling. 



The large-leafed begonias, like begonia rex, can be rooted by 

 pressing a single leaf down on the moist sand. If the leaf is cut 

 down to the mid-rib in two or three places, yon will often have as 

 many plants as divisions. 



The large plants that are to come into the house during the 

 winter should be taken np a month before it is intended to put them 

 indoors. Nearly everything but coleus plants should be well cut 

 back, put into as small pots as Avill hold them conveniently, water 

 roots and leaves thoroughly^ and set the plants in the shade of a tree 

 or building; leave them there a week or two till the roots are " set- 

 tled," when thev mav have less water and more sun. If tea roses 

 are put in the ground they may stay there until the middle of Sep- 

 tember or October, and when })otted be left under the shade of a 

 tree, watering as needed for a month, or till the ground begins to 

 freeze at night. Thpn bring them in, and by the middle of Decem- 

 ber they will begin to bloom. 



So much for plants in the yard. I know by sad experience, 

 however, that in town lots it often lia})])ens that you cannot put a 

 flower bed in the fnmt yard, for the children must have a place to 

 play, and you cannot put it in the back yard, for the washings must 

 be dried. There's always "room at the top.*' you know, and if we 

 can't have " ground floor, " we'll just put our flower bed into a box 

 and move it up to a window ledge or l)alc()ny. One of the prettiest 

 things I saw last summer was a flower-trained balcony in Minneapo- 

 lis. There seemed to be a box about a foot in width and the same 

 in dej)th, around three sides of the balcony, which fronted east. In 

 this box were ])lanted just three kinds of drooping flowers, viz: nas- 

 turtiums, or tropa^olums, if you will, lobelia, and sweet alyssum, or 

 candy tuft, I could not tell which from the street. 



We were admiring this l)rilliant cornice of yellow-red, blue, and 

 white, fi'om the o])posite veranda of my friend, when one of our 

 party, a gentleman, said: " Yes, it is handsome, but the plants bloom 

 so well I'll warrant there is a professional gardener to take care of 

 them." '• No there is n't!" said my friend. "The lady of the house 

 and her daughter take care of them, and do all their own work be- 

 side." I mentally tallied one for amateurs. 



