House Plants. 223 



cupying of spare time; but that alone was good, as it pre- 

 vented these men from spending their spare time in. idle- 

 ness, or worse still, in the dramshop, with its attendent ele- 

 meats of debauchery and crime. 



For many years the idea was prevalent that plants in the 

 house were highly injurious to health, because, as it was said, 

 they exhale poisonous gases, at least during the night. It 

 is not my purpose to attempt to prove the fallacy of this 

 theory; suffice it to say that, whereas, very little, if any, 

 bona fide evidence has ever been produced to show that 

 they have ever been actually injurious, much has and can 

 be brought forward to prove that, if the ordinary plants in 

 cultivation do any injury to even the most delicate person, 

 that injury is so slight as to be inappreciable. A tour 

 through the villages of Europe, where the house culture of 

 plants has been extensively engaged in by rich and poor for 

 many years; and, even through our own towns and villages, 

 will furnish sufficient and very conclusive evidence that 

 plants in the house are not only non-injurious, but, seem- 

 ingly, conducive to health, if we may judge by the appear- 

 ance of the people living in these houses, where, even the 

 bed-room windows, in many instances, are darkened by the 

 dense foliage of fuchsias, geraniums, etc. Any person who 

 has hitherto been denying himself the pleasure of a few 

 plants in his house because of a fear that they may possibly 

 be deleterious to health, may at once and forever banish the 

 thought, and proceed to gratify his desire, with perfect as- 

 surance that, as far as his plants are concerned, he may live 

 to be the age of Methuselah. 



The many benefits to be derived from the house culture 

 of plants, may be said to be inestimable. They are to the 

 room what its pictures are which adorn its walls. Like 

 these they are decorative, and a source of endless study. 

 But their study is more interesting, more educating, more 

 refining than that of picturec, for are they not possessed 

 of life, and do they not appeal to us for care and sustenance? 

 We watch them with interest from day to day, and we an- 

 ticipate developments. We see them put forth their 

 leaves, their buds and blossoms. We wonder and study. 



