STATE POiMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 59 



Ilaving' thus marked out the general principles which should 

 govern iu the laying out and embellishment of the small suburban 

 estate, it remains for us to add that there are a vast number of 

 places, which from the nature of circumstances do not admit the 

 application of any principles be3'ond those which neatness and 

 order aflbrd. The cultivation of trees and shrubs, a well kept 

 lawn, and a distribution of flowers constitute all that can be ex- 

 pected therein." 



Window Gardening. 



In the rigorous climate of Maine, the beautiful flowers lie dor- 

 mant more than half the year, enclosed in their shroud-like buds, 

 awaiting the annual resurrection when tne moist warm breeze of 

 spring shall breath upon them and bid them burst their cerements 

 and awake to renewed life ; and so it happens, that during all that 

 long period we are deprived of the sight of the exquisite flowers, 

 unless we provide for them an artificial climate, where they may 

 grow and bloom perpetually in spite of winter's cold and frost. 

 This can be done by one who has a bay or any other window with 

 a southern or eastern exposure. There can be cultivated the ivy 

 training about the room, roses full of bloom, perfuming the air 

 with sweet fragrance, geraniums, heliotropes, fuchias and calla, etc. 



* " They will thrive alike in the conservatories of the rich, the 

 cottage of the poor, or the workshop of the mechanic. But how 

 few understand their culture ; how few treat them as living beings 

 that breathe, and are sensitive to the changes of their surround- 

 ings ; the temperature too cold or too hot will affect their very 

 life, the soil also may run to the two extremes, may be either 

 overfed or starved ; too much kindness is as fatal as too much 

 neglect ; constant care tells the whole story of successful plant 

 culture, yet bestowed in such a manner as to be hardly realized, 

 a little now and then with a constant eye to their wants, and you 

 will find your window of plants a source of constant satisfaction. 



Flowers are not to rejoice the vision of the rich alone, neither 

 is a greenhouse necessary ; not that you can grow all kinds of 

 plants to perfection in the dry atmosphere of a room heated by a 

 coal or wood stove, but there are enough plants which will thrive 

 to answer every want, and the others can be added as your means 

 permit. 



But to grow plants to perfection, such as you would wish to 

 * Trans. Wisconsin State Ilort. Society, 1872; p. 184. 



