FAIIMERS' INSTITUTES. . 269 



by October, and Uower ubuudantly ull winter. The case is different, however, 

 witli younger plants grown in the ground ; those having few if any feeding 

 roots, Tnust bo kept at a low temperature for some time until nature has 

 restored the loss incurred in digging them up. These roses should be potted 

 in October, and placed in a cool, light cellar until February, then placed in a 

 sunny window where they will flower the remainder of the winter and spring 

 months. 



The Cactus. 



All of tlie cactus tribe should be treated somewhat alike. Use sandy loam 

 and lime rubbish, with a little leaf mould, for potting. They bloom chiefly 

 during the summer months. Water liberally until the middle of September, 

 from this time until March they would hardly need a drop, unless the stems 

 get verv brown and shriveled. 



» 



Hanging Baskets. 



Plants with slender drooping foliage are most suitable for baskets, such as the 

 smilax and maurandia. The former has a tuberous root, and should be dried 

 up in summer. The iiastertion, especially the dwarf, dark varieties, climbing 

 and drooping, are very desirable. The German and English ivies are graceful 

 and of very easy growth, as are also the well-named rat-tailed cactus and the 

 so-called ice plants. All of these are good, and are but a few of the many 

 available for this purpose. 



Fern cases are a never failing source of pleasure when properly managed, 

 the soil for which should be a sandy loam and leaf mould. Give ATater spar- 

 ingly in winter and more abundantly in summer. Occasionally admit a little 

 air, and when not too powerful expose the case to the influence of the sun. No 

 doubt nine-tenths of the cases in use are supplied with au excess of moisture. 

 Drainage and having double bottom attached to the case to catch the surjilus 

 water would remedy this. To plant a fern case it isn't absolutely necessary to 

 purchase expensive plants, unless you prefer to do so, for if we go out into our 

 woods ana marshes we shall there find plants and flowers that are the admira- 

 tion of thousands on another continent. Almost every house has a cellar, 

 which, if dry and frost-proof and having good light from windows on the south, 

 east, or west side, but no openings to the north, would be a suitable place to 

 keep many plants in winter. Let it be remembered that the great essential to 

 their preservation is dryness. A plant will exist during winter and at its period 

 of rest, even if very dry, though the extreme of dryness sometimes causes decay. 

 When obliged to water, let it be given in mild weather and just sufficient to 

 maintain life. Geraniums, fuchias, the agapanthus, hydrangeas, and orange 

 and lemon trees are a few of the many plants that may be kept in this way. 

 The care they require is but trifling and is amply repaid by the increased vigor 

 of such plants in summer. 



Cut flowers are a fruitful source of malaria in rooms, not from the odor from 

 the flowers but from stagnant water or decaviug vegetable tissues in the vessels 

 containing the flowers. Putting a little charcoal in the water will keep it 

 sweet longer; but the only sure remedy against putridity is frequent changing 

 of the water. 



There are many plants that would be as effective for the house as those I 

 have mentioned, but I hope i have said enough to show that the materials for 

 beautifying the humblest home are neither scanty or costly, and the care neces- 



