WINDOW GREEN-HOUSES. 



303 



cumslances, what will grow a good cab- 

 bage will grow a good Pelargonium or 

 Fuchsia. And that the apparent departures 

 from this rule are only examples of it, and 

 depend on common-sense reasons, drawn 

 from the nature or the original climate of 

 the species of plant. 



And the natural system may be com- 

 prised under two heads: 1, not to let your 

 plants suffer by neglect ; 2, nor to make 

 them suffer by interference. If many peo- 

 ple let them dwindle or die by forgetting to 

 water them at proper times, or to shelter 

 them from excess of sun or of cold, others, 

 not less numerous, think their flowers can 

 never be thriving unless themselves are 

 doing something to make them thrive. 

 And so they bring them to their end, or to 

 pale, sickly, scraggy things on stilts, that 

 •can never repay their owner for the trouble 

 of rearing them. 



The application of this system to the cul- 

 lure of the Pelargonium is somewhat 

 hazardous of the charge of presumption in 

 such a person as myself, because I suppose 

 you have already given directions for that 

 in some of the numbers of The Florist I 

 have been so unfortunate as not to see ; 

 and anything I were to say on the subject 

 that you have already said would be super- 

 fluous, and what might differ from your 

 instructions, I am persuaded would be erro- 

 neous. Only I would repeat, that any per- 

 son who will use common sense and com- 

 mon care may succeed in the culture of any 

 of our ordinary fancy flowers. 



Of these, by much the most useful for a 

 window T , and which I expect will always 

 retain its place in this respect, is the Pelar- 

 gonium ; and, as I have no room to spare, 

 I confine myself to this. You will believe 

 I have no spare room when I tell you that 

 I am a curate, with a family of eight grown- 

 up persons, in latitude 53° 29' 30" on the 

 Greenwich meridian, in an agricultural 

 village that has no house in it larger than a 

 cottage, and mine is no way remarkable 

 among its fellows, of which it is far from 

 being the largest. Yet, without any other 

 convenience than a cottage window, I grow, 

 in very creditable condition, about 30 varie- 

 ties (a plant of each) of the best Pelargoni- 

 ums : enough to make my room a blaze of 

 beauty during the whole blooming season. 



Now, on the supposition that my thirty 

 plants are established in their pots, and 

 hardened afterwards in the open air, and 

 that it is time to bring them in-doors (this 

 year it was on or about old Michaelmas- 

 day I housed them,) I will tell you where 

 I put them, and how I treat them when 

 there. 



I have no south or southeast window in 

 the house : the aspect is southwest ; but 

 there is a small room in the front, of which, 

 as it is my dressing-room, I can appropri- 

 ate the whole window to my plants. And 

 I have done it in this way, in order to make 

 the small space hold as many pots, give 

 them as much light, and bring them as 

 close to the glass, as possible. The glass 

 of the window is 3 feet 9 inches broad, and 

 of a proportionate height. This, therefore, 

 is the breadth of the stand I had made in 

 the ordinary way, but as light as possible, 

 and with six shelves, channelled along the 

 middle for the water to run out of the pots. 

 As the plants are of all sizes, and more of 

 them small than large, the four lower 

 shelves are 4, the fifth 5, and the sixth 6 

 inches broad ; the bottom one 3, the rest 4 

 inches high, which, with 3 inches allowed 

 for standing in its pan, make the entire 

 height 2 feet 2 inches. 



The frame stands in a water-tight wooden 

 pan, 3 feet 10 inches long by 2 feet 4 

 inches broad, and 3 inches deep, with a 

 hole and plug in one corner to let off the 

 water, so that I can water my plants as 

 freely as I like without wetting the room or 

 making a mess. The whole stands on two 

 three-legged tressels, and the waterpot is 

 kept underneath, so that the water shall be 

 always of the same temperature as the 

 room, a point I have found to be of great 

 importance to the well being of the plants. 



This stand, painted, cost 15s. And as I 

 began collecting gradually, bought but few, 

 and exchanged with friends, I had a very 

 good collection before I had spent £2 upon 

 my hobby. Since then I have been more 

 expensive, as I will not keep any but first- 

 rate varieties, and unhesitatingly condemn 

 a flower that displeases me, whatever its 

 price in the market. Yet I believe I may 

 challenge any other hobby, far less useful 

 or ornamental than this, on the subject of 

 cost. Careful as I am bound to be of my 



