J^loral JVoies. 61 



•will be the envy of your less energetic neighbors — Geraniums that are Geraniums, 

 Bouvardias and Primroses that no greenhouse need be ashamed of — especially if you 

 have a sunny window. It is of no use to attempt to have winter flowers without 

 some system. Better have none at all than the sickly specimens that disgrace so 

 many windows from November to April. 



I do not find in my horticultural reading much said about Geraniums for winter 

 flowering ; yet they will be much more satisfactory, if some of the better varieties 

 are tried, than many other plants chosen. Two years ago I gave a lady friend, living 

 in the country, two cuttings of Geranium — one a bicolor (salmon pink, shaded with 

 white), and the other pure white. She has a little winter sitting-room, about nine 

 feet square, with a window each to the south and west. The south one is devoted to 

 flowers, and it isn't worth while to boast of Geraniums unless you could see hers. 

 The first winter they were less than a foot high, the leaves so thickly set that the 

 stalks were not visible, and the horse-shoe or zone on each leaf almost black. They 

 each threw up one cluster of buds, then another, until finally through the greater 

 part of the winter there were always from one to four clusters of blossoms. And 

 such clusters ! Nearly as big as your fist, and each floret as large as an old-fashioned 

 cent. The shape of the cluster was such that the flowers seemed to grow in trusses, 

 like the Hyacinth, and hid the stem entirely. 



The difl^erence between the summer and winter blooming of the same plants was 

 very marked. Out of doors they bloomed like nearly all Zonale Geraniums ; one-half 

 of the florets faded before the other half came out. In the window each cluster 

 would keep about three weeks ; if one floret dropped, another came out in its place, 

 or the rest pressed together and filled up the gap. Cuttings from these did equally 

 well last winter. They stood on the window-sill, close to the glass. The room had 

 a wood fire, and was never hot — which last item, by the way, is a very important one 

 for your own health as well as for that of your plants. 



Don't let the thermometer get above 65 or 7U° at the most, going down not lower 

 than 45° at night if possible. You can easily accustom yourself to the temperature, 

 and will be all the better for it. 



CatnellUi Culture — J7se of TAine Wnto', 



Mrs. Geo. W. Carpenter, in Gardeiiers'' Monthly^ says : In regard to the watering 

 of camellias with lime water, the facts are as follows : The plants are grown in large 

 pots, and have been in them undisturbed for several years; a large reservoir on the 

 place, containing five hundred gallons of water, receives annually about three bushels 

 of lime ; before watering; the plants, the lime is usually well stirred up with the 

 water, allowing it to settle before use. Lime water was first used to kill worms in 

 the soil, which it effectually did. It has since been continued regularly, the thriving, 

 healthy appearance of both roots and branches seeming to warrant its use. 



To Ziift a Jleliotrojie, 



With a long-bladed knife cut the soil around the plant — cut deeply and smoothly ; 

 water freely. Next day repeat this operation. After sun down, on the third day, 

 carefully lift the plant and place in the pot. Cut the soil near the size of the pot 

 required. Keep the plant in perfect shade for four or five days ; keep moist. 



Keep House J'lants Clean. 



The London Cottage Gardener thus relates the advantage of keeping artificially 

 grown plants clean : 



Two orange trees, weighing respectively eighteen and twenty ounces, were allowed 

 to vegetate without their leaves being cleaned, for a year ; and two others, weighing 

 respectively ten and twenty and one-half ounces had their leaves sponged with tepid 

 water once a week. The first increased in weight less than half an ounce each, while 

 of the two latter, one had increasd two, and the other nearly three ounces. 



