of Rural Art and Taste. 



277 



House Plants. 



PERHAPS every one is not aware that the 

 coldest. place in a room on a cloudy day 

 or at night, is within a foot or so of the 

 window, just where the plant stand is stationed. 

 All dwellings cannot be new, and new ones 

 are not always proof against the insidious 

 attacks of cold. In the old ones the windows 

 become loose with the wear and tear of years ; 

 there are cracks and crevices where a small 

 current of cold air penetrates, and where the 

 frost creeps in stealthily and seizes on the 

 green leaves. To guard against this, I paste 

 a narrow strip of paper (of a color correspond- 

 ing with the paint in the room) over every 

 aperture that admits a passage from the air 

 without. The unsoiled- margin of newspapers 

 is very good for this purpose, as the texture 

 is light and thin, and adheres readily to the 

 wood. Give it a trial and prove the fact, 

 only do not select a cold freezing day for the 

 business. It saves the trouble of moving the 

 plants at night, and assures their safety when 

 the mercury drops low in the thermometer. 

 Our climate is subject to sudden and unlooked- 

 for changes, and often one night will destroy 

 a whole winter's care and ruin hopeful pros- 

 pects, even as late as March, when we deem 

 our security good. It is well to be prepared 

 for these emergencies or caprices of our lati- 

 tude. Some complain of their plants growing 

 spindling and weak, and yielding no bloom 

 One fault is, too high a temperature, with 

 too much water a portion of the time during 

 the day, and too low a one at night. When 

 this is the case they grow sickly, and we hear 

 the often-repeated complaint, " I can't keep 

 plants, they don't do well ; what do you do 

 to yours ? You want strong but growthy 

 plants to secure bloom and beauty. Every 

 day when I water, I turn my plants, and 

 thus keep them even and shapely, by allowing 

 every side the advantage of the sun. A slip 

 will grow during the winter and become a 

 large flowering plant in a four-inch pot, if 



judiciously watered and cared for. Earthen 

 pots without glaze are best, as they are porous, 

 and absorb superfluous moisture. — Ex. 



Mounting Ferns. 



BY taking a little trouble, pretty pictures 

 may often be made out of fern fronds, 

 considered useless in the greenhouse, or, at 

 all events, by the use of a few which may be 

 cut ofi" and never missed. After the ferns 

 have been removed, they should be dried 

 between sheets of botanical drying paper; 

 even old newspapers or blotting paper will 

 answer the purpose. Presuming that a collec- 

 tion of dried ferns is at hand, a sheet of nice 

 card board should be procured ; some like 

 white card board, others, nicely tinted — which 

 is the best. The ferns should then be laid 

 lightly on it, and arranged in the form of a 

 bouquet, or in whatever shape desired. The 

 position of each fern should be indicated 

 before it is glued down, as after that it could 

 not be well removed without marking the card 

 board. Supposing the fronds to have been 

 arranged according to taste, they should be 

 lifted up again, and their backs glued with a 

 fine brush, so as to make them stick to the 

 paper. Should any gold or silver varieties 

 be amongst those selected, they should bo 

 placed so as to show the colors of the under 

 sides of the fronds. The light colored Moss, 

 which is to be found growing on old trunks 

 of trees, if interspersed through the ferns, 

 tends to give the arrangement light and 

 elegant appearance. A wreath of ferns 

 mounted in this way, has an efiective appear- 

 ance, if placed round or under a handsomely 

 illuminated text. The fronds selected for 

 mounting in this way, should be those of 

 small and light looking varieties, as large 

 and heavy growing fronds would make a 

 small arrangement of this description look 

 heavy. In this way a capital book of re- 

 ference on ferns might be made up, each 

 variety being mounted on a sheet of drawing 

 paper or card board, and the name of the 

 variety, height of growth, native country, etc., 



