g WINDOW QARDENING. 



In Brussels, says M. Victor Paquet, " the balconies are turned into greenhouses 

 and miniature stoves, gay with the brightest and greenest foliage. And in Paris 

 there are many contrivances in use by means of which the rarest and most 

 beautiful plants are produced. Passifloras cling to columns in the upper floors; 

 water plants start into blossom in tiny basins curiously contrived in solid brick- 

 work, and limpid water flows down a miniature rockery from whose crevices 

 start up ferns and lycopodiums." 



The rooms of the Parisian are gay with flowers replaced freshly every day, 

 and in the denser parts of London, black with its smoky atmosphere, may be 

 found some of the choicest of plant-cases. An English writer visiting such a 

 locality once was ushered into a room where the darkness was almost felt, but 

 every window was occupied with a plant-case in which plants were growing in 

 an astonishing manner. Ferns of the greenest and freshest hue, orchids never 

 surpassed, were there in redolent health and vigor. He was told to his great 

 surprise that the cases were hermetically sealed, and that no water had been ad- 

 ministered for months. 



There is a never-failing charm, too, in the outside decorations of the house or 

 Window Garden. The trellis-work of the balcony may be made ornamental with 

 green foliage and its homeliness tastefully hidden. The ivy will cover the un- 

 painted wall and make it still more artistic. The verandah can be soon covered 

 with the most luxuriant of profuse blooming creepers. Unsightly objects, bare 

 gardens, and plain fences can all be relieved. In fact no home is devoid of the 

 means of tasteful decoration. And so many and easy are the forms of window 

 embellishments at the present day, that we know of no better device for increas- 

 ing the elegancies and attractions of indoor life. 



Window Gardens, too, are educators of taste. In our large cities it is noticeable 

 that the fair occupants of the wealthier homes are themselves practically inter- 

 ested in window ornament. It is quite the fashion for their own hands to fill 

 with pretty plants, of their own arrangement, jardinieres of costly tile, or else 

 place them in baskets of rustic yet most artistic make. After a little time when 

 they have grown to appropriate height, or the drooping plants have attained suffi- 

 cient length, the full beauty of the Window Garden is apparent. Visitors are 

 entranced with their wondrous beauty and are free with their exclamations of 

 delight. The passer-by on the sidewalk stops for a moment to look lovingly 

 upon the cozy bower of bloom just inside the glazed window pane. When pass- 

 ing away, he still keeps it in mind, and long afterwards cherishes the memory of 

 this artistic beauty spot. Flowers and plants, by their beauty and fragrance, are 

 always in harmony with rich and costly furniture, pictures or statuary. 



A simple flower stand near the window, a hanging basket over head, all 

 shidding their perfume, add day by day brightness to the other genialities of the 

 home ; and all through the wintry months, furnish food for pleasant thoughts ; 

 a single plant of the Ivy trained on the wall, or festooned over the window, is 

 a joy to all beholders 



