WINDOW GARDENING. 



101 



Usually only ordinary taste is re- 

 quisite to contrive some very agree- 

 able designs, and only a few hours' 

 labor are needed. So we will give 

 suggestions of how to make some 

 Home-Made Hanging Baskets of 

 handy and inexpensive materials. 



For trimming the outside of some 

 wooden bowl the roots of the laurel 

 are very suitable, also those of the 

 briar rose, which grows so plenti- 

 fully near the woodlands and in fence 

 corners. They are very crooked 

 and gnarled, but when thoroughly 

 cleansed from soil they can be nailed 

 upon these bowls in grotesque and 

 picturesque forms. A coat of copal 



varnish laid over the whole will often Fig. ii. 



make the basket possess as handsome an appearance as those for sale by any 

 florist. 



The boughs and roots of the wild grape vine supply materials for this style of 

 rustic ornamentation. Do not remove the bark unless it is very ragged, and 

 then tear it away carefully, not taking more than is needful. By peeling in 

 this way the stem will be vari-colored. If a darker hue than the natural wood 

 is preferred, take two ounces of gum asphaltum and dissolve it in half a pint 

 of turpentine or coal oil. Apply the stain with a common paint brush, putting 

 on two coats if it is not dark enough at first. 



A simple rustic basket may be made of three forked branches of any old 

 tree, the more thickly bestudded with little branchlets, and the more gnarled 

 and mossy, the better. Get those with drooping gray beard moss, if possible. 

 The sticks should be less than an inch in diameter, and six or eight inches in 

 length. Unite the three forks by their heads, winding them with very strong 

 twine or pliable wire, and then, with the same material, fasten the branchlets 

 here and there, to form a sort of lattice-work, and wind the gray moss over all 

 fastenings. Then, in the same way, attach stout cord for handles. Set in this 

 a common clay pot with its saucer, crowding around it plenty of moss, and you 

 have a pretty thing complete. 



Some persons take the common wire baskets, and make an improvement by 

 surrounding them with strips of pasteboard. This is completely covered by 

 pasting or glueing upon it gray or green lichens, with a few bits of the creep- 

 ing moss, and a little of the coral or red cup moss. If none of this last can be 

 procured, heat red sealing-wax, and with it touch the rough edges of some of 

 the lichens. 



Wire baskets are in general better suited for the conservatory than the par- 



