248 



WINDOW GARDENING. 



"The graceful custom of growing plants in living rooms is very much more 

 prevalent on the Continent than with us. It is true that we often see a display 

 of flowering plants in rooms, though we rarely rise to the use of subjects distin- 

 guished by beauty of form, or select those that are peculiarly adapted for in- 

 doors. But the day is approaching when the value of graceful plants as home 

 ornaments will be very fully appreciated. Apart altogether from their effect as 

 ornaments, what can more agreeably introduce us to the study of natural his- 

 tory } The influence of the graceful form of a young Palm in the hall, the 

 fascinating verdure of Ferns, and fine leaved plants from many countries, in the 

 drawing room, and flowers from the orchards of the uplands of Mexico, to the 



tiny bulbs of Europe, in 

 your Lilliputian room-con- 

 servatory, is surely more 

 eloquent in that direction 

 than any book teaching. 

 You cannot deny, as Kings- 

 ley says, that "your daugh- 

 ters find an enjoyment in 

 it, and are more active, 

 more cheerful, more self 

 forgetful over it, than they 

 would have been overnovels 

 and gossip, crochet and 

 Berlin wool. At least you 

 will confess that the abomi- 

 nation of " fancy work " — 

 that standing cloak for 

 dreamy idleness — has all 

 but vanished from your 

 drawing rooms since the 

 " Lady Ferns " and Venus 

 Hair Ferns appeared.' 



Ferns, to be sure, have 

 been a great help and a 

 great attraction, but they are not altogether superior as to verdure and elegance ; 

 there are other plants much more readily grown in rooms. 



" By a combination of all the plants suitable for this purpose, we may not 

 only find very agreeable indoor imployment, but create the highest kind of orna- 

 ment and interest in the house at all seasons. 



" Merely displaying a few popular or showy subjects is not plant decoration 

 in anj' high sense ! Rooms are often over-crowded with artificial ornaments, 

 many of them exact representations of natural objects; but in the case of plants 

 we may, without inconvenience, enjoy and preserve the living objects themselves. 



aiauta fasciata. 



