2 WINDOW AND PARLOR GARDENING 
cannot be made noble and refined by the use of plants that 
can be grown at pleasure for next to nothing. 
In Europe this fact has been acknowledged for years, ever 
since the Linnzean era opened a new world of wonders and of 
beauty to everybody. Now millions grow plants in parlors and 
windows ; the countess in her palace tends hers, often with her 
own hands ; the peasant wife takes no less interest in her more 
humble flowers. This branch of horticulture has become a 
necessity, and is especially beneficial in thickly populated cities. 
To introduce a bit of nature into the house itself is not a mere 
fad, but it is and will continue to be an important factor of 
culture and refinement. 
Botanical gardens, public parks, and large horticultural estab- 
lishments have done much to make flowers and plants popular ; 
but in so peculiar a branch of horticulture as window-garden- 
ing, popular guides accessible to everybody are an absolute 
necessity. In all countries except America numerous books 
have been written on the subject: some treating exclusively 
of plants, with brief descriptions and briefer cultural notes ; 
others going into the details of every operation connected with 
window-gardening. Of necessity, any descriptive list of plants 
had to contain quite a number of species, for the reason that 
some plants were grown in one part of a country, others in 
other parts ; the rich cherished the more costly ones, and the 
poor chose varieties easy of culture and rich in flowers. Clearly, 
all plants enumerated in a work of this kind cannot be grown 
together in one apartment or one house; some plants love 
pure, cool air, and are especially suited to mountain regions 
and the extreme north; others enjoy heat and moisture, and 
may be cultivated anywhere. 
Thus it happens that climatic conditions have been the 
