82 GARDENING INDOORS AND UNDER GLASS 
Alternanthera—These little plants are unique 
and brilliant, and a few will be worth having in 
any collection. They make dense, shrubby minia- 
ture bushes a few inches high, very attractively col- 
ored. Take cuttings in August; give rich soil, on 
the sandy side, plenty of light and heat. 
A. versicolor has leaves bearing a happy contrast 
of pink, crimson and bronzy-green. Tricolor is 
dark green, rose and orange. There are numerous 
other attractive varieties. 
Anthericum (A. variegatum) — The foliage is 
shaped like a broad blade of grass and very prettily 
bordered with white. Of the easiest culture, doing 
well in the shade. Propagated by division. A. 
medio-picta is another variety, often considered 
more attractive than the above. 
Araucaria—The several araucarias should be 
much more widely known than they are. Their 
beauty has made them popular as Christmas gifts, 
but most of the fine specimens which leave the flor- 
ists during the holiday season find their end, after a 
few weeks in a gas-tainted, superheated atmosphere, 
with probably several times the amount of water 
required given at the roots, in the ash barrel. They 
are, when one knows something of their habits of 
growth, very easily cared for. Little water in win- 
ter, and a cool even temperature, are its simple re- 
quirements. 
The araucaria is, I think, the most beautiful of 
