WINDOW-BOXES FOR FLOWERS. 



N the city, where it is impossible to 

 have a garden, there may still be 

 quite a substitute for it in the form 

 of a window-box, and this substi- 

 tute may be enjoyed by the occupants 

 of upper stories as well as by those liv- 

 ing on the ground floor. A window-box 

 that will grow plants quite as well as the 

 elaborate and expensive boxes used by 

 wealthy people, will cost very little. The 

 box should be as long as the window is 

 wide, or a little longer, and about a foot 



Fig. 1371.— a Pretty Window. 



wide and a foot deep. Fasten it level 

 with the window sill, or just below it. 

 For support use iron bracket?, which 

 can be screwed to the wall just below 

 the box, or by braces of wood running 

 from the outside of the bottom of the 

 box to the wall, set at such an angle 

 that ample support will be provided. 

 A few nails can be put through the box 

 into the sill or side of the house, to give 

 additional security and firmness. Any 

 boy ten years old can put the box in 

 place, if you furnish him with a saw, a 

 hammer and some nails to work with. 

 Packing boxes of about the right size 

 and shape can be bought at many of the 

 dry-goods stores for a small sum. 



When in place, fill it with the best 

 soil you can get — the richer the better ; 

 but if you cannot get such soil, use 

 whatever is at hand and depend on 

 soap-suds and the like for food foi the 

 plants. The best annuals for use in 

 window-boxes are : For flowers — petu- 

 nias, phlox, calliopsis, sweet alyssum 

 and nasturtiums ; for fragrance — migno- 

 nette ; for training up and about the 

 window — morning glories. Among 

 other good plants, not annuals, geran- 

 iums, both double and single, are ex- 

 cellent ; also verbenas, heliotropes, and 

 roses of the ever-blooming class. If I 

 wanted a window-box that would be as 

 near perfection as possible in the beauty 

 and fragrance of its bloom, I would 

 have a J'er/e les Jardins rose — rich 

 yellow and very sweet ; a few dark pur- 

 ple and a few pale yellow, white, and 

 sky-blue pansies, a heliotrope, some 

 mignonette to droop over the sides of 

 the box, a rose geranium, and morning 

 glories at the ends to train up over the 

 window. You would not be likely to 

 get as many flowers from such a selec- 

 tion as you would from annuals, like 

 those named above, but what flowers 

 you did get would be so choice, so 

 exquisite in color, sweetness, and form, 

 that you would find them more satis- 

 factory if you are at all fastidious in this 

 direction. From such a window- box 

 one can cut a dainty button-hole bouquet 

 every day during the season, if it is care- 

 fully cared for ; and what could be 

 lovelier than a yellow rose-bud and a 

 purple pansy, with a geranium leaf, or a 

 cluster of pale yellow, white and blue 

 pansies, unless it is a Perle rose, just 

 opened wide enough to give you a 

 glimpse of its golden heart, with a clus- 

 ter of lavender heliotrope ? — American 

 Agriculturist. 



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