WHAT TO DO FOR THE PLANTS. 



469 



beneficial to plant life, but when it comes to 

 utter neglect and carelessness, even to 

 plants in a resting condition, sorrowful re- 

 gret at the loss of our summer favorites is 

 the inevitable result of our inattention. 

 Lack of knowledge as to the requirements 

 of plants when taking their winter season 

 of rest, is another factor that is accountable, 

 oftentimes, for failure in wintering-over 

 plants. Possibly there is no one phase or 

 period of cultivated plant life that is less un- 

 derstood or that information is more eagerly 

 sought for by plant lovers than this resting 

 period. A lower temperature and a less 

 bountiful supply of water, or the withhold- 

 ing of water altogether in some instances, 

 are the principal factors in inducing rest or 

 partial rest in plant life. How much or 

 how little of these factors to give or to with- 

 hold from the plants is the great problem 

 to solve. 



POT h\t)range;as. 

 These plants are of Japanese origin, and 

 are of a deciduous or leaf-shedding nature. 

 Towards autumn, when the blooms have be- 

 come rusty looking, the plants should be 

 watered less frequently than in the summer 

 until the leaves show signs of decay, when 

 only sufficient water should be given them 

 so as to keep the soil barely moist. 



Keep the plants outside in the open until 

 they have been exposed to five or six de- 

 grees of frost a few times, when before se- 

 vere frost the plants can be lifted under- 

 neath the veranda or into a shed for a time 

 before being put into the cellar, basement, 

 or a cold room for the winter. A rather 

 moist cellar with a temperature of 40 to 45 

 degrees wdll suit the hydrangea. If the 

 atmosphere of the cellar is very dry or fur- 

 nace heated, wTap the branches of the plants 

 in several thicknesses of burlap or coarse 

 sacking, tea matting, or similar material. 



Sprinkle the wrapping about once a week 

 with water. This will keep the wood or 

 growth of the plant from shrivelling, an es- 



sential point in wintering over the hydran- 

 geas successfully. Laying the plants down 

 in a box and covering with dead leaves is a 

 very good plan in a dry cellar, but watch 

 out for mice, or they will soon ruin the 

 plants underneath the leaves. I have found 

 excelsior wood-packing fibre, or even fine 

 shavings, a good substitute for leaves and 

 not so likely to attract mice. 

 FUCHSIAS. 



These require very much the same treat- 

 ment as the hydrangea, but the tender culti- 

 vated varieties of these plants wall not en- 

 dure as much frost as will the hydrangea, 

 although two or three degrees of frost will 

 not injure them materially. A moist atmos- 

 phere in a cellar where a temperature of 45 

 degrees prevails will suit fuchsias when rest- 

 ing. The soil in the pots of both hydran- 

 geas and fuchsias should never become dust 

 dry even in a low temperature. 



UNCOMMON SHRUBS. 



Amongst the evergreen shrubs that can 

 be used very effectively for out-door deco- 

 ration purposes in summer time and that are 

 seldom seen here, although very common in 

 England and Europe, are the Ancubas, the 

 ]vlyrtle, Japanese Euonymus, Lauristinus, 

 and the Bay Tree. All of these require 

 very similar treatment to the oleander in 

 winter. The mistake is too often made of 

 treating specimens of these evergreen plants 

 in the same way as deciduous plants are 

 treated. Keep all of the plants just named 

 in a temperature of 45 to 50 degrees, avoid- 

 ing by all means a dry furnace-heated at- 

 mosphere. Better a cool damp root cellar 

 for them where there is some light and the 

 temperature near to freezing point all win- 

 ter than in a dry arid atmosphere. All of 

 these plants are becoming popular for sum- 

 mer and wanter decorative purposes. 



In giving the temperature and other re- 

 quirements of the plants I have been speak- 

 ing of, conditions' and temperatures have 

 been named that can usuallv be found 



