PARLOR OR WINDOW GARDENING. 167 



from drying out so soon, and will give a neater appear- 

 ance to the basket. The soil used to plant in may be 

 that suitable for potting ordinary plants, as described 

 under the head of soils. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



PARLOR OR WINDOW GARDENING. 



To be successful in growing plants in the window of 

 the parlor or sitting-room, it is of the first importance to 

 begin with plants that are in a healthy state. 



Florists, with all their appliances for successful culture, 

 often fail to bring health to a sickly subject. How, then, 

 can our amateur friends hope to recuperate the weakened 

 energies of some petted plant in the less congenial atmos- 

 phere of an ordinary dwelling-house? I well know the 

 usual practice of our lady friends in this matter. In pur- 

 chasing their supply of bedding plants from the florist 

 in May, all are taken from the pots and planted in flower 

 beds, to decorate the borders for the summer months. By 

 the first appearance of frost in October, the plants of Bou- 

 vardias, Carnations, Fuchsias, Geraniums, Heliotropes, 

 Roses, &c., &c., that were such tiny slips when planted 

 out in May, are now, many of them, large plants, and in 

 Jill their glory of bloom ; but Jack Frost shall not have 

 them, they shall be saved. Pots are sent for, soil of the 

 most approved brand is procured from some florist high 

 in the art the plants are lifted up with all care and placed 

 in the pots. Our amateur friend is in raptures ; as yet they 

 look just as green and flourishing as when growing in 

 the garden. But a day passes, and although they have 

 been shaded and watered with all care, the plants some- 



