528 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



be said on this subject, but I must close. 

 I therefore urge the more general cul- 

 tivation of hardy plants: It is inter- 

 esting to watch their development, 

 because there is a touch of home in 

 the coming of the truly hardy varieties of 

 flowers that seem to defy all kinds of abuse 

 and quickly respond to good care, and we 

 watch for them as eagerly as the seasons 

 come and go ; because the first cost 

 of them is less than the tenderer and more 

 aristocratic bedding plants ; because of 

 the greater variety and the longer flower- 

 ing period we can have each year by their 

 use ; and they are less trouble than the 

 more tender sorts and increase from year to 

 year. 



Fig. 2513. Rocket, (Very Fragrant), Showing 

 THE Effect of Masses, as Compared with 

 Single Flowers, at Mr. Alexander's. 



PROFIT IN THE BAY WINDOW. 



AN almost indispensable appurtenance to 

 the modern house is the bay window, 

 and yet in the majority of homes it is either 

 a vacant corner, or else is used as a " plant 

 hospital." A few sickly, unsightly plants of 

 no particular variety are considered suffi- 

 cient furnishing for what might be the most 

 attractive part of the room. Not only may 

 the bay window be made "a thing of beauty 

 and a joy forever" but it may become a 

 source of profit if the ower so desires. 



There are greenhouses and several floral 

 companies in the town in which I live, but, 

 nevertheless, a gentlemen near me receives 

 an average of nearly $1 per day from his bay 

 window. He devotes the greater part of the 

 window to carnations, and a beautiful dis- 

 play they make. There is a ready demand 

 for all he can raise, and the care and culti- 

 vation of the plants aff"ords him great 

 pleasure, as well as a fair profit. The 

 cultivation of the carnations is very simple. 

 Roots may be obtained from cuttings made 

 at any time during the fall, winter, or early 

 spring months. The roots should be set in 



the ground early in the spring, at about the 

 season that lettuce and other early hardy 

 vegetables are put in the ground. They 

 should be set in soil that is well drained — as 

 the carnation does not take kindly to a wet 

 soil — in rows ten inches apart and eight 

 inches apart in the row. The flower shoots, 

 as they appear, should be cut back till the 

 latter part of September, when they should 

 be placed in the boxes or pots they are to 

 occupy through the winter, though they 

 should still be left out as long as the weather 

 is mild. 



Although there are many hundreds of 

 varieties, but few have been found adapted 

 to window culture. Among the white varie- 

 ties the Degraw and Maimie are best adapted 

 to window growing. The La Purite, car- 

 mine, and Astoria, yellow, are also hardy 

 varieties and take kindly to cultivation. A 

 temperature of 60 degrees is sufficient for 

 the production of these flowers. The soil 

 should be rich and mellow and the plants 

 kept free from the green fly and other plant 

 insects. — American Agriculturist. 



