Window Greenhmises. 309 



When my plants are on the stand, I do not find they 

 require looking to every day, though even if they did, their 

 wants are so few, and so easily supplied, that it would be but 

 little trouble. 



1. Light is their greatest and invariable requisite ; and this 

 is the chief difficulty to give them in a sash window when 

 there is more than one row of them. A short and simple 

 rule will, however, lessen much of the difficulty ; for they 

 require light in proportion to the rapidity of their groivth. 

 Consequently the back rows, as having least light, should be 

 kept driest, in order that they may grow slowest ; and when 

 they show a tendency to throw out too long leaf-stalks, they 

 should be stinted in water and placed nearer the window. 

 Also, when they bend forwards, it is a proof that they are 

 having too much water in proportion to their distance from 

 the glass. 



2. They want air, and therefore I generally open the win- 

 dow once a day, even in the winter's frost ; but I do not 

 think it so necessary as is by many supposed. It seems to 

 be of more service in keeping the temperature of the room 

 equable than for the admission of fresh air. When the wind 

 is in the east it almost always hurts them ; and a thorough 

 draught, of which many persons are far too careless, is espe- 

 cially to be eschewed. But I have seen a plant in the win- 

 dow of a farmhouse, and of a very ordinary kind, (Lord 

 Mayor,) which, for growth, number and perfection of blooms, 

 and striking general appearance, would have deservedly at- 

 tracted attention on a field-day at Chiswick. Yet this plant 

 had never had a breath of fresh air for six months. 



3. My impression about water is, that professional florists 

 are too much afraid of it. If a plant is close to the window, 

 the rapid growth caused by superabundant water is not al- 

 ways a loss, nor does it always deteriorate the soil in the pot 

 so much as is supposed. In cottage windows plants often 

 thrive, grow stout, bloom profusely, and with blooms in truest 

 shape and color, though standing, and having stood, in saucers 

 of water for weeks or months. My cuttings, if well rooted, 

 I always set in pans of water, even in the autumn, till they 



