226 BALCONY GARDENING. 



on a balcony in winter, by a lot of small, hardy evergreens, 

 such as white and pitch pine, hemlock, and spruce ; but 

 even these, on a sunny exposure, grow dingy and suffer; 

 therefore we say, balcony gardening must be a summer 

 pastime. 



The balcony should face the south or east, so as to ob- 

 tain the morning sun : there are few flow.ers which succeed 

 in the shade. 



Now, we may either grow our plants in pots, or fit up the 

 balcony with neat boxes ; but in either case the outside of 

 them must not be exposed to the direct rays of the sun ; it 

 would heat and parch the earth so nothing would succeed. 

 A good way to prevent this is to make a board lining round 

 the inside, and fill a space of three inches with straw, tan, 

 or moss, between the outside and your boxes. Fill your 

 boxes with a rich soil, composed of one part loam, two 

 parts leaf mould, two parts decomposed manure. Put an 

 inch of " crocks," or broken pots, in the bottom, to secure 

 drainage, and have a few augur holes in the bottom of each 

 box to allow the surplus water to drain off. Now, the 

 boxes being all prepared, and the season the first of May, 

 what shall be planted? 



Yet first, do not plant too much ; you have only a balcony, 



