CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



calceolaria the last very beautiful, and suitable 

 for open air in summer. 



An airy parlour or drawing-room, with windows 

 facing the sun, may be considered a domestic 

 greenhouse ; and such apartments may be fur- 

 nished with flowering plants, which will bloom 

 and thrive if certain precautions be adopted. 



The cultivation of plants in rooms, and on 

 balconies and window-sills, is indeed so prevalent 

 a taste that it should not be passed over in a 

 treatise of this kind. It is, moreover, a depart- 

 ment of gardening in which very few succeed ; 

 nor is a great amount of success attainable. The 

 conditions upon which vegetation depends are 

 heat, light, and moisture. Wherever one of these 

 is wanting, we have an absence or paucity of vege- 

 tation. But, as in nature we find many peculiar 

 plants so constituted as to resist special conditions 

 of climate, we may materially simplify our arrange- 

 ments in cultivation by selecting such plants as 

 are best adapted for those conditions to which our 

 domestic flowers are necessarily subjected. 



Our sitting-rooms are inimical to vegetation, 

 not so much on account of the impurity of the 

 atmosphere, or its admixture with gases poisonous 

 to vegetation, as from the extreme dryness of the 

 air, caused partly by the want of those terrestrial 

 exhalations which preserve the atmosphere near 

 the soil in a state of humidity, but chiefly arising 

 from the drying effects of fires and stoves in 

 rooms. We have therefore an absence of one of 

 the elements above alluded to as essential to vege- 

 tation namely, moisture ; and no amount of 

 moisture, however excessive, that may be applied 

 to the soil will counteract the want of moisture in 

 the atmosphere. The plants which are found to 

 succeed best in the ordinary dry atmosphere of 

 rooms, with least trouble, are the cacti and other 

 fleshy plants that are enabled, by their peculiar 

 structure, to withstand the effects of drought. In 

 addition to these, however, many strong growing 

 plants succeed well, with little trouble; such as 

 the hardier sorts of fuchsias, and many of the 

 species and varieties of pelargonium (or geranium), 

 especially such as have scented and variegated 

 leaves. The India-rubber tree, with its large and 

 handsome evergreen leaves ; the kangaroo vine, 

 with its more flaccid foliage ; some of the hardier 

 palms ; and many of the evergreen ferns, are 

 admirable sitting-room plants. Many plants that 

 require a great amount of root-moisture grow 

 luxuriantly in rooms, such as the hydrangea and 

 lily of the Nile. The latter is admirably adapted 

 for a balcony or staircase, being very hardy, and 

 having an imposing appearance, even when not in 

 flower. Mignonette grows well in boxes of earth 

 placed on the window-sill. 



The Hyacinth is one of those plants of accom- 

 modating nature and hardy constitution, which 

 can adapt themselves to a great change of cir- 

 cumstances, and are thus suitable for domestic 

 gardening. It can be grown in the closest room 

 in the most dense part of a city, without a ray of 

 sunlight, and without a particle of soil ; in fact, 

 the neatest, cleanest, and most successful mode 

 of managing these plants, is to place them in 

 glasses of water, from which their roots derive 

 all the materials requisite for healthy growth. 

 The common -hyacinth-glass is beginning to 

 give way to 'TyeV Registered Hyacinth-glass. 

 This glass is made either single or triple, so as to 



570 



hold one or three bulbs, the former being that 

 shewn in the accompanying wood-cut. They are 





Fig. 4. Hyacinth-glass. 



manufactured of many elegant patterns. It will 

 be seen that provision is made for supporting the 

 flower-stalk. 



The first step in cultivation may be said to be 

 the choice of bulbs. These should be selected as 

 early as possible, an arrangement which will not 

 only insure to the purchaser an extensive choice, 

 whereby good bulbs may be secured, but they will 

 be found to be in better condition than at a later 

 period. In any case, they should be procured 

 before any evidence of growth is visible, otherwise 

 the bulb will become weakened from its tissues 

 giving off their stores of nourishment to the central 

 shoot of leaves. 



The bulbs should be set in glasses in the month 

 of October, the glasses being filled with water to 

 within an eighth of an inch from the base of the 

 bulb. If placed in the dark for a week or two 

 after planting, the production of root-fibres will 

 be facilitated ; but a damp situation is very inju- 

 rious. After the roots are somewhat advanced, the 

 shoots develop ; and during their progress, light 

 and air should be given freely, the plants being 

 placed as near the window as possible. They will 

 succeed well enough, however, on a table or 

 mantel-piece beyond the reach of the sun's direct 

 rays ; but in a room where a strong fire is kept, 

 they should not be much exposed to its drying 

 heat. Some growers recommend a small quantity 

 of salt to be added to the water, but it is doubtful 

 whether this has any beneficial effect. Mr Tye 

 observes : A variety of methods for giving vigour 

 to the plants, and brightening the colours of the 

 flowers, have been resorted to such, for example, 

 as adding to the water a few lumps of charcoal, a 

 little nitrate of soda, or a small portion of salt- 

 petre ; but the following has been found to answer 

 well : Dissolve half an ounce of guano with as 

 much chloride of lime as would equal the size of a 

 large pea, in a quart of rain-water. Let this mix- 

 ture stand for a day or two to become clear. Pour 

 about two tea-spoonfuls into the bottle twice a 

 week after the flower appears well out of the bulb. 



The water should be changed regularly once a 



