620 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



lists of nurserymen and florists, but it is well not to be de- 

 ceived by high sounding names into buying common and in- 

 ferior plants. There are enough well known plants like those 

 we have mentioned to make a little paradise around every 

 home. We come now to speak of a few indoor plants. If you 

 have a south or east window that you can spare through the 

 winter, you can raise the most beautiful plants. In cities 

 where the light is excluded, and the dry furnace heat chokes 

 the plant by day, and the gas by night, it is difficult to raise 

 good house plants, but in the country, if you will, you can have 

 them to perfection. "Whatever they are, the soil should be the 

 compost we have described. Whether in boxes or pots, the 

 bottom should be covered with broken bits of crockery, and 

 there should be a hole for the escape of the water. When the 

 roots fill the box or pot, the plant should be taken out and a 

 part of the roots cut off, or the plant should be transplanted 

 where it will have mo're room. House plants, and plants in the 

 garden, should be watered only with soft water, and the watei 

 should be applied to the leaves rather than the stem. Tht 

 geranium stands first among house plants ; it is propagated b} 

 slips, and the common fault in its cultivation is crowding 

 Give it light and air on all sides. The same may be said of 

 nearly all indoor plants, which include the cactus, calla, crys 

 anthemums, verbenas, and the various dwarf roses. 





