THE HOME FLORIST. 



ennial seed-grown plants than by limiting the stock to varieties of any one class. Where the 

 stock must be purchased from the florist and seedsmen, this rule will hold good, with most any 

 amount to be invested, no matter how small. I have seen gardens where none but annuals and 

 other seed-grown plants were employed, which were beautiful and pleasing during the entire 

 summer season; and I always advise persons who expend but little for floral decorations to 

 depend largely on these for their flowers. But where richness of color, exquisite fragrance, and 

 strong contrasts in foliage, are sought, some plants that are propagated and sold from green- 

 houses, and also bulbs, etc., are unapproachably effective. Planting even a very few Scarlet 

 Geraniums, Lantanas, Gladiolus, Heliotropes, Hyacinths and other hardy bulbs, monthly 

 Roses, and others, add to the grounds a brilliancy of color, and afford abundant daily bloom, 

 from early in the spring, until October, and with many, even in November, which find no equal 

 in seed-grown things. It is also next to impossible to nicely stock a hanging basket, vase or 

 window box without the use of greenhouse plants. 



New beginners at flower growing are apt, sometimes, to have over-ambitious ideas in regard 

 to selecting stock for their first attempts; they invest largely in all kinds of stock found in the 

 catalogues of their suppliers, only to regret the injudicious step when the time of planting and 

 cultivation comes. I advise those making first selections to begin by selecting vai'ieties that are 

 easily grown, gain all the information possible relative to the treatment they require, not over- 

 looking the important matters of soil, time of sowing, planting, etc., and then give them 

 the very best attention. A dozen choice plants, besides the production from half a dozen pack- 

 ets of flower seeds, well cared for will give more real enjoyment to the cultivator than a hun- 

 dred plants and other stock left in a neglected condition to take care of themselves. The most 

 careful new beginner is likely to meet with little difficulties and drawbacks, which, by unpropi- 

 tious weather, or other causes, are to be expected will attend floricultural operations. In 

 these the young florist who has a love for the work and its fruits should find no cause for being 

 discouraged. The most skilled florist has always something to learn ; and no mistake will be 

 made but you will be wiser for it, and the better prepared for future emergencies. Suc- 

 cess, gained at the expense of slight failures and inconveniences, will be enjoyed the more for 

 them afterwards. After each succeeding season's experience you will see the safety of striking 

 out more boldly in purchases and plans, and each year will place you higher up that scale to 

 perfection which every cultivator of flowers aspires to. E. A. L. 



BUFFALO, N. Y., October, 1874. 



DO PLANTS POISON THE AIR WE BREATHE. There is a notion prevalent that the 

 presence of growing plants in the sleeping or living room is detrimental to a healthy atmosphere 

 by their giving out poisonous carbonic acid gas in the night time. The investigations of chem- 

 ists demonstrate that growing plants do exhale an almost imperceptible quantity of carbonic acid 

 gas, which, in very small proportions, is necessary in the air we breathe. They also show that 

 the quantity exhaled at night is but the one-sixteenth part of what the same plants absorb from 

 the atmosphere during the day, and convert into nearly its own weight of oxygen, thus render- 

 ing a poisonous gas, that derives its origin from various sources, into one of the principal ele- 

 ments of pure air. 



If carbonic acid gas is emitted from plants in dangerous quantities, it certainly would exist 

 largely in the night atmosphere of a close greenhouse heated to a tropical temperature, and 

 crowded from floor to rafter with rank vegetation. Yet, in my experience, I have never 

 known the slightest ill effects to be realized from night work in greenhouses, neither in cases that 

 have frequently occurred of workmen making the warm greenhouses their sleeping quarters of 

 a night, and even for an entire winter, which, to my satisfaction, affords practical proof that the 

 notion is a fallacy ; and the fact that perhaps no healthier class of men can be found than green- 

 house operators, who work constantly in an atmosphere where plants are growing, would prove, 

 instead, that living plants exert a beneficial influence upon the air we breathe. 



