FOUETH MEETING, FEBRUAEY 19th, P. M. 

 Y ice- President Hadwen in the chair. 



Subject: Window Gardening and Winter Flowers. 



The subject was introduced by Mr. William G. Strong,* of 

 Newton, who declared that Window Gardening should never be 

 carried on to the exclusion of light and air from a house. He 

 considers, however, that every one needs a pet to avoid the evils 

 resulting from selfishness, and believes that under the head of 

 pets plants are to be properly classed, he believing in small 

 doses, an intimate personal acquaintance, that the full benefits of 

 them may be derived and a full knowledge of them be obtained ; 

 as it can be done only by drawing near to them by watching for 

 the recognition of our care. He believes in the daily infiuence 

 of plants, to obtain which thej^ must be brouglit into the house, 

 but he counselled against carrying window gardening to that 

 extent which shall shut out the light and air and make the home 

 dark and gloomy. In this connection the essayist said : 



But in our sunny clime, and with our modern skill in construc- 

 tion, and considering the cheapness and admirable non-conducting 

 qualities of glass, it would seem that every one might freely 

 indulge in household plants, and yet have no lack of sunlight. 

 If we were to plan the building of a house, the wise course would 

 be to construct a corner, or a bow-window, with special reference 

 to plants, devoted mainly to this use, and so well arrajiged tliat 

 the plants shall flourish in all the luxuriance of a tropical home. 

 To do this only three conditions are requisite, namely, proper 

 heat, moisture and sunlight. Surely you can provide for all 

 these, if you will but plan beforehand. For the majority of 

 flowering plants you want an average temperature of 50 to 60 

 degrees at night. Hence the register must be near enough to do 

 the work. But even in sunlight it is not well to go above 80 

 degrees. Shades may therefore be necessary to some extent. 

 A discussion has been going on recently in one of our popular 

 periodicals as to the fact whether plants received nourishment 

 from the air. I am one of the number who believe that the 

 vigor of trees and plants depends very largely upon tlie condi- 



* Ex-President of the Massachusetts Plorticultural Society. 



