366 Domestic Notices. 



fectly convinced that the day is at hand when the first question aslfed of an 

 architect will be not how he proposes to heat a hothouse, but how he will 

 manage to ventilate it. The costly and complicated machinery of hot-water 

 apparatus will be only remembered as a folly, and the simple processes 

 which combine a rapid distribution of heat with a rapid motion of air, will 

 be universally employed. We may depend upon it, that, in nine cases out 

 of ten, cold is much less dangerous than heat, and that half our bad culti- 

 vation is caused by a mistaken eagerness to keep plants in an artificial in- 

 stead of natural condition. — {Ih. p. 467.) 



Window flowers. — This is the season when those who do not possess green- 

 houses will see the reward of their care and labor in the blooming plants which 

 have been tended by them in-doors. The dry air of sitting-rooms must be 

 counteracted as much as possible by syringing, by exposure to gentle rains, and 

 by admitting as much of the atmospheric air as can conveniently be done. 

 Green fly may easily be kept down in small collections by picking and rub- 

 bing them off by the hand ; or all the pots may be put into a frame closely 

 covered up, and subjected to tobacco smoke. Do this in the evening and 

 leave the plants till the morning, when they should receive a good watering 

 by a fine rose or a syringe. Keep plants in pots moderately moist, without 

 allowing water to remain in the saucers. By these means, and bringing in 

 a succession as the former plants get shabby, a window may be made very 

 interesting to the amateur, and an air of elegance and refinement be given 

 to the dwelling. 



Plants may now be cultivated in balconies, and on the stone in front of the 

 window, so as to give a beautiful and attractive appearance to the exterior 

 of the house. Fuchsias do admirably well for this purpose, as they will 

 continue to bloom until the frosts of autumn disturb them, and require less 

 care than most plants equally showy. Let strong healthy plants be potted 

 in six inch pots, in a light rich soil, and let these pots be dropped into others 

 just large enough to admit the space of about half an inch all round ; the 

 inserted pot standing on moss or leaf-mould until its brim is on a level with 

 that of the pot containing it. By this little contrivance, the hottest suns 

 will be unable to scorch the roots of the plants, they will retain moisture 

 longer, and will flourish more luxuriantly. If a drooping variety of fuchsia 

 is made to alternate with those of erect habit, a mass of bloom will be pre- 

 sented of great depth and richness. Other showy plants can, of course, be 

 treated in the same way. 



Take time by the forelock, and prepare for your collections next year, by 

 purchasing or striking young plants. It requires some forethought to keep 

 up a succession of window flowers without a greenhouse, but it may be 

 ■done. Former papers have treated more fully on this subject, and to them 

 ithe readers of the Chronicle are referred. — {lb. p. 404,) 



Art. II. Domestic Notices. 



Hovey's Seedling Straiuberry. — It has been gratifying to us to hear that 

 our seedling has taken the prizes at nearly every horticultural exhibition in the 



