98 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



ers or cuttings which root freely in any good soil. They also trail, 

 along the ground, and cover it with their various colored flowers. 

 It may be planted just as was directed for verbena ; and the cut-, 

 tiiigs, after being rooted, must be kept in the house during winter , 



PHLOX DRUMMONDII. , 



This showy annual is raised from seed. Although all its flow i 

 ers are beautiful, yet it has this peculiarity — that no two roots pro ^ 

 duce flowers alike. They vary in shade of color, or in the forn ) 

 and size and color of the star in the centre, so that a large bed o a 

 it produces an almost endless variety. The seed should be sowi' c| 

 in rich, light soil, in pots, in March. It will then have attainei 

 sufficient size to transplant singly in an open bed by the time it i 

 warm enough. They should be set out about four inches apaii 

 each way. The seed should be carefully gathered as it ripens, a, | 

 the little pods which contain it open with a spring, which scatteifl 

 it. As soon as these pods turn to a yellowish color they must bi li 

 picked and laid by to dry. 



VIII. OF PLANTS KEPT IN ROOMS. 



Plants kept in close rooms require much care in order to keei i 

 them in even a tolerable condition. But it is gratifying to obser^i ♦{] 

 that scarcely a parlor can be found without these delightful orn:t ■, 

 ments ; and the humblest cottager is glatldened by her neat pot ti ,, 

 roses, or her beautiful geraniums. Many are always in good coii- . 

 dition and thriving, yet some seem to be looking forward as anxiousll ■;. 

 as a consumptive patient for the opening of spring, when they msl . 

 turn out and breathe the fresh air and look the sun full in the fact ,. 



Plants are very apt to be killed by kindness, in ihe house durir la 

 the winter. They are of course kept in rooms but partially lightd' 

 their roots are often drenched with water, their leaves suffered i 

 collect a covering of floating dust, the temperature of the room | 

 kept up to seventy or eighty degrees in the day time and at niglj 

 suffered to fall down almost to the freezing point, — a change sui 

 ficient to throw a man into a fit of rheumatism, and in the mid 

 of all this their guardians wonder that they do not thrive. Und", 

 such treatment it should not be expected. , 



The temperature of the room should never be suffered to h^ 

 below forty degrees, but should be kept uniformly below six1| 



I 



