PARLOR PLANTS. 93 



parlor culture is an impossibility. "We are not able to supply the 

 essential wants of the plant, and it sickens and dies. Yet there 

 are many, very many plants, which may be most successfully 

 grown, and some of these we propose to mention. 



We must, however, bear in mind that very few plants will suc- 

 ceed if they are removed at once from the warm, moist atmosphere 

 of the greenhouse to the parlor or living room ; the change is too 

 great, and the plant receives a shock from which it seldom recovers. 

 Plants from a greenhouse should be gradually hardened off, and 

 then will not suffer. Of the tens of thousands of pot plants sold 

 from the street stands in spring, probably not one in ten survives. 

 These plants are forced into bloom in small pots, have no constitu- 

 tion, and very few of them ever give another flower. 



Plants taken from the garden in autumn to winter in the house 

 should be carefully potted early in September, hardened off in the 

 shade out of doors, and removed to the parlor when the nights 

 become frosty ; in warm sunny days they should have plenty of 

 fresh air. Treated thus we may have autumn and early winter 

 bloom, whereas if we delay the autumn transplanting until the 

 plants are checked by frost, they seldom give bloom till February. 



Our mention of species and varieties suited for house culture 

 must necessarily be brief, and will be confined to winter plants. 

 There are many flowers which do very well in rooms in summer, 

 and which are valuable for those having no garden. Many of the 

 plants we mention are very constant bloomers, and the foliaged 

 species are ornamental both in winter and in summer. 



Roses. — These charming and popular flowers are not well 

 adapted for house culture. The dry air affects most varieties 

 unfavorably, and they rarely give satisfaction. Those with very 

 double flowers seldom expand their buds. There are, however, a 

 few old varieties which were formerly more common than at 

 present, and which do well and are worth growing. 



The best is Sanguinea, a very bright, semi-double variety, 

 flowering in clusters, and always in bloom. 



Agrippina is a good pot rose. 



The Fmk 3fontJibj, if grown to a large plant, is seldom out of 

 bloom. 



Jennie is a very fragrant tea, and though not a first class rose 

 is well worth growing. 



Safrano and Pauline Lahonte, two of our best teas, do well if 

 the air of the room is kept moist and not too hot. 



