HOUSE PLANTS. 623 



pot. It should never be done when the sun shines upon plants, 

 and morning is probably the best time. The water should be 

 about the temperature of the room. Geraniums, fuchsias, helio- 

 tropes, monthly roses, callas, begonias ; in climbing vines, the 

 cypress, nasturtium, and ivy ; are hardy plants that require the 

 least trouble and succeed the best. 



A window box for supporting the pots can be lined with zinc 

 and filled in with moss ; or a box without lining can be used, if 

 care is exercised in watering. A strong wire stand, set on cas- 

 ters, is perhaps preferable, as it is handy to move, and is quite 

 ornamental. One of the principal reasons why flowers bought 

 on the streets or market-places prove so unsatisfactory, is 

 because they are placed in small pots to save room, and when 

 brought into the sitting-room the earth bakes, and the flower- 

 buds fall off without opening. If common flower-pots, in which 

 the plants are growing, be placed in ornamental pots a few sizes 

 larger, and the intervening space filled with wet moss, the clos- 

 ing up and fading can generally be prevented. A better way is 

 to arrange a window box to receive the pots. This should be 

 from seven to ten inches deep, filled with earth or moss. 



The arrangement of the plants in the window must depend 

 upon the taste of the owner to a great extent. An excellent 

 effect can be produced almost anywhere with small-leaved ivy, 

 Madeira vine, smilax, intermingled with showy geraniums and 

 other hardy flowers. Among the fall flowers we have the beau- 

 tiful aster, which runs well into October. Another autumn 

 flower is the Anemone Japonica, with its saucer-shaped flower of 

 milky white, with yellow stamens. It grows about two feet 

 high and blooms profusely. Carnations, ever lovely, continue 

 to bloom even into winter, when protected. The pure white 

 carnations are beautiful and sweet-sce'nted, and are great favor- 

 ites for winter bouquets. But the queen of autumn flowers is 

 the chrysanthemum, or " Christmas flower." Its rich, regal 

 blossoms of white are especially beautiful, while the small kinds 

 are pretty and dainty, both in form and coloring. The plant of 

 either the large or the small variety is hardy and easily culti- 

 vated in rich, light soil. A single plant will bloom profusely 

 indoors ; and, when the pure white variety is combined with 



