CARE OF PLANTS IN THE WINDOW 17 



as possible. Keep a vessel of water on the stove, to 

 evaporate. Shower the plants daily. If the pots are 

 used without saucers, the table on which they stand, 

 or the shelves, can be covered with an inch of sand 

 which can be kept in place by tacking cleats along 

 the edge of the stand. This sand will take up and 

 retain the water which runs through the pots, and thus 

 a steady moisture will be given off from it, for there 

 will be constant evaporation taking place. Keep the 

 air of the room in which plants are kept as moist as 

 possible, if you want to grow strong, healthy plants. 

 This is a very important item, and should not be 

 neglected. 



Showering daily helps to keep the foliage clean ; 

 and unless the dust, which settles on the plants when 

 sweeping the room, is cleared away, the pores of the 

 leaves become clogged, and the plant finds it difficult to 

 breathe, for the pores of the leaves are really the lungs 

 of the plant. 



In a moist atmosphere many plants can be grown 

 which would die in a dry air, and all plants do so 

 much better where there is plenty of moisture in sus- 

 pension that the amateur who wants his plants to do 

 their best will aim to supply it. It has often been 

 observed that fine plants are often found growing in 

 the kitchen, while those in the parlor are sickly. The 

 explanation of this is : The kitchen air is moist, 

 because of the cooking, washing, and other work of 

 that kind going on there, while the parlor air has all 

 the moisture extracted from it by intense stove and 

 furnace heat which there is no moisture to modify. 



Stir the soil in the pots at least once a week. An 

 old fork is a good tool to do this with. This allows the 

 air to penetrate/to the roots, and keeps weeds from 

 getting a startV Keep all dead leaves picked off, and 

 remove fading flowers. It is a good plan to cover 



