CARE OF HOUSE PLANTS 33 



have an idea that about all that is necessary is to keep 

 them alive till fall. Then they will take them in hand 

 and make satisfactory plants of them for winter use. 

 This is all wrong. The summer is the time in which 

 to make preparations for the winter campaign. If you 

 want fine plants in winter you must make them fine 

 plants before winter comes. If you neglect them in 

 summer you will find that it is too late to get them 

 in condition for winter work in fall. It will take nearly 

 all winter to get a plant which has been neglected in 

 summer in good condition, and by the time you have 

 accomplished this, if you succeed in doing so, which 

 is doubtful, it will be about time to put it out of doors. 

 But if your plants begin the winter in strong, healthy 

 condition, you may reasonably expect a great deal from 

 them if you give them proper care. 



Plants intended for winter use ought to be given 

 a good deal of care during the summer. They must be 

 encouraged to make satisfactory growth. They must 

 be pinched in to produce plenty of branches to give 

 flowering surface, and to make them compact and sym- 

 metrical. You are to remember that you are now laying 

 a foundation for what you hope to realize, later on. 

 Your aim should always be to have them in the best 

 possible condition at all times, and your summer's work 

 must be done with reference to the future. Never 

 expect much from plants, in winter, which were "poor 

 specimens" in fall. If you do, quite likely you will be 

 disappointed. 



If plants are "plunged," which is the term 

 gardeners use when they mean that the pots containing 

 the plants are sunk in the earth up to their rims, they 

 are pretty sure to suffer. The soil about the roots, 

 inside the pot, will become much drier than that about 

 the pot, on the outside of it, for, though most pots 

 are porous, they do not admit moisture in sufficient 



