CHAPTER XII 



RESTING PLANTS 



Many persons seem to think that a plant ought to 

 keep on growing all through the year. They give 

 water, stimulants, and everything calculated to 

 encourage or excite growth just the same at one 

 season of the year as at another. As a natural result 

 they have feeble plants, for no plant can keep up a 

 healthy growth all the year round. It must have its 

 period of rest. If a person goes without sleep he soon 

 becomes exhausted. A plant requires something which 

 corresponds to sleep. In growing plants in the house 

 we must aim to imitate the processes of nature as 

 far as possible, and if you look about you, you find 

 that outdoor plants grow for a season and rest for a 

 season. Your house plants must be treated in this 

 way to secure best results. Don't expect them to give 

 you flowers the year round. They will be so exhausted 

 by one season of flowering that they must be given 

 time to recuperate in. Without this resting spell they 

 will soon be robbed of vitality, and without vigor and 

 strength a plant is comparatively worthless. 



When a plant ceases to bloom, and shows an 

 inclination to stop growing by ripening its leaves, 

 encourage it to rest by withholding water in a great 

 degree, and by giving it a less amount of light and 

 heat than it has been having, and be sure that it gets 

 nothing of a stimulating nature. Light, warmth and 

 water are all excitants of plant growth, and by with- 

 holding them we make it easy for the plant to stand 

 still. If you have a cellar that is quite dark, and the 

 temperature in it is not very much above freezing in 



