WINDOW AND ROOM PLANTS 197 



favourites for windows, both indoors and out. Their strong 

 points are their free and persistent blooming and their attractive 

 foliage. They do not, it is true, give us a great range of colours, 

 being either white or yellow; but that is not a serious drawback, 

 as we can get colour in other things. Marguerites come readily 

 from cuttings, thrive in ordinary potting compost, and are easy to 

 keep healthy so long as the leaf-mining maggot can be kept at 

 bay. (See Greenhouse section.) 



Plants in Vases. Room gardening assumed a new phase with 

 the trial of peat-moss fibre in china vases for bulbs and other 

 plants. It proved to be entirely successful. Bulbs do particu- 

 larly well in this substance. It is purchased in a dry state in 

 autumn with the bulbs, is moistened, and is made firm, but 

 not absolutely hard, in the receptacles, which need not be at 

 all expensive. The vases are not put in a dark place like bulbs 

 in glasses, because the bulbs are covered with fibre, and top 

 growth does not push in advance of the roots. In autumn the 

 fibre is hardly likely to get quite dry, but should it do so it 

 ought to be moistened. It is desirable that the store be frost- 

 proof, but the bulbs will endure a little hardship. When they are 

 in full growth water will be required more frequently. Any excess 

 must be got rid of by gently turning the vase on its side, as 

 the vases are not perforated, and there is no drainage. Care 

 should be taken to avoid filling the vases quite full of fibre, 

 as if that were done particles would be constantly falling over 

 and making a mess. If this is guarded against vases will be 

 found perfectly clean. 



Bulbs may also be grown successfully in bowls filled with 

 clean pebbles and water. Polyanthus Narcissi do particularly 

 well. They may be treated in the same way as Hyacinths in 

 glasses that is, put into a dark cupboard for six or eight weeks, 

 and then placed in the window. 



Once upon a time Wardian cases were popular for the windows 



