USEFUL HINTS 341 



Water should always be tepid. A fruitful cause of failure is cold water, which chills 

 the roots, hinders growth, and eventually kills the plants. This may seem a 

 trivial matter; it is not so. Good room and window gardeners use water of the same 

 temperature as the apartment. It is also wise to let the water intended for the plants 

 remain in a vessel in the open air to soften, and where rain water can be used this is 

 better than that from tap or well. Never over or under water. The soil should be 

 kept in an equal condition of moisture, and when watering give a good dose at each 

 application, so that it runs through the drainage and out of the hole in the bottom 

 of the pot. In summer and warm spring days the plants receive considerable benefit 

 from pleasant showers, soft, gently falling rain, not violent downpours. 



Of course a greenhouse is an immense help to the room plants and flowers. When 

 the latter become out of health, take them to the purer air of the greenhouse, and under 

 more natural conditions, and especially after they have been repotted. The greenhouse is 

 also a nursery for bulbous flowers and other things as pointed out in the chapter about 

 greenhouse plants. 



When potting room plants, remember it is most important to restrict the size of the 

 pots as much as possible. Palms are frequently happier with their roots cramped in a pot 

 than when allowed greater freedom, and disturbance at all is seldom necessary. We 

 have Palms that have been in the same pots for years. The soil is top-dressed once a year, 

 and during the growing time a little weak liquid manure is given. With regard to soil the 

 information given in the chapter upon greenhouse plants applies here. 



There is one point often forgotten, and that is of giving during the growing season a 

 little stimulant or " artificial manure," such as Clay's. Use this manure strictly according 

 to directions, not a least bit over, as it is powerful, and, like medicine given in excessive 

 doses, inflicts considerable injury. We have known plants killed by the excessive use of 

 artificial fertilisers. Soot water is excellent, and is easily made by putting soot in a small 

 sack and letting it soak through in a tub of water. Soot is useful to give in the spring, 

 and makes the foliage of deeper colour. 



The majority of insect pests may be removed with a tiny brush or with the hand. 



A list of the best foliage and flowering plants for rooms is given in the tables at the end 

 of the work. 



Planting and Sheltering an Exposed Flower Border. In dealing with a border of 

 this kind, and there are many similar positions in English gardens, we should advise, in 

 the first place, a careful planting of one of the best of our native evergreens, either Yew or 

 Holly. Which of these two it would be wiser to use should be decided by observing 

 which appears to be more vigorous in the neighbourhood. Both are slow of growth at 

 first, but grow fast when well established. In an exposed place no pains should be 

 spared to make this shelter planting effectual. Then you must have shelter shrubs. Pyrus 

 Malus floribunda is very hardy, flowering when quite young. Lilacs are amongst our 

 hardiest shrubs, flourishing even within the Arctic circle. Double Thorns would also do, 

 the double white being far the best. Laburnums also do well. Wistaria is hardy, and 

 is beautiful grown as a Standard, as is also Philadelphus (Mock Orange). It should be 

 remembered that all shrubs that are amenable to the standard form give much more 

 bloom. Brooms are hardy and beautiful, and there are many .kinds to choose from. 

 With these, or even a smaller selection of them as a sheltering background, nearly all the 

 best known border plants would succeed. 



Planting a Steep, Sunny Bank of Poor Soil. Amateur gardeners are often at a loss 

 to know how to deal with such banks as this, and the following hints may prove helpful. 

 In the latitude of London and the large portion of England that is to the south of it, 

 many of the shrubs and plants of the Mediterranean district succeed well on banks in poor, 

 warm soils that are naturally well drained, and receive the full heat of the sun. Con- 

 spicuous amongst these are the hardier of the Cistuses, Rosemary, Lavender, Santolina, 

 and Phlomis, all the Brooms, the sand-loving, bluish grass (JSlymusarenarius), the Eryn- 

 giums or Sea Hollies, a large range of aromatic herbs such as Thyme, Marjoram, Cat- 

 mint, Furze of kinds, Broom, Lycium (Boxthorn), Alstroemerias (Peruvian Lilies), 

 Brambles, not forgetting the pretty cup-leaved Rubus laciniatus, the Japanese Wineberry 

 (JRubus phcenicolasius], picturesque in growth and in fruit, and with slight preparation, 

 the Japanese Rose (Rosarugosa), and the Scotch Briars. The situation is also favourable 

 to the hardy Opuntias of recent introduction. Such a place also shows to great advan- 

 tage several plants that are commonly grown as climbers up walls or other supports, and 

 that are quite as beautiful rambling at will over the ground. Amongst these would be 

 Clematis montana, which is of extreme vigour, and bears a wealth of white flowers in 

 spring, C. Flammula, paniculata, graveolens, and the Old Man's Beard or Travellers' 

 Joy [C. Vitalba}. Many of these Clematises are as beautiful when in seed as in flower. 

 Every lover of the open knows how charming is the hedgerow in autumn when the 

 Travellers' Joy covers it with its foamy seed tassels. Upon this bank could also be 

 placed Everlasting Peas if the soil is prepared deep enough for their great roots. Othonnop- 



