FLOWER-OARDENING. 93 



light of the sun, without being exposed to frost. Air, heat, and 

 moisture are essential to the growth of plants ; but these should 

 be given in due proportions, according to circumstances. In 

 frosty weather they should be kept from the external air, and 

 watered very sparingly. When water is necessary, it should 

 be applied in the morning of a mild sunny day. The plants 

 should be kept free from decayed leaves, and the earth at the 

 top of the pots should be sometimes loosened to a moderate 

 depth, and replenished with a portion of rich compost. Plants 

 kept in private houses are often killed wdth kindness. The 

 temperature of a room in winter need not be more than ten 

 degrees above freezing. If plants are healthy, they may be kept 

 so, by attention to the preceding hints. Unhealthiness gene- 

 rally arises from their being subjected to the extremes of heat, 

 cold, or moisture, or from total neglect. 



An amateur florist has suggested the following hints in regard 

 to the management of plants in rooms. He says that he keeps 

 his plants in a room, the windows of which, having a southern 

 exposure, will admit the sun all day. The plants are placed on 

 a table with rollers attached to the legs, which in moderate 

 w^eather is kept as near to the glass as possible. In cold 

 weather, he removes the table into the middle of the room, and 

 places a pail of water near the plants to attract the frost. He 

 considers it a great mistake to suppose that plants kept in warm 

 rooms require much fire-heat ; on the contrary, he contends, 

 that a moderate degree of cold will agTce with plants much 

 better than a very high temperature. He, however, considers it 

 needless to attempt to keep plants in a cold room, the windows 

 of which face the north. A south-eastern or even eastern 

 exposure may answer without any fire, except in very cold 

 weather. It may be observed, further, that excessive moisture 

 injures plants more than drought, and that plants, in general, do 

 not require water while the surface of the earth in the pots is 

 moist. 



