^c^^ 



/'A'. I CTICAI. FI. ORIC I 'L TL RE. 



6. Relieve plants b}- cutting off all dead flowers, leaves and branches; this will serve 

 to lengthen the season of bloom; but care should be taken not to allow the refuse to 

 accumulate on or around the pots or beds. Keep plants that tend to a straggling or spin- 

 dling growth, shapely and compact by cutting off all weak and misplaced shoots. 



7. Relieve plants from insects as soon as detected; do not wait till tomorrow, for liy 

 tomorrow you may have no plant worth speaking of. To keep your collection free, 

 examine and, if necessary, purify all new acquisitions. 



8. Keep a few cups of water among house plants, to evaporate; where saucers filled 

 with water are used for certain plants, these cups are unnecessary. 



9. Where a plant is grown with a saucer of water underneath, raise the pot above 

 the water by little wooden blocks or stones. 



10. Keep the soil sweet by occasionally letting it go a little dry, oi stirring it up 

 gently with a fork ; a table fork will do for house plants. 



11. Never throw awa}' soot; mix it in the soil, which it will help to fertilize, while 

 it is very effective in driving away insects; it will also heighten and heautily the color 

 of all red and blue flowers. 



12. Never waste soapsuds; it can be applied with adxantage to all kinds of grow- 

 ing shrubs and plants. Even in winter it can be utilized by being pourctl upon a manure 

 or compost heap, or where plants are to grow the ensuing season. 



13. Use moss freely as a topping for the soil in pots and boxes; if put on neatly it is 

 ornamental, besides being useful in retaining moisture and protecting the upper rootlets 

 until the leafage is sufficiently developed to discharge that function. Sponges may be 

 placed among plants and watered for the like purpose of maintaining moisture, being also 

 susceptible of ornamentation by sowing in them the common garden cress or canary grass. 



14. Mix well all soils for plants; making of the several ingredients one homogeneous 

 mass, carefully throwing out all the lumps, half-rotted bits of wood, and other refuse. 



15. Protect plants against heavy drippings from houses, trees, and the like; none 

 will thrive under such an infliction. 



16. To insure a pleasing succession of flowers in plants of the same species, select 

 different varieties, or set those of the same variety at different times; indeed, nature 

 will, unaided, secure a partial continuity, as scarcely any two will bloom at the same time. 



17. Throughout the flowering season, apply alternately plenty of water and weak 

 liquid manure to all bulbous and free-blooming plants. Where plants grow too fast, the 

 temperature should be reduced. 



18. In watering house plants some discretion should be used to save carpets from the 

 drippings; several ingenious contrivances have been devised, and they arc purchasable at 

 seedstores; but most persons can extemporize their own. 



19. Do not cut off the withering leaves of bulbous plants, but let them die or decay 

 naturally and fall off in due season, as while the leaves decline the saj? goes back into the 

 bulb, replenishing its store of strength for the ensuing season. 



20. Steep new pots to close the pores, but allow them to drain ofl" licfore using; 

 thoroughly wash old ones, and scald them to kill fungus. 



21. In raising plants, sow the seeds unsparingly; it is easy to weed out the poor and 

 weakly seedlings, leaxing of the strongest as many as may be desired for \igorous growth. 



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