ABOUT FEUrrS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 355 



HOUSE PLANTS DESIGNED SIMPLY TO STAND OVER. 



Tender roses, azaleas, cape jasmins, crape myrtles, or- 

 anges, lemons, figs, oleanders, may be kept in a light cellar 

 if fi-ost never penetrates it. 



If kept in parlors, the following are the most essential 

 points to be observed. The thermometer should never be 

 permitted to rise above sixty degrees or sixty-five degrees ; 

 nor at night to sink below forty degrees. Although plants 

 will not be frost-bitten until the mercury falls to thirty-two 

 degrees, yet the chill of a temperature below forty degrees 

 will often be as mischievous to tender plants as frost itself. 

 Excessive heat, particularly a dry stove heat, -wall destroy 

 the leaves almost as certainly as frost. We have seen plants 

 languishing in a temperature of seventy degrees (it often 

 rising ten degrees higher), while the owners wondered what 

 could ail the plants, for they were sure that they kept the 

 room warm enough ! 



Next, great care should be taken not to overwater. Plants 

 which are not growing require very little water. If given, 

 the roots become sogged, or rotten, and the whole plant is 

 enfeebled. Water should never be sufiered to stand in the 

 saucers ; nor be given, always, when the top-soil is dry. 

 Let the earth be stirred, and when the interior of the ball 

 is becoming dry, give it a copious supply ; let it drain 

 through thoroughly, and turn off what falls iuto the saucer. 



PLANTS DESIGNED FOR WINTER FLOWERING. 



It is to be remembered that the winter is naturally the 

 season of rest for plants. All plants require to lie dormant 

 during some portion of the year. You cannot cheat them 

 out of it. If they are pushed the whole year they become 

 exhausted and worthless. Here lies the most common error 

 of plant-keepers. If you mean to have roses, blooming 

 geraniums, etc., in winter, you must, artificially^ change 



