Keeping Plants Hale and Hearty 15 



plants will like about 10 degrees below these 

 figures; and the "hothouse" plants about 15 

 degrees higher. In a single-compartment house 

 aim to keep the air inside as near as practicable 

 from 50 to 55 degrees, night temperature. 



Keep the Air Moist 



Moisture. — The great importance of mois- 

 ture in the soil has already been spoken of; 

 almost equally important is having moisture in 

 the air. Lack of this is why most people have 

 such "hard luck" with plants in the dwelling 

 house. They feed them, they pet them, try to 

 coax them along — ^but it is all to no avail when 

 the air has had most of the moisture bin-ned out 

 of it by artificial heating. The reason you your- 

 self so enjoy to step into a modern greenhouse 

 and find yourself stopping at the door to fill 

 your lungs chock full of the air you find there 

 is that the moisture in it makes it good to get. 

 It seems almost incredible, but it is nevertheless 

 true, that thousands of people, even in the best 

 of houses, live during the winter months in rooms 

 shut up so tight and so devitalized that plants 

 cannot live in them. 



Ventilation, of course, helps to keep the spent 

 air of the greenhouse replaced by air from out- 

 side that is normally moist, and in addition the 



