CUT FLOWERS, PLANTS, AND BULBS. 187 



ART. 2. Plants in Rooms. 



In order to be as explicit as possible on the management 

 of plants in rooms, I refer the reader to the first part of this 

 book, and request him to peruse carefully the articles on the 

 food of plants, and the necessary stimulants, as heat, light, 

 air, &c., with the remarks on the bud, the root, and the leaf: 

 which will give some useful hints on the tendency of plants 

 to the presence of such natural food and stimulants as contri- 

 bute to their health and well being. 



After a careful reading of those articles, it will be seen that 

 the management of plants in rooms is not so difficult a task as 

 is generally supposed, and that much of the assiduous atten- 

 tion paid to them is more conducive to their sickness than to 

 their health and vigor. 



In most cases, plants are taken into rooms at an early part 

 of the autumn on the approach of the frost, and are subjected 

 to a sudden and injurious change of air, temperature and 

 treatment. From receiving what nature bestowed upon them, 

 as the dew, the sun, and air, they at once become the objects 

 of the tender and diligent attention of their fair cultivators, 

 who foster them in a close room, watering them frequently at 

 a time when they require to be hardened, to withstand the 

 severity of the coming winter. Under this management, the 

 natural growth and quality of the plant is reversed, by its be- 

 ing forced into a weak, slender habit and constitution, and 

 the consequence is, that having put forth its vigor at a time 

 unnatural to vegetation, its property is partly exhausted, and 

 a weakness ensues, from which it cannot possibly recover till 

 its whole system undergoes a renovation, which will take a 

 year at least, and in some cases, the plants never can be 

 brought again to their proper healthy state. 



Management of the plants. Previous to the plants being 

 brought into the room, they should be divested of any dead 

 leaves, repotted and cleaned, as directed under the head of 

 green-house plants, in the green-house department. 



Much of the health and thriftiness of the plants will depend 



