MISCELLANEOUS GARDENING ADVICE 



long interval of many weeks between fall and spring 

 the bowl on the dining-table need never be empty if 

 there is at our disposal outdoors the evergreen Myrtle- 

 bed, and the cheerful berries of the Berberis, the lat- 

 ter leafless, of course, when first brought in, but soon 

 in the temperature of a warm room it will put forth 

 the daintiest of tiny spring green leaves, which never 

 develop to full size under these conditions. 



Use a low glass flower-bowl, and within it at the 

 bottom a round glass slab filled with perforations to 

 hold flower stems. These stem supporters are ob- 

 tainable at almost every crockery-store. Cut sprays 

 of Myrtle (Periwinkle) about 6 inches long and twigs 

 of berries from the Barberry bush, and mix them not 

 too densely in the bowl. Both plants will make new 

 growth for a while, and they need not be renewed 

 more than three times before March, if the water is 

 changed several times a week. It is with delight in 

 mid-winter that one beholds this welcome, though 

 simple contribution to the table decoration. Later, 

 for a change, instead of Barberry, small branches of 

 Forsythia as well as Apple-blossoms can be forced into 

 bloom, and always the Myrtle is invaluable as a foliage 

 setting. Its blue flowers will not appear by this sort 

 of forcing. 



[107] 



