60 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



show for specimen plants, is not the easiest thing- in the world. 

 It is necessary to secure both bloom and healthy growth. The one 

 is sometimes obtained at the expense of the other. 



Do not crowd your plants by trying to keep more than your 

 room will accommodate. If you do, the effect will be similar to 

 the growth of a timber thicket, each plant striving to surmount 

 its fellow, and in a short time, long, lank plants with a tuft of 

 foliage at the tip, will be your recompense. Remember, that a 

 few well grown model plants will give you far more pleasure than 

 a score of ill-shaped things. A similar effect will be produced if 

 plants cannot have suflScient light. Plenty of light is indispensa- 

 ble, and to secure this, no situation is so good as a south window, 

 but if this cannot be had, then choose one facing the east, it will 

 do almost as well, receiving the full rays of the early morning sun. 

 A few plants will succeed without much sunlight, but they are the 

 exception. 



Use due caution in the heat of the room, neither too great by 

 day nor too near the frost mark at night. Thirty-eight or forty 

 degrees at night, is as low as it is safe to venture. A good base 

 burning coal stove is unobjectionable, though some have argued to 

 the contrary, keeping a steadier, more even temperature than any 

 other stove. There will not be gas enough escape to do the least 

 injnry, and a better temperature is maintained through the night 

 than by any other means. 



Clean culture is absolutely necessary. Dust, which is always 

 filling the air, will rest upon the foliage, stopping up the pores of 

 the plant, encouraging insects, and soon your plant becomes yel- 

 low and seared. The remedy is apparent. The mouths or breath- 

 ing tubes must be kept open. This can only be accomplished by 

 frequent washings. At least once a fortnight, oftener would be 

 better, the plants should be set in a tub of warm water and thor- 

 oughly washed. This will check the depredations of insects and 

 contribute to the growth and health of the plants. Watering is 

 one of the most difficult parts to consider. No specific rule will 

 apply to all. One like the rose, wants a moist soil, but not so wet 

 as to be sodden, but what might be called a soil in good working 

 order, while a fuchsia, or a calla can hardly get too much water, 

 especially while in bloom. A good rule to follow is, water regu- 

 larly ; a little study will soon teach you as to the wants of those 

 you have, then follow the teachings of experience, and your plants 

 will become neither too dry nor too wet. 



