SUITABLE PLANTS. 35 



had the regular first lesson of experience ? And yet, for 

 the present, you may properly claim the benefit of the 

 experience of others, especially if they are not so far ad- 

 vanced beyond you as to be quite out of sight. So I ven- 

 ture to give you a few suggestions, or 



GENERAL HINTS. 



1. Reject all plants which have been "forced" into 

 bloom for the market. This caution would be of more im- 

 mediate practical importance to you, if you were living 

 here, where many of the florists cultivate plants for sale, 

 and bring them to the market-stands in their most attrac- 

 tive stage. Such plants have been kept in hot-houses in a 

 condition much like that of midsummer, and having thus 

 reached the very acme of their growth they must soon 

 begin to fade. Ignorant of this fact, many persons pur- 

 chase them, take them home to a lower temperature, and 

 then complain of their failures. Some of my friends who 

 had thus become quite discouraged, have now learned the 

 better way of purchasing from cool greenhouses, and wait- 

 ing for the bloom. 



My own experience on this point I shall never forget. 

 One of the first plants brought to my study, years ago 

 when I had a southern exposure, was a Bouvardia, full of 

 buds just ready to open. How tenderly I cared for it 

 watched, waited, and wondered but not a single floweret 

 unfolded through all the winter. To use your words, it 

 "just lingered along like an invalid." With a little read- 

 ing I soon discovered the cause. In my ignorance I had 

 obtained the plant from a hot-house where the forcing pro- 

 cess was used to supply the cut flowers which are sold for 

 bouquets, wreaths, etc. And I was not then aware that 

 the Bouvardia naturally requires a higher temperature 

 than I allowed in my study. Of course one lesson was 

 enough, and I have since done all the forcing myself. 



