FURNISHING AND FIXING. 81 



stitute may be found in vases easily made of wood. For 

 example, a section sawed off from a smooth barrel, firkin, 

 or keg, and fastened upon the top of some kind of rustic 

 tripod, or upon a turned column attached to a base of 

 sufficient breadth. Such a vase, if large and low, should 

 be fitted with casters, and used somewhat like the gar- 

 den-box. If small and higher than the window-sill, it 

 can soon be covered on the side toward the light with the 

 foliage of drooping vines. I find small vases set upon 

 the' floor very convenient for tall plants like the Calla, 

 Ficus elastica, etc. 



HANGING BASKETS. 



Very necessary articles of furniture they are, and alto- 

 gether worthy of the popular favor they have gained. 

 Without them, many a little greenery could not exist at 

 all, and they are never absent from the largest. Though 

 they can not take the place of the box or the vase, they are 

 more easily available, and afford many supplemental ad- 

 vantages. Suspended at different points in the window, 

 above the garden-box, they bring the plants near to the 

 light while forming a most beautiful screen. They are 

 specially conspicuous, and comparatively out of the way. 

 Their elevated position gives to " droopers " the opportu- 

 nity to droop, and secures for tropical plants the higher 

 degrees of temperature. The space they occupy could 

 not well be used in any other way, and is, therefore, just 

 so much clear gain of plant-room. Blessed be the man or 

 the woman who invented them. 



" Baskets " seems to be the common name for all sorts 

 for rustic boxes of wood and earthen pots or basins, as 

 well as for baskets made of wire and lined with moss. 

 The last are very beautiful when the moss is fresh and 

 green, but they are not suitable for the room on account 

 of the work they make for the broom. Those of rustic 



