FURBISHING AND FIXING. 83 



of wire let down from the top casing (as in figure 11), 

 or upon a horizontal rod fastened across the window, and 

 may vary the elevation by links or hooks of wire of 

 different lengths. 



To increase the number and variety of your hanging 

 plant-nests, take open sea-shells, and pierce them at three 

 points on the upper side for the wires, and once at the 

 bottom for drainage ; or, select any kind of wooden box, 

 large or small, fix suspending wires at the four corners, 

 and fill it with plants in pots concealed by moss. Better 

 still, by the use of a little ingenuity and wire, transform 

 any ordinary pot for promotion. Take an empty one an 

 inch larger than the one you wish to hang, and having 

 turned it bottom side up, make a ring of strong wire 

 around the rim, and then a net-work of small wire over 

 the bottom and sides, so as to form a basket of the size 

 and shape of the pot. Line this net-work with moss, 

 attach suspending wires, set in the pot for which it was 

 designed, and you have a fine hanging basket, on which 

 I shall make no charge for patent right. 



After selecting or making your hanging baskets comes 

 the work of arranging them a still further opportu- 

 nity for both taste and skill. In my opinion, three or 

 four of the smaller size, each having its one kind of 

 plant, will produce a better effect in the window and be 

 more likely to thrive than a single large one crowded 

 with different plants. Large, overflowing baskets are 

 very fine in the greenhouse, or under the open veranda 

 in summer time, where they have an abundance of light 

 and air ; but in winter they suifer so much in their nar- 

 row window quarters that I have almost entirely put them 

 aside for these small substitutes. Climbing and trailing 

 plants of delicate form may be so combined in these nests 

 as to leave them scarcely visible, and in course of time 

 they will require such shifting to the larger size as to 

 give you all the variety you can desire. 



