148 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



abks* fficpartmtnt. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 



HOW TO MAKE HOME PLEASANT. 



BY ANNE G. HALE. 



[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 

 1866, by R. P. Eaton & Co., in the Clerk's Ofllce of the 

 District Court for the District of Massachusetts.] 



CHAPTER n. 

 HOUSE PLANTS— THEIR CARE AND CULTURE. 



Plants that are cultivated within doors are 

 generally exotics, and, being for the most part 

 natives of warmer climates than ours, they re- 

 quu-e shelter through the winter. AVhile we 

 supply that necessity, there arises a desire to 

 receive from them, in return, the beauty and 

 fragi-ance which they yield naturally only dur- 

 ing the summer; — for, although we hear of 

 countries where "The roses are blooming all 

 the year round," this is not absolutely the fact 

 — they must have seasons of rest, or they soon 

 die of exhaustion. 



The time of their blossoming may be changed, 

 however. Indeed, in the case of tropical 

 plants that have been adopted by us it has been 

 changed, or our winters would not be glad- 

 dened by their cheerful presence. Luxuriant 

 green foliage is always pleasant to the eye, — 

 more particularly when all else looks barren 

 and dreary. But we do not feel satisfied with 

 that alone. We want mingled with that ver- 

 dure the bright colors and the sweet fragrance 

 of beautiful blossoms. A knowledge of the 

 habits of each individual plant which we take 

 under our care, and of its susceptibility to the 

 influence of certain substances which we fur- 

 nish it for food, and a clear understanding of 

 the principles of floral art, together with a 

 strict attention to the hints which Nature is 

 continually giving us, will bring about the de- 

 sired result — buds and blossoms waiting or 

 coming at our will. 



Our grandmothers qan tell us that before the 

 use of stoves and furnaces (^steam, even,) for 

 the heating of our houses, nobody, — except 

 those few, who, making the propagation of 

 plants a business, built winter houses for them, 

 — lliought of keeping plants alive, much less, 

 in bloom, out of the cellar. If one was ibr- 



tunate enough to own a monthly rosebush, or 

 an orange tree, or a Jerusalem cherry ; a 

 prickly pear, a sweet-scented geranium, or a 

 hydrangea (that wonder to my young eyes, — 

 with its huge balls of flowers changing so mys- 

 teriously from white to pink, to blue, and back 

 again to white,) — it was wrapped in mats, as 

 soon as frosty nights came, and banished to the 

 "arch," the "donjon-keep" of childhood's im- 

 agination, there to pass the time in inglorious 

 idleness till the spring breezes wakened the 

 young buds of the trees. Then they were re- 

 leased from their prison, and, restored once 

 more to the sunshine and free air, they quickly 

 regained their wonted vigor and loveliness. 



This ancient necessity is now-a-days some- 

 times held as a threat over plants that do not 

 flourish and blossom ju.st when and as we wish, 

 in the same way that injudicious mothers talk 

 of the dark closet to rebellious and refractory 

 children ; and it must be confessed that, often- 

 times, as with those unreasonable mothers, the 

 threat is actually executed, through pretence 

 of benefiting the unfortunate objects of our 

 neglect, when in reality it is to rid om-selves of 

 the presence of a standing disgrace. Faithful 

 and loving care in either case, — gentle pruning 

 of wrong tendencies, warm encouragement of 

 feeble eflbrts that are put foi-th in the right di- 

 rection, and a patient watchfulness against all 

 hurtful influences wUl ensure to both mortal and 

 immortal plants that true sjTnmetry of growth, 

 that strong and rich flourishing, which will con- 

 duce to the perfection of the good fruit for 

 which they were designed by an all-wise and 

 benevolent Creator. 



If house-plants are, usually, exotics, there is 

 no good reason why we should not also take to 

 our hearts and homes the lovely things that 

 make beautiful the solitary paths of the forest; 

 that enamel the meadows, and embroider the 

 margins of our summer streams and lakelets. 

 So, when the spring opens, with the first com- 

 ing of May, it will be well to give ourselves a 

 lioliday from household cares, and go with the 

 children in search ol" floral gems. We shall 

 want a trowel, and a basket, and one of the 

 boys had better bring a spade. We must be 

 provided, too, with thick gloves ; and a stout 

 knife may not come amiss. Of course, over- 

 shoes and winter clothing will be worn, for the 

 fields are yet dami>, and we shall l)e obliged to 

 cross marshes. We must get at least two spec- 



