138 



2raW ENGLAND FARiVIER. 



March 



holder desires to buy by the (quantity, and thus 

 save many a penny. Often such supplies as a 

 "Window Garden" requires are omitted. They 

 cannot be eaten nor worn ; arc only beautiful to 

 the sight, and not worth the troul)Ie of tending 

 them. But if there be an innate love for flowers 

 in any heart it will find expression in winter and 

 summer. The hardest heart is softened at the 

 sight of a real fragrant flower in mid-winter. We 

 have had the roughest man stop and gaze upon 

 our flowers, and have often heard from such per- 

 sons the words, "Wa'al them be putty posies.' 

 How do you grow 'em." There is no reason that 

 we should not make flowers bloom all the year — 

 and if their hal)its are rightly studied, and plant- 

 food well supplied, it is easily accomplished. 



Every house is beautified by even one pot of 

 flowers. Contrast a sitting room where the win- 

 dows are filled with lovely flowers, hanging bas- 

 kets suspended from the cornices, trailing vines 

 enwreath the pictures, with a room where not a 

 green thing is seen, and mark the difference. 

 The one is attractive, inviting, delightful; the 

 other, no matter how gorgeous its surroundings — 

 how rich the satin, lace, and velvet,— has not the 

 soul-entrancing charm of the other! Evelyn, 

 that rare old Diari-5t of ancient English literature, 

 styles it, '^fenestral gardening," and dilates upon 

 its glories. 



One of the chief drawbacks to successful "win- 

 dow gardening" is the need of a moist atmosphere, 

 and the high temperature at which our "sitting- 

 rooms" are usually kept. We gave in our first 

 number, minute directions about keeping the 

 plants clean. This is an all-important thing, and 

 must be attended to. As yet, we have had a mod- 

 erate winter, but we must bear in mind that 

 "when the days begin to lengthen the cold begins 

 to strengthen." 



If you are so unfortunate as to have your plants 

 frost bitten, sprinkle them with cold water di- 

 rectly, then place them in a perfectly dark closet 

 or cellar, and oftentimes they will suffer no in- 

 jury. We had plants frost-bitten in December, 

 which are green and flourishing now. Cimerarias 

 and fuchsias were both frozen, but being shut up 

 in the dark, they soon revived. The same thing 

 operates perfectly with frozen apples ; place them 

 in complete darkness and they will come out un- 

 harmed. Geraniums, fuchsias, verbenas, &c., 

 should be repotted now, before you stimulate 

 them highly. True lovers of flowers will have 

 the needed soil carefully put away in the cellar. 

 This should be baked in the oven an hour or two, 

 to kill all worms' eggs, and insects. When cool 

 to the hand, fill the pots to be used half or a third 

 full, then run a knife around the inside of the pot 

 containing the plant to be rc-potted — cover the 

 top with the left hand, and turn the pot bottom 

 side up, if it does not come out directly, tap on 

 the bottom of the pot— remove the drainage, (bits 

 of broken pots, etc.,)— and plant the root carefully, 



taking great care to press the dirt thoroughly 

 upon the roots. Many a plant dies from this 

 cause — the soil should be firmly pressed down all 

 round the tender rootlets. Water them well, set 

 in the shade for a few hours, and your plant will 

 testify its gratitude for its new home, in lovely 

 leaves, buds and flowers. 



There are several variegated leaved plants which 

 produce flowers — the ageratura is one, its leaves 

 are prettily edged with white, also the sedums — 

 whose blossoms are beautiful, but the greater part 

 of this variety of plants, depend upon their leaves 

 for beauty. 



A recent writer speaks of them thus : — 



"Do not these curious plants, that among their 

 leaves of light have no need of flowers, resemble 

 those rare human plants that develope all the 

 beauties of mind and character at an exceptionally 

 early age, and rapidly ripen for the tomb ? They 

 do not live to bring forth the flowers and fruit of 

 life's vigorous prime, and therefore God converts 

 their foliage into flowers, crowns the initial stage 

 with the glories of the final, and makes their very 

 leaves beautiful. 



By the transfiguration of His grace, by the light 

 that never was on sea or land, He adorns even 

 their tender years with all the loveliness which in 

 other cases comes only with full maturity." 



Surely there is nothing else which can give us 

 the unalloyed satisfaction which we receive in our 

 "Window Gardens !" They perfume the air, de- 

 light the eye, make us acquainted with nature, 

 and are something to care for and love. If they 

 cannot love us in return they do not annoy us — 

 they cannot speak crossly, even if we do neglect 

 them, and they afford us the purest of pleasures. 



Gray, the poet, has well observed that one of 

 the chief enjoyments of life consists in "having 

 always something going forward." We fully ex- 

 perience the truth of this. Living in a small vil- 

 lage, — a "Sleepy Hollow," — where life seems to 

 stagnate, it is our chief delight to tend and care 

 for our house plants. We take great pride in 

 them, and are pleased when we can send a tiny 

 boquet to a sick friend, and can also contribute a 

 few flowers to rob Death of some of its terrors ; — 

 can tenderly arrange the purely white blossoms of 

 the primrose and the variegated leaved plants, — 

 with the sweet scented verbena, to be placed in 

 the waxen hands of the infant, or the furrowed 

 clasp of the aged. s. o. J. 



— A correspondent of the English Agricultural 

 Gazette says : I consider 720 gallons (2880 quarts) 

 a fair return in a year for a cow, and this quantity 

 of milk, if the food does not contain more than 

 80 per cent, of moisture, will produce from 280 to 

 290 pounds of butter. That 25j pounds of milk, 

 or about 10 quarts, will make one pound of butter. 

 He also states that five gallons, or 20 quarts, was 

 the highest daily yield of one cow. 



