54 On Plants in our Dwellings ; 



any bad effect. I hope you understand this clearly. 

 It is a rather confusing statement of the case, but it 

 proves that there need be no fears of any evil effects 

 arising from having plants in your rooms, either day or 

 night. But there is one exception to the rule ; it is 

 known that the blossoms of plants give out more carbon 

 than any other part, therefore hand or table bouquets 

 should not stand in your room during the hours of 

 sleep. Of course you can avoid this by having them 

 put somewhere else till morning. 



There is another question of very great importance 

 regarding having flowers in your room after daylight, 

 that is, is it natural and healthy for the plants them- 

 selves ? When night comes on and brings its season 

 of rest to us, we never consider that our poor plants 

 incline for rest too. All plants in the open air go to 

 sleep, so to speak, when the hours of darkness set in. 

 The air becomes several degrees colder, soothing their 

 strained energies, and hushing them into their natural 

 rest, which enables them to meet with renewed vigour 

 the rays of burning sunshine when day returns. Now 

 when night comes on we draw down the blinds, shut 

 our doors and windows, stir up the fire and crowd 

 around the cheerful hearth all unconscious that by 

 keeping out the cold and raising the temperature of 

 the room several degrees we are keeping the poor 

 plants in a state of unhealthy excitement, keeping them 

 feverishly awake when they should be at rest. Thus 

 like ourselves when we get no rest during the day 

 and no sleep during night, they grow weak and sickly, 

 losing the fresh robust appearance they wore when we 



