SIMPLE GARDENING METHODS 



treated by their too loving friends. Too much water, too 

 much heat. 



On the whole, house plants, like people, require fresh 

 air, and, in California, rooms should be daily aired and 

 always well ventilated. Then plants — the sort one naturally 

 chooses for house plants — should be protected from strong 

 draughts just as should the people. Evenness of tempera- 

 ture is conducive to good health, and poisonous gases will 

 show their effects first on the plants, but the people will be 

 injured, too, that breathe the same. On the whole, the 

 ordinary hardy house plant is a very good indicator of the 

 healthfulness of a room. Now, to be sure, I am not talking 

 about conservatory plants. Many tropical plants require a 

 damp, warm air, and many northern plants require a cooler 

 temperature than is wholesome for those of Southern Cali- 

 fornia ; but if you do not abuse your potted plants in some of 

 the ways I have indicated, and if they are still unhealthy, 

 you may put it down that the air of your reception-room, 

 or dining-room, or library, which you are seeking to adorn, 

 is not just what it should be for your family to breathe. The 

 fine fern or palm needs a tepid bath once or twice a week to 

 keep the dust out of its lungs, the leaves. This does not 

 mean a "soaking," but simply that it be genuinely washed off. 

 I believe, too, that house plants should usually be watered 

 with tepid water so as not to change the temperature too 

 radically. But chief among the directions is the fresh air 

 free from poisonous gas. 



One other injury commonly done to house plants and 



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