On Window Gardening. 169 



ON WINDOW GARDENING. 



There are no plants which are looked upon with more in- 

 terest, or attended to with more care, than those which are cul- 

 tivated in the rooms of dwelling houses ; and yet from our fair 

 window gardeners imagining that there is something very dif- 

 ficult in the management of these plants, or from not properly 

 understanding what that should be, they often fail in accom- 

 plishing what their labor and anxiety most richly merit. Now, 

 there is in reality no great secret in the treatment of window 

 plants. It must be a general principle in their cultivation, to 

 give them all the light possible in winter, by placing them close 

 to the window, and in the summer months in a sheltered situa- 

 tion out of doors. Although this situation is best in summer, 

 yet in some places it may not be convenient, and in others it 

 may be desirable to have them on the outside of the window, 

 or on a balcony erected there for that purpose, where they will 

 grow and flower under the eye, and perfume the air of the 

 room when the window is opened on a summer evening. In 

 this case it is necessary to have some protection from the burn- 

 ing heat of the mid-day sun, which is very much increased by 

 the reflection of the rays from the wall of the house. Every 

 one will readily invent something to answer this purpose ; an 

 awning, for example, or merely moving the plants to the in- 

 side of the window. Of course these remarks apply only to 

 the summer season, when the sun's rays are very hot in the 

 middle of the day, and to windows with a southern aspect. 

 High winds are very injurious to window plants, and should 

 be guarded against, and for this reason windows on the ground 

 or second floor are best adapted to their cultivation. 



Plants in a natural state send their roots in every direction 

 in search of moisture and food. In this respect they differ 

 from those grown in rooms, confined to pots, and supplied with 

 water by artificial means. The latter are more liable than the 

 former to suffer from dryness in summer, having fewer mouths 

 to absorb the moisture evaporated from the leaves ; and more 

 liable to be injured by excess of wet in winter, owing to the 



