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[" GARDENING 

 YOUNG FOLKS 



CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



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Indoor Planting 



AFTER the bulb-potting rush is over there are 

 still many things to -do with the plants if one 

 wishes to have bloom for later in the winter. 



Calla lily bulbs that were ordered in September 

 should be potted in a 5- or 6-inch pot according to 

 the size of the bulb. Wet the pot, place a curved 

 piece of pot over the hole, fill in with a good potting 

 soil, which, of course, should have been mixed before 

 the actual work of potting started. Have a 

 supply of rotted manure, garden soil, and 

 sand. Take 

 two parts each 

 of garden soil 

 and manure 



and one of sand and mix them 

 thoroughly. Use the hands for this, as 

 it can be done so much more effectively 

 and there is nothing unpleasant in it. 

 As the soil is filled into the pot press 

 it firmly down, using the hands or a tamp- 

 ing stick for the purpose. This stick is 

 like a potato masher and may be whittled out 

 of wood. Place bulb in the pot, with its tip 

 just protruding out of the soil. Tamp the 

 soil all about the bulb. Now put the pots in 

 a cool place until the bulbs have started. A 

 dark place is not needed — just a cool spot and 

 half light. If a greenhouse is available, use 

 the coolest house and place the pots under 

 the bench. 



Window boxes should be put into good con- 

 dition for winter bloom. These are often 

 unsatisfactory because of the trying con- 

 ditions under which the plants have to exist. 

 Exterior conditions cannot be entirely con- 

 trolled, so as far as possible make up for this 

 lack by making perfect all the factors 

 •you can control. First see that plenty of 

 drainage material is placed at the 

 bottom of the box, in this way elevat- 

 ing the soil itself above the place where 

 free water may stand. Use good light soil, taking an 

 ordinary garden soil and working into it equal parts 

 of leafmold and rotted manure. Those who have 

 been wise and taken up from the outdoor garden 

 some of their plants can use them. 



Fuchsia, heliotrope, geranium, petunia, and 

 marguerite may be planted in the boxes. Petunias 

 used alone are most satisfactory, blooming and 

 reblooming all the winter. If lobelia and sweet 

 alyssum or candytuft have been used as border 

 plants in the garden, they may be added as low 

 growing plants to the window box. Cut them back, 

 leaving about four inches of top growth, to induce 

 a new vigorous growth. They may be used, also, 

 in hanging baskets after being back cut. Buy a 

 small wire-framed hanging basket, line it with 

 sphagnum moss and place the plant in the moss. 



If new plants are to be bought for the window, 

 choose those which are best suited to the conditions 

 of light under which the plants must live. In this 

 way again conditions are partly controlled. Al- 

 most any plant may be used in full sunshine; but 

 if the box has to be in a dark place, such as a north- 

 ern exposure, then care must be used in selecting 

 plants which will live where there is little light. 

 A box filled with ferns, such as the Boston or holly 

 fern, will do well. Begonias, aspidistra, cocoa, or 

 kentia palms, may be chosen. Try having one 

 of the boxes filled with little evergreens, arborvita?, 

 or junipers. English ivy, as a trailer, stands class- 

 room conditions better than many others. Of 

 course, tradescantia is always a standby for this 

 purpose. 



If a single plant is to be chosen for the school 

 room or the living room, choose the aspidistra, 

 which will withstand trying indoor conditions. A 

 Norfolk pine is also attractive; but this plant needs 

 a cool room with a temperature not higher than 

 60 degrees, and preferably lower. 



A pentstemon cutting prepared 

 for planting 



Soon the children will ask whether or not it is pos- 

 sible to use bulbs a second season. Throw away the 

 Chinese lily bulbs. Most of the bulbs grown in 

 water or in pots of soil are so forced that no energy 

 remains for a second season, and no storage of force 

 is possible. But the hyacinth, tulip, and narcissus 

 family, with the exception of the Chinese lily and the 

 paper white narcissus, may be planted outdoors in 

 the fall. Left in the ground they slowly recover 

 from the season of forcing and by a second year in 

 the open may bloom again. 



If bulbs are to be kept over and used again, 

 allow their blossoms to 

 wither and fade. They be- 

 come most unsightly, so 

 bundle 

 them off, 

 pots and all, 

 to the cel- 

 lar or a store 

 room. After this withering process is 

 over, knock the bulbs out of the pots, 

 cut off the foliage to within an inch of 

 the bulb itself. Next shake the soil off the 

 roots and dry out the bulbs. When dry, 

 pack them away in tin boxes ready for next 

 fall's outdoor planting. 



The outdoor bulb bed may be left. That 

 is, after blossoming is over, cut off the tops 

 of the plants, leaving the bulbs themselves in 

 the ground. To be sure, all the bulbs may 

 be taken up and dried out which means a 

 complete replanting in the fall. 

 If the outdoor bulb bed is left 

 untouched, it must be renewed 

 about once in three or four years. 

 Or one may add a little new 

 stock each year or so. Without 

 renewal, the plants grow poor 

 and weak. When renewal time 



comes and the bulbs are 

 unearthed, notice the new 

 young bulbs clinging to 

 the parent stock. This is another 

 nature lesson. 



the surface, putting on a fine coating of soil just 

 to cover the seed. A piece of window glass, placed 

 over the pan, will give greenhouse temperature 

 for the start. Keep the glass tilted up a little 

 from the pot, so that air may enter. Be careful 

 in watering, for whenever fine seed is used careless 

 watering washes away the seed, leaving it exposed, 

 or flooding it to one place in the pot. 



Pips. It is possible during November to buy 

 lily-of-the-valley pips from the seedsmen. When 

 the pips are taken out of their wrappings, you will 

 see the pinkish tip and the long roots. The roots 

 must be cut back, so gather them into your hand 

 and cut them back about one third. Pot up the 

 pips, putting about six to a 5-inch pan, leaving all 

 of the tip out of the soil. 



These pans of pips should now be plunged in sand 

 and covered with canvas, just to act as a screen 

 from the light. Keep the sand well moistened. If 

 the heat can come from the bottom, as happens in a 

 greenhouse, so much the better. If one is raising 

 these in a school room, place them in as warm a 

 place as can be found. Leave the pans covered 

 until the buds are ready to burst open. Then take 

 off the covers, remove the pots from the sand, and 

 place them in strong sunlight. 



Runners. Some plants are started from runners. 

 The Boston fern is the best of all plants to use for 

 illustrating the method of propagation by runners. 

 Take a large plant and knock it out of the pot; 

 see how all the smaller ferns started as off shoots 

 from the parent fern. You will be able to see the 



Methods of Plant Propagation 



THERE are various ways to start plants, 

 which can be tried in schools and homes 

 even where there are no special facilities, 

 like a greenhouse, for the work. Most boys 

 and girls have raised plants from seeds or 

 bulbs; why not go on and try, for the fun of it, a 

 number of different ways to raise plants? Plants 

 may be started from seed, pips, runners, roots, leaf 

 cuttings and stem cuttings. 



Seeds. Choose something unusual in this class 

 so that the interest will be greater. Lots of fun 

 and excellent results may be had with sweet peas. 

 Use an indoor variety, such as the Christmas sweet 

 pea. Right off this sounds interesting! Plant the 

 peas in 3-inch pots, four seeds to each pot, and place 

 in a sunny window. If an old, low, zinc pan can 

 be had, place pebbles in the bottom of this and the 

 pots may be set on this pebble drainage bed. As 

 these sweet peas will grow to be about two feet 

 high, small sticks must be put into the pots and 

 the peas trained on them. The peas will bloom in 

 February and if the blossoms 

 are cut they will bloom con- 

 tinuously until June. 



Another interesting seed to 

 use is that of lobelia, Blue 

 King being an excellent vari- 

 ety to try out. Plant these 

 seeds in low boxes or flats, al- 

 though a 5-inch pan will do 

 equally well. Fill the pan with 

 soil, firming it down well; then 

 sprinkle the lobelia seed over Propagating Iris Germanica, showing rooted divisions ready for outdoor planting 



131 



