A Christmas window garden that is really a success. 
give greenery. 
particularly whether the plants need re- 
potting in the fall. Keep primroses fairly 
moist. 
Begonias are long-lived as a general rule, 
and if repotted each spring, kept outdoors in 
light shade, and fairly dry during the 
summer, will quickly come in bloom when 
brought into the house, if given plenty of 
sunlight and water. The fuchsia also likes 
the shade during the hot summer months. 
Most people find cyclamen hard to grow, 
but they are such a desirable addition to one’s 
winter bloom that they are well worth the 
trouble. They should be kept cool and 
shady during the summer, protected from 
direct sunlight, and watered mornings. 
Pinch off all flower buds until September 
15th. Two persistent enemies of the cyc- 
lamen are the green fly, and the worm. The 
former gets in the heart, and destroys all the 
flower buds, but a little tobacco dust will 
destroy it. The worst enemy is the 
worm, and a weak, sickly plant indicates a 
worm in the root. The safest way is to 
keep the pots plunged in ashes or peat 
during the summer. 
When cuttings of pelargoniums are first 
made drench the soil with water, then keep 
fairly dry, to prevent rot, until plants are 
Geraniums, cyclamens, crab-cacti, and prim 
brought in the house, when they should have 
plenty of sun and water. 
The crab cactus is kept dry during the 
summer; water being given not oftener than 
once a month, or until it shows flower buds; 
then give it all the water it will take 
until through blooming. 
I think that using fertilizers in a window 
garden oftentimes does more harm than 
good. If the plants are in good rich soil, and 
in well-drained pots, and otherwise in good 
condition they will not need fertilizer to make 
them bloom. In a large greenhouse, where 
there is abundance of air, fertilizers are some- 
times: beneficial. 
‘Among other plants which will bloom at 
Christmas time in the house are narcissus, 
the early tulips, the Roman hyacinth, several 
early varieties of the Indian azalea (Deutsche 
Perle, Vanderkreusen, and Pharilda Matil- 
da), the calla lily, heliotrope, oxalis, and 
amaryllis. Carnations do very well, if good 
strong plants are obtained 
During the summer, after the flowering 
plants have been removed, shades are put 
in the windows and the ferns and palms set 
in, so that the window garden is an attractive 
feature in the summer as well as during the 
winter. 
231 
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ulas give plenty of flowers; palms, ferns, and Asparagus Sprengert 
This is built outside the window of the room, and has no heat other than what comes from the furnace of the house 
Bean Poles Where There Are 
No Poles 
H. R. Mosnat, Iowa 
I wished to grow pole beans out here where 
there are no poles! There were good 
reasons; because I hada green podded variety 
of which the family is very fond; because I be- 
lieve that pole beans are of better quality than 
bush beans; further, because in a small 
garden they will yield a much larger crop 
than bush beans en the same space; and be- 
cause they are easier to pick. 
But there was always trouble in getting 
poles. This is not a timbered country, and 
it is impossible to get cedar poles, which are 
really the only satisfactory ones. I used 
sunflowers instead. 
It has always been my custom to set the 
poles securely in the ground before planting 
the beans, and I followed this same method 
when putting out the sunflower bean poles. 
The sunflowers were transplanted from a 
patch of self-sown plants just before planting 
the bean hills. 
For a time it seemed as if the beans were 
going to smother the young sunflowers, but 
the latter soon struck a gait that not even the 
vining pole beans could keep up with, and in 
