190% 
JANUARY, 
& 
the fragrant blooms can be had all winter. 
for the amateur’s window garden. Planted 
in boxes, it can be trained to the window 
cases. The shaded places in the window 
garden are admirably adapted to its neces- 
sities, so it can be used where other green 
plants refuse to grow. The plant will make 
a growth ten feet long, and must have a 
string to climb upon. ‘The foliage is a dark, 
glossy green, and there are single white 
flowers in winter, which are very fragrant. 
The seeds must be sown in January or Feb- 
ruary, and when the young plants are two 
or three inches high, and are making their 
characteristic leaves, transplant them singly 
to 2-inch pots. In My they will need 
shifting to 3-inch pots. 
The best basket plant for the house (Asparagus 
Sprengeri)- Easily raised from seed sown as soon as 
ripeo Has bright red berries at Christmas 
July is the time when the florists plant 
them out in beds in the greenhouse, but in 
the window garden, where a bed is not pos- 
sible, I use a long, narrow box, six inches wide, 
as much deep, and two feet long. In this 
there are planted five plants. This is a 
little closer than the florists plant them, but 
as I have only a single row, it gives them 
plenty of room for development. The soil 
should be very rich—a fibrous loam, to 
which is added half-rotted cow manure and 
sand, one part each to three parts of loam. 
The strings must be arranged just as soon as 
the seedlings are planted. The best material 
for this, because of its strength and color, 
is the green smilax string used by the florists. 
from whom it can be bought. Should you 
desire to use the smilax for festooning else- 
where about the house, the strings with the 
twining vine may be cut, and the roots will 
immediately start a new growth of stem. 
Make a new sowing of seed each year, as it 
does not pay to hold the plants over from 
one year to another. This will succeed 
where the night temperature is from 50° 
to 65°. 
ASPARAGUS THIRTY FEET HIGH 
The most popular of the so-called as- 
paragus ferns, (A. plumosus, var. nanus) may 
be trained in vine form too. I have seen this 
dwarf growing to the height of thirty or forty 
feet, with great stems like tangled creepers 
ina jungle. This is the best variety, because 
it can be used for short sprays, as a decora- 
Cherry pie, or heliotrope, is the best all-purpose plant for the window gardener. From seed sown in January flowers will be had in July, and from later sowing 
Never permit heliotrope to become dry at the roots 
tive pot plant, or as a vine. There is no 
foliage more beautiful than the delicate, 
light-green, feathery sprays of this asparagus, 
and yet, in spite of its fairy-lace appearance, 
when cut it keeps both its color and freshness 
for a very long time. 
This plant is a slow grower, and it is im- 
portant to have fresh seed. Sow in a gocd, 
light seed soil—i. e. one having plenty of 
leaf mold and sand in it. When the young 
plants begin to make good root growth, 
transplant to 3- or 4-inch pots. This size 
pot will be sufficiently large for the plants 
all next winter. If the growth is too long 
oe 
« 
> 
were 
d 
oeRY fase 
f 
Wisin 
a 
eens rics 
nome 
Soa Sas TRE Koen : —— 
Asparagus plumosus, the best fine-foliage plant. Takes 
two years to attain this size from seed 
