Summer Window Boxes— By wilhelm Mill 



~ r New 



Cl j Jersey 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS IN PRIZES OFFERED BY THE GARDEN MAGAZINE— FIVE DOLLARS 

 EACH FOR THIRTY PHOTOGRAPHS, WITH DESCRIPTIONS, MADE AS A RESULT OF READING THIS ARTICLE 



"There is no point in bemoaning the absence of lawns, the scanty dimensions of dooryards, the prohibitive cost of every foot of street frontage. Venice, the most beauti- 

 ful city in the world, is a city without lawns and almost without land. Some of the ugliest streets in the world, architecturally speaking, are absolutely delightful more than half 

 the time by virtue of the window boxes." 



THE one place in this world where flowers 

 are most needed is the crowded portion 

 of a city where every foot of ground is covered 

 by stone or brick. Vines and trees are the 

 most important things for such locations. 



The only other practicable thing is to have 

 window boxes, and I strongly dissent from 



the dictum of the National Council of Horti- 

 culture that "the use of window boxes is 

 not to be recommended extensively except 

 for crowded down-town districts, apartment 

 houses and hotels." Every building in 

 country or city, almost without exception, 

 ought to have window boxes for two reasons. 



A window box of Scott's Boston fern, with variegated periwinkle as a trailer (Vtnca major, var 'bariejata). 

 Ampelopsis on the wall. Another Kind of Boston fern in pots below 



Showing how vines, area-planting and window boxes worK together lo make even a factory attractive 



286 



First, their suggestion of nature is restful 

 and inspiring. Second, they make the best 

 possible foil to bring out the beauty of archi- 

 tecture. Whether a building has greenery 

 about it or not, we want window boxes — in 

 the latter case to supply greenery, in the 

 former to make a more intimate connection 

 between art and nature. 



The one great objection to window boxes 

 is their expense. It is possible to make 

 one without paying a cent if you are fortunate 

 enough to have the boards, tools, fertilizers, 

 paint, soil, labor and plants, but even in this 

 extreme case, the real value represented is 

 less than $1.25. In a great city a bushel of 

 good soil is worth fifty cents at least. The 

 lowest price for a box is seventy-five cents. 

 The plants mentioned in this article are 

 the cheapest and they cost fifteen cents 

 each, on the average. A first-class window 

 box complete usually costs from three to 

 five dollars. 



HOW TO MAKE A WINDOW BOX 



Make it to fit the window, so that you can 

 use it outdoors in summer and indoors for 

 winter. Eight inches is deep enough; more 

 than that makes the box too heavy and gains 

 nothing, for you have to use fertilizers any- 

 how. Use seven-eighths or inch lumber — 

 ordinary spruce or pine. Paint it the color 

 of the house, two coats, outside for looks 

 and inside to prevent decay. Bore i-inch 

 holes in the bottom every twelve or eighteen 

 inches. Cover these holes with broken pots 

 or rough stones in such a way as to prevent 

 the soil from falling out, while still securing 

 drainage. Put plenty of charcoal into the 

 soil so that it will not get sour. If the box 

 is to be placed where leakage of dirty water 

 will do harm, get a zinc-lined receptacle to 

 place under the box. 



If you want climbers, use one or two 

 strips of chicken wire, because they are neater 

 and more lasting. The cheapest way to 

 make a trellis is to put up two wires and tie 

 strings across. 



To fasten the box to a second-story window, 

 use four screw-eyes and a yard of wire, as 

 figured. in The Garden Magazine for April, 

 1907, page 196, where working drawings are 

 giVen for the cheapest box known to us at 

 present. I believe, however, that this can 

 be greatly improved and cheapened. 



The ideal soil is composed of three-fifths 

 rotted turf, one-fifth well decomposed cow 

 manure, one-tenth sand and one-tenth leaf 

 mold. You can get it from your local florist, 

 if not, buy a 10-pound package of pulverized 

 sheep manure for fifty cents, or five pounds 

 of bone meal for thirty cents. (Every seeds- 

 man catalogues fertilizers). Use half of 

 the former for a box eight feet long, or a 



