320 AMERICAN HOMES AND  GARDEWMS 
randia need be desired. This has a small, 
glossy leaf of deep green and a tube-shaped 
flower in white, blue and pink. It is raised 
from seed and will often be found coming 
up under the window boxes the following 
spring, though the plant itself is not 
hardy. Some of the passion vines, notably 
southern beauty, are admirable for boxes 
and the Coboea scandens can be grown quite 
as successfully there as in the ground, 
blooming with great luxuriance. 
It is well to start one’s plants for the 
boxes early, if they are to be home-grown, 
that they may give immediate results. 
Especially is this desirable in the case of 
vines, which may be needed to cover, from 
the start, an unattractive box. Where they 
are purchased from a local florist they may 
be slipped directly from the pots into the 
boxes in the place in which they are to re- 
main, but when ordered by mail from 
florists at a distance it is better to pot them 
on receiving, and allow them to become 
established before setting out, as plants 
placed immediately in the boxes, after hav- 
ing the earth removed from their roots and confined in the 
dark for days, perhaps, are quite liable to get discouraged 
and die over such a plethora of ills. 
The window box, to be a success, should never be allowed 
to dry out. It is not always easy thoroughly to water a box 
The Rarer and More Delicate Flowers May Be Cultivated 
in Window Boxes 
A Porch May Be Effectively B 
“t 
anked with Flowers Grown in Boxe 
that has become filled with roots—as will the window box 
by the middle of summer. ‘Therefore there should be abun- 
dant room for water; the earth should be lower through the 
center of the box than at the sides. Little holes should be 
opened through the soil from time to time to allow the water 
to penetrate every part of the soil, and the boxes should be as 
near water-tight as possible. The zinc-lined box with an 
opening in the bottom for drainage, is probably the best, 
but a common wooden box, fitted with a plug, and painted 
to match the trim of the house, will give quite as good results 
and be much less expensive. Any one who has skill and 
energy, and it does not take much of either, can construct 
several boxes in a day. ‘They should be the length of the 
window casing, and about ten or twelve inches wide and eight 
or ten deep. They may be supported on brackets to match 
the woodwork of the house, or heavy iron brackets, painted 
to match the house, or by simple braces nailed to the house. 
Where these are used a strip of wood the length of the box 
is nailed to the side of the house eleven inches—supposing that 
the box is ten inches deep—below the casing of the window. 
Three short pieces of wood as long as the width of the box— 
say ten inches—are nailed to this at right angles, the outer 
ends resting on other pieces which extend down to the base- 
board of the house; the top of this piece must be cut ona bevel, 
so that it may form a right angle with the horizontal piece. 
This is the simplest, cheapest and probably the safest 
form of support. In nailing it to place against the house 
the nails should be driven into the studding of the house, as 
they may not support so great a weight if driven merely 
into the siding; moreover, large nails are quite likely to split 
the siding, unless much care is used. 
Plants that are inclined to grow too rank must be kept 
pinched back. This is especially necessary in the case of 
coleuses, which are very rank growers. All dead leaves and 
awkward growth must be removed and as symmetrical a 
growth as possible maintained. All withered flower heads 
should be removed at once and no seeds allowed to form— 
especially is this the case with the ageratum, than which there 
is no more disreputable looking flower when in seed, though 
a most valuable flower for the window box when in condition. 
As flowers in the window boxes are much more closely 
massed than when grown in the open ground, it will be neces- 
sary to give a fertilizer, either in the form of liquid manure 
or bone meal, or any of the good commercial flower foods. 
