400 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1906 





: 



Would You 

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 House to be 

 Distinctive? 



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S ANITAS is the best known -wall surface for 

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Use banitas in your library, living room 

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 by stencilling. 



We can supply you with special designs, 

 -which are artistic and effective. 



1 he banitas Department of Interior 

 Decoration has just issued a new stencil 

 booklet. Write Department P for further 

 information. 



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THROUGH FRISCO'S FURNACE" 



EDITION 

 DE LUXE 



Illustrations of seven modern steel-frame buildings at San Francisco that withstood the earthquakes and fire 

 of April 18, 1906, with reports on the rust-resisting qualities of Dixon's Silica-Graphite Paint on the 

 steelwork. Write for a free copy of Book No. B 106. 



JOSEPH DIXON CRUCIBLE CO., JERSEY CITY, U.S.A. 



time when a shift should be made, be it winter 

 or summer. And the sooner it is made the 

 better. 



In order to be prepared for work of this kind, 

 every owner of a window-garden ought to 

 lay in a supply of potting-soil, in fall. It is 

 not too late to do this now. Turn over some 

 sward in pasture or roadside, and scrape away 

 that portion of it which is filled with grass- 

 roots. Add to this about one quarter its bulk 

 of good garden loam, one quarter old, thor- 

 oughly decomposed cow-manure, and one 

 quarter coarse sand. Mix well. You will find 

 that nearly all plants adapted to culture in the 

 window-garden will grow finely in this com- 

 post. 



Those who are fond of plants with fine foli- 

 age, but who have tired somewhat of palms, 

 from seeing so many of them, generally in 

 varying degrees of ill-health, will find the 

 araucaria, or Norfolk Island pine, a most at- 

 tractive plant, and one which can be grown 

 well in the window if care is taken to keep the 

 red spider from injuring it. It is an ever- 

 green, having foliage something like that of 

 our native hemlock, and something like that of 

 the balsam — a sort of combination of both, 

 yet not exactly like either. Its branches are 

 produced is whorls, generally numbering five 

 to each whorl, but sometimes having eight or 

 ten. A vigorous plant will grow about three 

 whorls in a season. Where the branches in a 

 whorl number five, the effect, as you look 

 down upon the plant, will be that of a per- 

 fect five-pointed star, hence one of the popular 

 names of the plant, star-pine. It grows well 

 in a soil of loam and sand. Water moder- 

 ately, and do not use fertilizers very gener- 

 ously if you want to keep your plant from 

 outgrowing the window-space. Shower it at 

 least once a week — three times a week would 

 be better — to keep the red spider from in- 

 juring it. 



Those who have never grown the hibiscus 

 for winter flowering, have made a serious mis- 

 take. True, it blooms most freely in summer, 

 if you allow it to. But if you keep it pretty 

 nearly dormant then, and cut it back well, you 

 can reverse the natural order of things, and 

 force it to bloom in winter. I have two varie- 

 ties, one a crimson, the other a soft peach- 

 color, which bloom for me from November to 

 May. They have not been repotted for sev- 

 eral years. In spring I cut away nearly all 

 the old growth. I keep them rather dry until 

 mid-summer. By that time, many new 

 branches will have started. Then I remove 

 as much of the old soil as I can without dis- 

 turbing the roots, and replace it with a fresh 

 loam into which some bone-meal has been 

 mixed. The plants grow sturdily until fall, 

 on this food, and will have completely re- 

 newed themselves by the time it is necessary 

 to take them into the house. As soon as buds 

 show, I begin the use of liquid fertilizers. 

 Treated in this manner, my plants are excel- 

 lent as winter-bloomers. Their flowers are 

 short-lived, it is true, lasting only for a day — 

 but there are so many of them that the effect 

 is always satisfactory. The rich, glossy foli- 

 age of the plant greatly enhances its beauty. 

 The flowers of the crimson variety are as 

 large as those of the garden hollyhock, which 

 rhey closely resemble in form. The peach- 

 blow variety has smaller blossoms, but they are 

 more double than those of the other, and are 

 generally more admired on this account. A 

 great many persons have complained to me 

 that they "had no luck" with the hibiscus. It 

 was always dropping its buds. Mine never do 

 so. I feel sure there need be no trouble of 

 this kind if perfect drainage is given. With- 

 out good drainage, the soil is likely to sour, and 

 when this happens, you may expect your hibis- 

 cuses to drop every blossom before it is fully 

 matured. 



