Gierahengao AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
vided in the fall, and sharp sand, broken char- 
coal and sphagnum moss be kept handy for use 
in case of any plant which may need repotting ; 
accidents often occur by which a plant is 
thrown down and the pot broken and nothing 
at hand to repair the damage; this should be 
provided for in season. 
Plants and bulbs for spring potting often 
arrive from the florists at a time when earth is 
not available from the garden, and a supply in 
the cellar will be found most convenient. 
Hanging baskets present one of the most 
dificult problems for winter care; their posi- 
tion in the upper part of the room, where the 
air is several degrees warmer than at the win- 
dow-sil!, necessitates more frequent and 
copious watering than pot plants receive, and 
the watering is attended with difficulty of 
various kinds. Plants in earthen baskets are 
mussy things to water owing to the tendency 
of water to run off through the holes in the 
sides of the basket for hanging it; the drainage 
hole in the bottom also affords another means 
for a deluge, unexpected and unpleasant; for 
this reason I prefer the wire baskets lined 
with moss, which, with proper watering 
twice a week, will usually prove very satis- 
factory. The best way to water these is to 
take them down and immerse the entire basket 
in a pail of tepid water until the ball of earth 
is thoroughly soaked; the basket should then 
be thoroughly drained before returning it to 
its position in the window by setting it over an 
empty pail or large pan until the water ceases 
to drip from it. Treated thus the plants will 
make a very satisfactory showing. 
Plants which are kept growing and clean 
will seldom be troubled with insects; white 
worms in the soil, which may be destroyed by 
soaking the earth with lime water, and green 
lice are the most common foes, and the latter 
may be destroyed by smoking the plants with 
wet tobacco stems laid on coals or by spraying 
with water heated to a temperature of one 
hundred and forty degrees. This will also be 
found effective in ridding plants of red spider; 
in this case, when the plants are of suitable 
size, resort may be had to dipping the entire 
plant in hot water of about one hundred and 
thirty degrees and hold it there a couple of 
minutes. This not only kills any insects with 
which it may be infested but also cleans and 
invigorates the plant. 
CARING FOR CANNAS AND OTHER 
ROOTS DURING WINTER 
By Ida D. Bennett 
HE care of cannas and roots of other 
T plants used for summer-bedding during 
the winter months is one of the perplex- 
ities of gardening, so prone are they to decay. 
I have known professional florists who failed 
signally with the finer grades of cannas—the 
orchid flowered, though the large-leaved com- 
mon kind gave little, if any, trouble. 
One of the chief causes of trouble with the 
canna is having the roots out of the ground 
too long; this is caused by digging too early— 
often as soon as the frost has cut the tops, 
and starting too late in the spring, as it is in 
the late days of winter that the chief mischief 
to the roots occur. This late starting is often 
unavoidable. Florists who have every facility 
for the work can bring out the roots, divide 
them, and set them to growing in sand over 
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