HOUSE, AREA, AND WINDOW GARDENING. 



293 



and not a few grow them there from one year's end 

 to the other. Of course plants do not thrive so well 

 in dwelling-rooms as in the green-house, and a very- 

 common impression- exists that gas-light is particu- 

 larlj obnoxious to them, for the gas itself does not 

 reach the plants ; if it did, the rooms would be unfit 

 for human beings, as well as for plants. When 

 plants fail it is put down to the gas, and not a few 

 are dissuaded from attempting the window culture of 

 plants, and room decoration, for that reason. My 

 conviction is that the gas is often wrongly blamed 

 for the damage. In fact, it is difiicult to understand 

 how gas itself can affect anything in a room, because 



Fig, 19.— Sedmn Sieboldi. 



it is consumed as fast as it is discharged from the 

 burner, and never enters the room as gas at all where 

 combustion is complete. That the heating and 

 drying effect of the gas-flame does affect plants is 

 probable, but, except in degree, it does no more harm 

 than the light from a lamp, a candle, or a coal fire. 



' ' From what I have observed I am prepared con- 

 fidently to assert that both cut flowers and growing 

 plants may be kept in gas-lighted rooms for a long- 

 period, if other conditions are right, although, of 

 course, some species succeed much better than others. 

 My sitting-room is well lighted by gas, and there is 

 also a fire constantly burning every day during the 

 winter, and when the weather is cold. Yet in this 

 room, even on the mantelpiece above the fireplace, 

 I have kept nearly all kinds of flowers in water for 

 a remarkably long time, and also had plants in pots 

 on brackets quite near the gas for as long a period : 

 among these plants may be mentioned Maidenhair 

 Ferns, which stood the room atmosphere almost 

 i)etter than anything else, except Chinese Primroses. 



These and many other evidences have convinced me 

 that far more blame is put upon gas than it deserves, 

 and that no one need be afraid of attempting the 

 culture of plants in rooms lighted by it, provided 

 they will attend to the wants of plants in other ways. 

 In a small cottage, I know of two Acacias that 

 have been growing on the window-sill for about five 

 years, and are only about two yards from a gas- 

 burner. They are put out in front of the window 

 in summer for about two months, but during all the 

 rest of the year they are in the room, and do well. 



" What really destroys plants in rooms is mis- 

 management, and want of light and air. No plant, 



Fig. 20. —Ivy-leaved Pelargonium. 



not even the Killarney Fern, will thrive long unless 

 it has light and air ; in rooms far from the window, 

 no plant can be expected to exist, much less to grow, 

 for any length of time. Let any one try the experi- 

 ment of growing their room-plants near the window, 

 watering and potting them with some care, and they 

 will find that they will both grow and flower." 



" One thing, however, is undoubtedly against them 

 in well-lighted apartments, and that is the light it- 

 self, which keeps up a certain amount of excitability 

 -in the leaves and flowers, which is exhausting. 

 Wherever possible it would be advisable to shut 

 window-plants out of the room when the shutters or 

 blinds are closed, keeping them outside of them when- 

 ever danger from frost is not apprehended. A good 

 deal, of course, depends on the size of the room, and 

 how it is warmed and lighted ; but the larger and 

 loftier it is the better, as the worst effects of the fire 

 or lamp are only felt a few feet or yards distant. 

 Rooms heated by means of hot-water coils and pipes 

 are the worst, as, no matter where the plants may be 



