192 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



destroyers. Occasionally, too, beetles, ants, and other 

 pests are troublesome, and they must be destroyed by 

 boiling water or other methods. 



But the worst pests of all remain to be noticed. 

 These are mice, rats, hares, and rabbits. The former 

 prey chiefly on bulbs, the latter on almost every 

 green thing ; and where they abound all valuable 

 plants must be placed high upon the blocks, beyond 

 their reach, or otherwise they speedily make a clean 

 sweep of all the more choice plants. 



Watering. — This needs much attention in dry 

 weather. The higher and more 

 fully exposed, the sooner the plants 

 scorch up, and this is apt to be the 

 fate of a great many of the best 

 rooters unless they are carefully 

 attended and watered when ne- 

 cessary, which may be daily in 

 the case of many plants during 

 severe drought. The differences 

 between a Rootery carefully watered 

 and one left to nature only, must 

 be seen to be appreciated. 



Nothing benefits the Rootery more 

 than an annual overhaul, and a top 

 dressing or two a year if time can 

 be found for it — that is, in the late 

 autumn, and again, say, in March. 

 Fresh- surface all the delicate patches, 

 pressing the soil very firmly round 

 the roots, and dividing the plants 

 when needful at the same time, 

 keeping a sharp outlook for weeds 

 and insects. 



As the plants get overcrowded 

 into weakness, or seem to get ex- 

 hausted, there is no means of resuscitating their 

 vigour, and renewing their youth, equal to planting 

 on fresh sites, or in new soil on the old ones. 



Fig. 25. — Conservatory 

 Window. 



HOUSE, AREA, AND WINDOW 

 GARDENING. 



By William Thomson. 



OUT-DOOR WINDOW GARDENING. 

 TTTE have hitherto dealt only with plants in 

 VV rooms. We now come to the subject of 

 plants on the other side of the window-pane. - 



If it is only intended to grow a few plants, it 

 is undoubtedly best to have them in an external 

 glazed case, so arranged that upon throwing up the 

 lower half of the window-sash access to all the 

 plants can readily be obtained. 



An arrangement of this kind, known as a con- 

 servatory window, is shown in Fig. 25. Cases of 

 this description can project much further out from 

 the window, affording space for building miniature 

 rocks for trailing plants. 



Conservatory window-cases are not often made 

 higher than about the half of the window, though 

 they could be made much taller if it were wished to 

 grow climbing plants. Windows, however, are of 

 as much importance for ventilating and airing a 

 room as for lighting it ; and a case which covered 

 the whole of the window would need special 

 arrangements at the top of it to meet 

 the ventilating requirements re- 

 ferred to. 



As to the plants which would be 

 grown in conservatory windows, 

 everything depends upon the con- 

 trol which may be available for 

 checking extremes of heat in sum- 

 mer, and cold in winter. Perhaps 

 the best pi-otection for both of these 

 extremes is an external Venetian 

 blind, kept from touching the glass 

 by three vertical wires. The ends 

 of this miniature conservatory should 

 be made with double panes of glass 

 about an inch apart. The space of 

 air between the two panes is suffi- 

 cient to prevent any sudden change 

 of temperature, provided that the 

 Venetian blind is drawn down in 

 good time. In summer the blind 

 would only be down for two or three 

 hours in the middle of the day, when 

 sufficient light would enter at the 

 ends ; and in winter the blind might 

 be kept down for a fortnight, the ends supplying 

 sufficient light for that season. In very severe 

 weather it might be desirable to burn a large candle, 

 or a small spirit-lamp, inside, which would be suffi- 

 cient to keep out frost. 



Plants in flower want more air than foliage plants ; 

 hence it is not advisable to grow flowering plants in 

 structures of this kind. If, however, Ferns and suit- 

 able foliage plants are grown, and space is left to 

 furnish temporarily with plants (in pots) in flower, 

 very pretty effects can be obtained all the year 

 round. 



Window-sills. — Window gardening is by most 

 persons supposed to be limited to the decoration of 

 window-sills with plants ; but from our previous 

 remarks on the subject it will be seen to have a 

 much wider application. As, however, it is usually 

 the starting-point of all house gardeners, it requires 



