!3 



better prepared to give the plants more appropriate places, as 

 some parts in rooms are warmer than others, they will be oc- 

 cupied by the plants requiring a higher temperature, while 

 the now vacant cooler places will be occupied by the plants 

 from the temperate zones. Plants that are grown in the 

 window, where they might possibly get frosted, will be greatly- 

 protected at night if papers are spread over them ; if perchance 

 they should be frozen, plu.nge the tops in a tub of cold water 

 and in a few minutes the frost will all have been extracted ; if 

 this cannot be done, place them where the sun cannot strike 

 them, and allow them with the rising temperature of the 

 room to gradually thaw out; in either case they should be 

 shaded from sunlight for several hours after the frost is all 

 gone. As we stated above, we will give the temperature in 

 which plants of the different species w^ll flourish, A variation 

 of a few degrees either higher or lower will not materiallj^ in- 

 iure them, especially if the temperature is higher and is 

 caused by sun keat^ still Jwe recommend as nearly as pos- 

 sible the heat indicated. It must be understood that the tem- 

 perature we give Is for cold weather, say from October to May, 

 earlier and later a«i the climate may demand. It is impossible 

 to keep the temperature in a house down to sixty degrees if 

 the heat outside is ninety degrees : however, we can put these 

 plants in a shady place, which will be more agreeable to them, 



MoiSTURB. Plants need moisture, not water. A soil that 

 is suitable to grow plants in is composed of innumerable 

 minute particles of earth, kept ieparated by an equally large 

 number of air spaces. The object in pulverizing the soil is to 

 reduce a hard, solid masis of earth to numerous small par- 

 ticles, and render the soil very porous. The object in making 

 the soil comparatively firm after potting is to make the air 

 spaces or pores small and very numerous. When a plant has 

 been watered these air chambers are filled with water, and so 

 long as the water remains the roots of the plants cannot work, 

 because the particular food is absent, but as soon as the water 

 drains off (and this is why we advocate drainage) the air made 

 moist on its passage through the soil fills these air chambers 

 with a moisture from which the plant draws its main support . 

 If this be true, and we have had sufficient evidence to prove to 

 our entire satisfaction that it is true, is it not absolutely neces 

 sary that we provide channels whereby this surplus water can- 



