THE FLORAL WORLD 



13 



end into the smilax pot and train as 

 desired. 



Make notes on improvements for 

 next year's gardening, as to arrange- 

 ment and choice of flowers. After 

 frost has visited you, your sweet Wil- 

 liams would like a slight covering of 

 leaves. Cover your peonies with a 

 pailful of well rotted cow manure and 

 allow them to grow up through it in 

 the spring. Don't fail to put a liberal 

 supply of well rotted cow manure 

 around young pansy plants, and cover 

 well with leaves until early spring, 

 then remove and cover with a cold 

 frame, or let nature take her own time, 

 and the beautiful faces, much larger 

 than last year, will greet you. 



Do not cover your tender rose bushes 

 too early. Be sure the sap has run 

 down and the foliage is well browned. 

 Take a good handful of straw and 

 place around the bush, and tie securely 

 to a stake, previously placed as a sup- 

 port. Every bush I covered last year 

 lived through the winter. Sow poppy 

 and verbena seeds now for next year's 

 blooming. \ Thin the poppies out se- 

 verely as soon as the frost leaves the 

 ground. Mrs. Charles L. Tuthill. 



New York. 



KEEP YOUR PLANTS BREATHING 



Consult your own taste and ability 

 as to the kind of plants you keep, but 

 prepare to keep them with as little 

 labor and trouble as possible. While 

 the busy housewife is trying to find 

 time to remove the window plants to 

 the kitchen or tub to wash them, they 

 are dusty and unsightly and insects 

 have obtained such foothold that the 

 plants are permanently injured. 



Try my plan. On the wall ■ each 

 'side of the window tack white or 

 dainty colored oilcloth. Let it extend 

 under the window and down over the 

 mop board to floor. Take up the car- 

 pet for three feet of window and two 

 or three feet on either side, putting 

 oilcloth in its place, with a lath just 



under the edge wherever necessary to 

 prevent water running off in any di- 

 rection. Use hanging baskets and 

 swinging brackets rather than shelves 

 half way up the window. They are 

 more cleanly, obstruct the light less 

 and swing out of the way of the blinds. 

 There should be no curtains. Make a 

 bench two inches higher and a foot 

 longer than the lower casing and fif- 

 teen to eighteen inches wide. Use 

 wide, square legs large enough to in- 

 sert casters, and three inches from the 

 floor put in a second shelf. Tack oil- 

 cloth closely around top and let it 

 fall below bottom shelf, and you have 

 a "cool, dark place" to keep your pot- 

 ted bulbs before "bringing to the light" 

 or to finish "ripening off." You have a 

 stand that is easily rolled into a warm- 

 er place. It is easily kept clean or 

 removed altogether, and will hold all 

 the plants your window will grow. 



Gather the branches of a plant 

 loosely in one hand and with a spray 

 or very small sprinkler spray the 

 plants where they stand. The fioor 

 is easily wiped up, and the rest of the 

 water will be beneficial. 



In this way five minutes' brisk work 

 each morning — aside from repotting — 

 will keep your plants free from in- 

 sects and clean and attractive all the 

 time. It must be done every day, how- 

 ever, not attended to a few days and 

 then neglected a few, as this amount 

 of work is not sufficient to dislodge in- 

 sect pests once started. 



If you have extra choice or tender 

 plants try setting them on a box and 

 putting your steam bath cabinet over 

 them on cold nights. Lay a folded 

 towel over the opening in the top. 

 This is also the best thing I have found 

 in which to smoKe plants for aphis, or 

 to put your begonias to dry in the dark 

 after you have washed them. 



I have not attempted to tell you any- 

 thing of the care of plants except how 

 to keep them from frost and to keep 

 them clean with little trouble. 



Iowa. Eva I. Griffith. 



