12 



THE FLORAL WORLD 



MUCH PLEASURE AT LITTLE COST 



In the fall several years ago, know- 

 ing I had but little time to devote to 

 plants during the coming winter, I 

 planned how I might enjoy a few sim- 

 ple plants and yet take up little of my 

 time in caring for them. 



I had a cast-off dining table of the 

 old-fabhicned kind, with six legs and 

 two "leaves" which were lowered or 

 raised at pleasure by the two extra 

 legs, but now the "leaves" were 

 warped and the hinges loose. 



I had the extra legs and the leaves 

 removed and the oblong frame fitted 

 with a zinc pan some ten inches deep. 

 In the center of the pan was a small 

 tube to carry off the surplus moisture. 

 I put in the bottom of the pan a good, 

 thick layer of broken pots and bits of 

 brick, over this a layer of charcoal, 

 and then a thin layer of dried moss 

 and grass roots taken from partly 

 rotted sod. Then I placed, at equal 

 distance apart and along the length- 

 wise center of the pan, fine, common 

 earthen flower pots of the six-inch 

 size, and in the bottom of each of 

 these I placed the same mixture of 

 shredded pots, charcoal and moss as I 

 had placed in the pan. I now prepared 

 a mixture of sand, well rotted cow 

 manure, leaf mold and good garden 

 soil, and filled the zinc pan and pots 

 with this. In each of the two end pots 

 of the stand I placed a bright coleus, 

 four different varieties in all, and in 

 the center pot a fine rose geranium. 

 A-round the outer edge of the zinc pan 

 I put a row of fine moss, such as is 

 used fov vases and hanging baskets, 

 then a few inches further in a row of 

 small, silver-leaved geraniums. I now 

 gave the plants a good showering and 

 placed the stand on an east porch, 

 where they would get the morning sun, 

 but no cool winds, and let it remain 

 there until the nights began to get too 

 cool for the coleus, when I removed 

 the stand to the east window of my 

 dining room. 



I never saw plants grow better or 

 have finer color, and long before 

 Thanksgiving tne bright colors of the 

 coleus and the bright green and silver 

 of the geraniums, with the moss hang- 

 ing over and entirely hiding the edge 

 of the stand, made a pleasing sight. 



It grew and thrived all winter, and 

 I received many compliments. 



Kansas. Mrs. R. C. Harrington. 



BUJ^B CULTURE IN NEW YORK 



Hyacinths, tulips, crocus and nar- 

 cissus should now be chosen for the 

 early bulb bed and winter blooming. 

 For the bulb bed have a rich, mellow 

 soil prepared and place the bulbs as 

 desired any time before the ground is 

 frozen. Give a slight covering of 

 leaves or hay, but avoid heating ma- • 

 nure as a protection. Put bulbs for 

 hoyise blooming into good potting soil 

 (I use one paii of leaf mold, one pail of 

 well rotted cow manure, two pails of 

 garden soil and scant half pail of 

 sand), and place in cool cellar or dark 

 corner and water occasionally. When 

 growth commences bring to the light 

 and force in the sunniest windows. < 



I consider geraniums of all kinds, 

 oxalis, begonias, smilax, abutilon, 

 primroses, hyacinths, freesias, fuch- 

 sias, swanfiower, asparagus fern and 

 Kenilworth ivy the best plants for 

 winter gardening. Plants should be 

 brought into the house before cold 

 weather and gradually become accli- 

 mated. 



Plant freesias now for late winter 

 blooming. A neat support for freesias 

 may be made by taking a small piece 

 of fine wire poultry netting and fasten 

 to two wires about three inches long 

 to two wires, which stick into the pot. 

 As the freesias grow train eacu sprout 

 through a mesh, and there will be no 

 drooping. 



A pretty and quaint frame for smilax 

 is a Japanese palm fan from which the 

 paper has been removed. Stick the 



