THE FLORAL IVORLD 



11 



The friesia I grow from seed, and 

 -they bloom for me the first year, as 

 4ioes also my smilax and passiflora. I 

 grow from seed and can get a greater 

 variety for far less money. 

 Iowa. Mrs. P. W. Hopkins. 



GERANIUMS IN THE WINDOW. 



Geraniums are unsurpassed window 

 bloomers. They have no eccentricities 

 to be humored; varied enough to fill 

 a window themselves, they yet har- 

 monize with the rank and file of winter 

 bloomers, including Holland bulbs. 

 Many disappointments occur from 

 want of congeniality among plants in 

 the same collection. Geraniums have 

 greater adaptability and bloom under 

 like conditions with greater variety of 

 plants than any other ever-blooming 

 plants. They bloom freely in any but 

 the northern window, in a tempera- 

 ■ture not above seventy nor below fifty 

 degrees. 



Three or four hours of sunshine per 

 day keeps them flowering from fall to 

 spring. Unglazed earthenware pots are 

 decidely the best. Fill them with 

 cured or dried cow chips, broken into 

 pieces. Fill the interstices and an 

 inch or two over the surface with leaf 

 loam, decayed to the consistency of 

 eav/dust and silver sand. Open enough 

 -for the free passage of water, this soil 

 is yet spongy in retaining a due 

 amount of moisture. The roota can 

 ramify and feed without obstruction, 

 And the sun-warmed air can penetrate 

 tinglazed earthenware pots with this 

 porous soil. Every particle of this 

 home-made potting soil is nourishing. 

 It is half the battle. 



Watering geraniums (and all other 

 potted plants) is the fine art of flori- 

 culture. Few, almost no amateurs, 

 understand watering window plants. 

 Oerariums ought to be thoroughly wa- 

 tered and then let alone until the soil 

 is barely moist, almost dry. Too co- 

 pious and too frequent waterings are 



disastrous. If the opening in the bot- 

 tom of the pot kept free for egress, 

 and all surplus water escaping, over- 

 watering will be counteracted in a- 

 measure. 



The foliage of geraniums must be 

 sprayed or showered oftener than wa- 

 ter is given the roots. The under as 

 well as the upper surfaces of the leaves 

 must be sprayed. Bushy plants, dense 

 with foliage from their moisture, help 

 to keep the air humid, which is highly 

 important. Hot, dry air is injurious to 

 geraniums. 



Tobacco snuff scattered over the 

 plants before spraying will wash off, 

 settle at the apex of the leaves and on 

 the soil, proving itself a preventive of 

 ir sects, worth a pound of cure. 



Liquid fertilizer is necessary for 

 blooming plants, and for geraniums in 

 the window of the sitting room I un- 

 hesitatingly recommend one gill of am- 

 monia to a gallon of rain water. It is 

 vitalizing to the plants and purifying: 

 to all emanations. 



Transoms over the doors, if opened, 

 and sashes drawn down from the upper 

 part of windows, are better means of 

 ventilation than direct currents of air. 

 The pots must be set several inches 

 apart to permit circulation of air. 



Geraniums under this mode of treat- 

 ment bloom grandly. Trinity church. 

 New Orleans, on Easter morning, 1900, 

 was profusely decorated with White 

 Swan, Favorite and Mrs. Gladstone, all 

 pure white geraniums. They even sur- 

 passed 1he lilies in loveliness. Bruant, 

 General Grant, Profusion, Mars, Sou- 

 venir de Mirande and Beaute Poite- 

 vine are heroic bloomers. Their aver- 

 age never i£iils below ten or a dozen 

 fine blooms to a plant, if given suitable 

 culture. 



Louisiana. Mrs. G. T. Drennan. 



The Floral World is an ideal maga^ 

 zine for flower lovers. Long life to it*. 

 Kansas. John P. Haynes. 



