106 



HOME AND FLOWERS 



. WHAT TO IN 



Be careful about overwatering the 



plants in window-garden and greenhouse. 



Only those in active growth will need 



much water at this season. 



❖ ^ ■'• 



Give fertilizers to growing plants only. 

 This is trite advice, but it is advice that 

 must not be overlooked if yon would grow 

 plants successfully. 



Keep insects under control. If you 

 don't control them they will control you. 

 or, in other words, they will so control 

 your plants that you, as plant-owner, are 

 at their mercy. Act on the offensive rath- 

 er than the defensive, always, if you would 

 remain master of the situation. 



^ ^ 5H 



Take advantage of the limited amount 

 of sunlight which we are blessed with at 

 this season. Shift the plants about in 



DECEMBEE 



such a manner that all can have a chance 

 at it. 



Keep down the temperature. Don't let 

 the thermometer get above TO degrees if 

 you can prevent it — 65 degrees would be 



* H! H« 



better, but most persons would imagine 

 they were freezing if they had to occupy 

 a room whose temperature was as low as 

 that. I suj)pose high temperature and 

 the lack of moisture in the air robs plants- 

 of vitality rapidly. 



Hi 



Do not shower your plants on cloudy 

 days. Do it in pleasant weather, but do 

 not expose the plants to sunshine until 

 the moisture has dried off them. 



5^ Hi 



You can begin to bring potted bulbs to 

 the light now, if they show signs of top^ 

 growth. 



DECEMBER IN SO 

 By Mrs. G. 



Winter Berry-Bearing Plants. — Indian- 

 currant, dark red; snow-berry, porcelain 

 white ; Chinese privet, dark, blackish-pur- 

 ple; eglantine or sweetbrier, and all the 

 Lord Penzance hybrid sweetbriers, bright 

 red rose apples or hips ; Eosa rugosa rubra 

 and alba, bright red and shining gold rose 

 apples — these berry bearing plants are 

 deciduous, but when every leaf has fallen 

 the berries glisten in the sunshine and 

 brighten the aspect of the garden in a 

 manner not surpassed by the flowers of 

 summer. The berries and rose apples are 

 retained through the winter. 



Hawthorne or Pijracantlius. — This 

 classic English hedge plant is brilliant 

 with red berries in large clusters. The 

 evergreen foliage in no wise obscures the 

 bright orange-scarlet berries. In South- 

 ern sections hawthorne is evergreen, but 

 further north sheds its foliage in winter. 

 It makes a strong, enduring hedge, bear- 

 ing any amount of close pruning, but is 

 not suitable for any but large grounds. 



U T H E E X G A E D E X S 

 T. Drennan 



Around broad villa grounds, parks, or- 

 chards, and plantation gardens it does 

 away with the necessity of fences. 



Lilac and Apple Blossoms on Christmas 

 Morning. — Forcing these flowers is an in- 

 teresting experiment. The bouquets are 

 unique and unlike any of the garden tro- 

 phies or hothouse flowers. Cut shapely 

 branches about ten days before the blooms 

 are wanted and bring them into a temper- 

 ature of sixty or seventy degrees, inserting 

 the stems in water. A deep vase is best^ 

 holding water one-third the length of the 

 branches. Let the sunshine fall upon 

 them, and erstwhile the sweet old lilac^ 

 in purple and white, will unfold its feath- 

 ery panicles, and the apple-blossoms will 

 be as comely in pink and white as ever 

 seen on a spring morning. "The almond 

 tree will flourish^^ also, if treated the same 

 way. The blooms of the flowering or or- 

 namental almond are as double as roses 

 and of lovely pink tints. These plants 

 form their buds in late summer or early 



