Supplement to The American Garden. 



The Window Garden 



Copyrighted 1890. 



NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1890. 



INDOOR GARDENS. 



THE DELIGHTS AND POSSIBILITIES OF WINDO\\' GARDENS. 



THIS subject, a most interesting one, is by no 

 means easily liandled by the practical gar- 

 dener, for many difficulties present themselves 

 which more or less revolve about the personal equa- 

 tion point. 

 This is very 

 likely called 

 "love of 

 plants," but it 

 more nearly 

 means the 

 powers of ob- 

 servation 

 and memory 

 which enable 

 one man or 

 woman to see 

 more closely 

 into the con- 

 ditions neces- 

 s a r y for 

 healthy plant- 

 life, and not 

 only to draw 

 the correct 

 deduction, 

 but to put the 

 knowledge so 

 obtained t o 

 the proper use 

 at the proper 

 time. It is 

 true that this 

 does not ap- 

 ply to this A Cosv Corner. — Musa Ensete and Chrysanthemums 

 form of gardening any more closely than to other 

 agricultural and horticultural work. "Note the 

 cause and obtain (if you can) the effect ;" but all 



things considered, the life of a plant in a living room, 

 with ordinary care, is precarious. 



The conditions which obtain in rooms made for family 

 use are not those best adapted to plant growth ; in most 



cases growth 



under glass is 

 strained, to say 

 the least, and 

 of all artificial 

 methods of 

 plant-growing, 

 in window gar- 

 d e n i n g we 

 have the most 

 marked ; there 

 is nothing here 

 advantageous 

 to the plant ex- 

 cept protec- 

 tion, and this 

 often results in 

 too high a tem- 

 perature. We 

 must contend 

 against a dry 

 and dusty at- 

 mosphere, 

 against too lit- 

 tle light, against 

 a certain lack 

 of care, chiefly 

 in giving water 

 and in washing 

 ofi dust and in- 

 sects, and it is 

 in this last 

 function only 

 that we can ex- 

 ercise much control. All this is a pity, for nothing is 

 more ornamental than well-grown plants, nothing fits 

 more readily into a room than flowers or foliage. Almost 



