1867.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
141 
Window Gardening. 
There is a love of plants so interwoven in the 
make up of many people, that it will gratify 
itself under the most adverse surroundings. To 
those who are blessed with 
this love — for it is a blessing- 
— no brick and mortar of the 
city, nor newness of a back- 
woods dwelling prove any 
obstacle. As we go about 
the streets of our large 
towns, we admire the well 
kept places, but not the less 
do we stop to note the 
humble efforts at horticul- 
ture that are made upon 
window-sills, or upon some 
favoring roof. What pleasure 
often grows in a discarded 
sauce-pan or other domestic 
utensil, which, having served 
well in its proper sphere, is 
glorified by being the home 
of a balsam or an aster ! In 
making up the Horticultural 
Annual, we were obliged to 
omit an article on window 
gardening, prepared for it by 
Mr. John Henderson, the 
well known florist of Flush- 
ing, L. I. The article was 
upon inside and outside win- 
dow gardens, and we now 
present his drawing of an 
outside garden, and make 
use of some of his material: 
" Another mode of having 
plants and flowers, and for 
spring and summer the best 
of all, is to have boxes neat- 
ly made of wood to fit on the outside of the 
window, and then filled with flowering plants, 
thus making a kind of miniature garden, and at 
the same time forming an excellent screen. 
Shades may be dispensed with, as the plants are 
sufficiently close to prevent persons seeing into 
mented, and afterwards painted a light green. 
Stocks, scarlet geraniums, and mignonette suc- 
ceed well, grown in boxes of this description: 
The outer edges, next the street, should be 
planted with the pretty blue lobelia, verbenas, 
WINDOW i:v.'.i>::n-. 
the room, but, at the same time, not preventing 
those inside from observing through the foliage 
and flowers everything taking place outside. 
These boxes can be made quite plain or orua- 
american atragent: — (Alrac/ene Americana.) 
and other trailing plants, which, falling over the 
sides of the boxes, add much to their effect. 
The ends of the boxes may be planted with 
morning glories (Convolvulus major), and Canary 
bird flower (Tropaolum peregrinurn), to be train- 
ed on wires up and around the windows." 
Boxes of this kind are sold by the London 
dealers ready stocked with plants. They have 
a great advantage over pots, as they do not dry 
out so readily, and they can be made much 
more secure. The edging of the box, shown in 
the engraving, can be readily made of willow 
or rattan. Besides the plants mentioned above, 
almost any of our annual and bedding plants 
may be grown ; water them as often as may be 
needed, taking care to avoid over watering. 
A Native Climber. — {Atragcne Americana.) 
The pleasure we take in illustrating and de- 
scribing native plants, is somewhat detracted 
from, by the knowledge that they are, as a gen- 
eral thing, quite difficult to procure. Very few 
of them are kept in our nurseries, and unless 
one happens to know their native localities, he 
has but little chance of obtaining them. The 
very beautiful native climber that we now no- 
tice, is not, as far as we arc aware, in the cata- 
logues of any of our nurserymen, though we 
find it in those of Lcroy, and other large Eu- 
ropean growers. The Atragcne, though a na- 
tive plant, seems to be so little known, that it 
has received no popular name; but its botanical 
name is a rather pretty one, and there is no rea- 
son why it, as in numerous other instances, 
should not become the commmon name. As 
will be seen from the engraving, the plant is in 
the general appearance of its leaves and flow- 
ers, much like a Clematis ; indeed it is by some 
botanists put in that genus, the chief difference 
being that this has small petals inside the showy 
calyx, while Clematis has none. It is a half 
woody vine, growing in good 
soil, to the bight of eight or 
nine feet. It climbs by the 
twining of the stalks of its 
opposite leaves. The flow- 
ers are solitary, two to three 
inches across, and of a purp- 
lish color. It is found in 
shady, rocky places, from 
Canada to Virginia, and 
though not particularly com- 
mon, does not rank as a rare 
plant. We have seen it grow- 
ing near New Haven, Conn., 
and have received fine spec- 
imens from a correspondent 
in Canada, whose address 
has been mislaid, or we 
would acknowledge it. — 
If any of our nurserymen 
would make a specialty of 
supplying such of our native 
plants as are desirable for 
cultivation, he would find 
his account in it. Who will 
take the hint and act upon it ? 
How the Horseradish is 
Grown for Marketing'. 
The method of growing 
Horseradish as advised by 
the older works on garden- 
ing is quite different from 
that practiced in the vicin- 
ity of New York. Even the 
recent French and English works advise the old 
plan of allowing the roots to remain two and 
three years before digging them. We have a 
faster and better way of managing this plant, 
as will be seen in the following article, prepar- 
ed for our Horticultural Annual, by Peter 
Henderson, author of Gardening for Profit. 
Perhaps there is no vegetable, the cultivation 
of which is so generally neglected, as that of 
Horseradish. From the fact that it will grow in 
almost any soil, and under almost any circum- 
stances, it is for that reason very general!}' neg- 
Fig. 3.— nORSERADISII MILL. 
looted when grown for private use. For the 
past twenty years it has been quite extensively 
grown for market purposes in the vicinity ^ 
New-York, and there are probably to-day not 
less than two hundred acres occupied in its cul- 
tivation. One grower, alone, on Long Island, 
grew last season forty acres of this root. 
Although, as we bave said, it may be grown 
on anysoil, or in any situation, yet, when grown 
for sale, the best soils are chosen, and the high- 
