GARDEN. 
ORCHARD AND 
VOL. XIII. 
DECEMBER, 1891. 
NO. 12. 
Flowers in December. 
EYOND the pleasure o 
looking at the plants 
and seeing them grow, 
there is little to do but 
the usual routine work, 
except one should wish 
to grow something par- 
ticularly nice for 
Christmas. In this case, select the plants 
with care, and place them, in regard to sun- 
light and shade, just where they will be 
under the most favorable conditions for 
growth and bloom. As a rule, more or less 
sunlight is indispensable for the production 
way of making happiness more common. 
Bulbs in pots should not be left out of doors 
too long. Those for the Christmas holidays 
should be encouraged or retarded according 
to circumstances. The next look forward 
will take in Easter and the Lilies, and it 
would do no harm to begin to look now. 
Ferns in the House. 
For reasons which most people will un- 
derstand, Ferns are most appreciated in 
winter. They always, however, occupy a 
chief place, either as plants or cut fronds, 
at dinner parties, receptions, weddings, and 
other interesting occasions. They will pro- 
small a house may be, it will soon be filled 
so full that there is no room for another 
plant even by piling them on top of each 
other, and the poor things have no chance 
to show how pretty they are. This may be 
called the love of plants run wild. Alas! 
we have been there, and know just how it 
is. Can it be helped? 
Now many of our most beautiful Ferns, 
such as the Adiantums and others, will re- 
sent this crowding more than most other 
plants, and our friends of the window garden 
must bear this in mind, if they would grow 
Ferns having some claims to be considered 
specimen plants. While the direct rays of 
The Adiantum Williamsi. 
of the best flowers. In the green-house 
this matter can be easily managed, but by 
no means so easily in the window garden, 
where it can only be approximated in most 
cases. Furthermore, to obtain the best re-, 
suits, the plants must not be crowded by 
others, but have a clear space all around it. 
Follow these hints, and keep the plants 
clean and well watered, and you will have 
something pretty for Christmas; pretty 
enough, indeed, to take to church. It may 
occur to some readers to grow a few extra 
plants in this way, and send them as Christ- 
mas presents to the poor neighbors who 
have none. This would be a gracious act 
in itself, typical of the season, and a happy 
duce charming effects in positions that no 
other plants can fill so well. As a rule. 
Ferns are better grown than in former 
years, or at least they are grown to a larger 
size. This, in many cases, limits the num- 
ber of kinds that might be grown, but it 
has the great advantage of encouraging and 
allowing the full development of the grace 
and beauty inherent in all Ferns, and 
which are rarely seen where a large num- 
ber of kinds are crowded together in a lim- 
ited space and in small pots. A few plants 
of any kind well grown always yield more 
pleasure and gratification than a houseful 
poorly grown; and yet, as a rule, the fact 
remains that, no matter how large or how 
the sun are not necessary, a strong light 
from the window is. Ferns may be well 
grown at a window facing the east or the 
west and might be entirely devoted to them. 
A Fern for the window garden cannot be 
chosen at random, and should only be re- 
commended after trial. Adiantum Wii- 
liamsi , introduced some ten or twelve years 
ago, and still by no means common here, 
has proved itself to be entitled to a place in 
the window garden, and we herewith pre- 
sent an excellent portrait of it (Fig. 1265). 
It is sometimes called the Golden Maiden- 
hair Fern. It is a native of Peru, and has 
its native home way up on the mountain 
some twelve thousand feet high, and from 
