where flowers Inst clays. If the place to be decorated 
happens to be a well lighted window, and the plant 
receives a daily drink, it may surprise its hosts by re- 
fusing to die even months after its arrival, but it will 
probably wear out its welcome in its cumulative de- 
crepitude. 
In the country and in smaller cities especially, there 
are those who like to try to grow plants in their homes 
just as others keep birds, dogs, cats, or other animal pets. 
Their idea is not so much that here is a dark corner in 
which a plant would look well, or here is a dining table 
(in the middle of a dark room) which needs a plant 
centerpiece. Some people like plants. They enjoy try- 
ing to keep them growing successfully from one year to 
the next. With that point of view, the arrangement 
of the room becomes secondary to the interests of the 
plants. These are given the best window in the house, 
without intervening curtains. Their care is as much a 
matter of the daily routine house work as the preparing 
of meals, etc. 
As a matter of fact, both viewpoints may be justi- 
fiable. House plants are beautiful as part of the scheme 
of home adornment, even though they require replace- 
ment at rather frequent intervals. They are also in- 
teresting as living things, to be cared for and studied. 
The essential principles of house plant care have 
already been indicated above. Applied to ferns, and 
reduced to definite rules, they may be stated as follows: 
1. Water regularly, a little every day. Do not let 
the plant become dried out. A parched fern looks gray 
and dull, and droops. Do not keep the soil so wet that 
it is muddy. When a fern has “wet feet” continually, 
its leaves turn yellow. 
2. Keep the temperature moderate, not over seventy, 
nor under fifty, unless the plant is semi-hardy, as will 
be described below. Ventilate the room if gas is used, 
but do not stand the fern in strong drafts. 
3. Clean the leaves if they become dusty or buggy. 
The leaves are best washed when the air is such that 
3 
