94 
THE HOME GARDEN. 
for house plants, as the dry air of the average “living- 
room ” is fatal to bloom and beauty. A geranium or two 
in an ordinary kitchen generally has greener leaves and a 
richer show of blossoms than the plants in more luxurious 
quarters, for the simple reason that the steam of cooking 
supplies the moisture needed, and the constantly opened 
door (and often window) the proper ventilation. 
Ingenious devices are sometimes resorted to for the 
necessary moisture, and among these a very simple one is 
to suspend a large sponge (or two of them, if there are 
many plants) in the window and keep it constantly wet. A 
successful cultivator of house plants says: “I steam my 
plants quite often. I heat several stones or bricks very hot 
in the stove, take them out in an old wooden pail ” (would 
not tin be better ?), “ set it in the room, pour on a quart 
of boiling water, and drop the curtain. The dampness is 
just what the plants like, but the insects do not.” 
A few plants placed in a box, like the one described for 
sawdust, and filled in with damp moss or wet sand, could 
probably be kept moist enough to make the green leaves 
beautifully fresh and the flower petals rich in hue. 
The watering of house plants seems easy enough, but in 
reality it is a very important and delicate operation, and in¬ 
experienced growers are given to deluging their pots much 
more than is necessary. Some plants require a great deal 
of water and others very little, and some atmospheres 
are dryer than others and call for more water in propor¬ 
tion. To water all plants at stated times, when some of 
them have come from the river’s edge and some from the 
sandy interior, is anything but a judicious plan, as con¬ 
stant saturation decays the roots of the latter, at the same 
time that an insufficient supply of water wilts and shrivels 
the leaves of the former. 
To ascertain the needs of any plant in this respect, it is 
only necessary to rap on the side of the pot: a hollow, 
