100 
THE HOME GARDEN. 
Almost everything that will hold earth and a plant or 
two has been converted into a hanging-basket, and these 
air gardens, when kept in good condition, are very charm¬ 
ing. The ivies will all grow in them, and almost any climb¬ 
ing plant, while a dwarf geranium, a begonia, or a petunia 
makes a very desirable center plant. Indeed, the petunia 
will fill a basket of itself, and one of the small-flowered 
kind, with rose-colored blossoms, or white blotched with 
carmine, will make a constant wealth of- bloom in a sunny 
window, while its trailing habit renders it very suitable for 
basket cultivation. 
A solid receptacle of any kind filled with wet sand will 
grow a sweet-potato nicely, and the vine, with its pretty 
foliage and quickly climbing habit, is a general favorite 
wherever it is known. 
The sweet pea, too, has been successfully cultivated in a 
hanging-basket, and the convolvulus Mauritanicus , a beau¬ 
tiful morning-glory, with pink and blue flowers, having a 
white star in the center, will grow and blossom equally 
well. 
Ferns and ivy mingled will fill a hanging-basket very 
prettily, but the ivy for this purpose should be the small¬ 
leaved kind, which sends forth graceful, compact sprays 
to twine around the wires by which the basket is suspended 
and to droop over the edges. A very good effect is pro¬ 
duced with pressed ferns and the ivy growing in bottles of 
water. One or two ounce phials are used, and wrapped 
around with cotton to keep them firm and prevent them 
from jarring each other. 
Some one says, in regard to watering hanging-baskets : 
“The addition of a sieve above the basket is an ingenious 
idea. This arrangement would add to the beauty of the 
structure, and furnish the means of watering the basket 
more evenly. A light soil could be placed in the upper re¬ 
ceptacle and sown freely with canary seed, and water used 
