AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
307 
it enough to saturate the whole mass of earth, 
aud to run through into the saucer. Do not 
water again until necessary. 
2. A suitable amount of light is needed. For 
the first half of the Winter, there is little dan¬ 
ger of too much light; but after the month of 
January, the mid-day sun becomes a little too 
bright for some sorts of plants. This is the case 
especially with those in a half-dormant state. 
Drop the curtain at mid-day, or let these plants 
be kept in a somewhat retired part of the room. 
For others, an abundance of light is needful, if 
we would have well-formed and well-colored 
blooms, and healthy foliage. A south window 
is of course the best aspect, and next to this a 
southwest or southeast window. Turn the 
pots around once a week, or oftener, to prevent 
the plants becoming one-sided and drawn up. 
3. The amount of heat should not be over¬ 
looked. As dwellings are now constructed and 
warmed, there is more danger of over-heating 
than the opposite. A few plants—those espec¬ 
ially of tropical origin—require a high temper¬ 
ature, but the majority thrive best at a moderate 
heat. Those commonly kept in parlors require 
about 40° by night, and 60° to 65° by day. Much 
harm is often done by sudden fluctuations of 
temperature, caused by letting the fire go down 
at night, and by opening doors and windows 
when the air outside is too cold. 
4. And this suggests the subject of ventilation. 
Frosty air should not be allowed to blow di¬ 
rectly on the plants, yet they need fresh, pure 
air. In their anxiety to keep their plants warm, 
many persons confine them continually in air 
which has long been filled with the odors of 
vegetation, the gases from the stove or "furnace, 
and the dust of the apartment. As often, at 
least, as once a day, the window or door of an 
adjoining room should be opened, and a current 
of pure—not cold—air, should be made to blow 
through and among the plants. Whenever the 
mercury is above the freezing point, a window 
in the room should be dropped from the top. It 
were well, also, if all the windows of the room 
be so loose at the joints as to allow fresh air to 
steal in continually, and thus give the plants 
constant refreshment. 
These are the main necessities of house-plants. 
It is a good thing to syringe them daily over¬ 
head with tepid water, or to wipe off the dust 
from the leaves with a sponge. Insects should 
be guarded against. Many can be killed by 
thumb and finger; indeed, we have known a 
large set of plants kept clean by five minutes 
daily manipulation. For those who don’t like 
this, a decoction of tobacco leaves, or whale-oil 
soap, answers an excellent purpose. Stir the 
surface of the soil in the pots frequently, to 
prevent it becoming hard. Among the plants 
which succeed well in rooms, we name the fol¬ 
lowing, for a small assortment: scarlet gerani¬ 
ums , monthly roses , pelargoniums , African lily , fuch¬ 
sias, monthly carnations , striped abutilon, petunias , 
ivy-leaved geranium. 
Winter Covering of Strawberry Beds. 
All experience shows that in gardens at the 
north, strawberries are benefited by a little pro¬ 
tection in Winter. The alternations of temper¬ 
ature do more harm than any amount of mere 
cold. In Maine, Canada and Vermont, where 
the snow often lies from November until April, 
there is less need of artificial protection than in 
N. Y., Penn., and Connecticut, where the snow 
comes and goes continually. In dry sandy 
soils, loo, there is less harm from frost than in 
heavy, clayey lands; in the latter, the plants are 
often thrown out and killed by the freezing and 
thawing of a single Winter, or open Spring. 
But what is the best material for such protec¬ 
tion ? The material with which nature covers 
her strawberry patches is leaves. And if one 
will use leaves, and then take the trouble to 
cover the leaves also, to keep the winds from 
blowing them a way, nothing can be better. We 
have used them, covering them with old pea- 
brush and the canes of last years raspberries, 
etc.; but the winds of an open winter would 
blow them off from many a plant. We have 
used straw, but sometimes mice would burrow 
in it and nibble off the crowns of the plants. 
Coarse, littery manure does very well, but it 
brings in weeds, and so makes work for next 
Summer. Saw-dust answers a good purpose, 
but it often brings in grubs. Old tan-bark suits 
us about as well as anything. It is our practice 
to apply it late in the Fall, covering the leaves 
about one inch, and then removing a part of it 
in the Spring, leaving the rest for a mulch in 
Summer. We have used it now for six years, 
and find no serious fault with it. It is a perfect 
protection in Winter, harbors no vermin, brings 
in no weeds, but rather keeps them down. It 
is one of the best equalizers of temperature the 
year around, in Summer saving the necessity of 
artificial watering. As to its affording the plants 
a specific manure (tartaric acid,) as some assert, 
it is unnecessary to express any opinion. 
Terraced Gardens. 
That a hill-side garden has a fine appearance 
when thrown up into terraces, there can be no 
doubt This is owing, partly perhaps, to the 
appearance of art displayed in the work; partly 
to the emerald grassy slopes intervening regu¬ 
larly between the rows of bright flowers planted 
on them; and partly to the bold, conspicuous 
manner in which it throws up to view the forms 
of the plants, presenting the whole mass at one 
view, like plants on the stage of a large green¬ 
house. Whatever the reason, the fact is evident. 
Whenever the hillside is so steep that it can 
not well be worked into natural, flowing slopes, 
we would recommend terraces. Yet they must 
be made with care, or frost aud heavy rains will 
soon break them down. A long, straight line of 
terrace is much more likely to slide away than 
a flowing curved line. If such a straight ter¬ 
race must be made, it is important to break it 
up, at convenient distances, into buttresses, 
which will give very much the same support 
that they do in a wall of stone. Furthermore: 
the upper and outer edge should not be made 
too sharp; for the frost and hot suns will be 
sure to destroy the grass upon it, leaving bare 
and crumbling patches of ground. 
On such terraces we would recommend plant¬ 
ing shrubs and other plants which stand up 
somewhat boldly above ground. Trailing 
plants, such as the verbena, portulacca, etc., 
would, of course, produce no marked effect. 
Shrubs and herbaceous plants should be inter¬ 
mingled, and so arranged that at least a portion 
of each should be in bloom all the season. Of 
shrubs, a good assortment would include the 
Japan quince, lilacs, spiraeas, deutzias, syringas, 
upright honeysuckles, weigelias, altheas, euony- 
mus and perpetual roses. For herbaceous plants 
we name Dielytra, Peonies, Monkshood, Can¬ 
terbury Bell, herbaceous spiraeas, Phloxes, Lil¬ 
ies, Dahlias, Scarlet Geraniums, Gladioli, etc. 
An occasional vine well fastened to a stake or 
ornamental pillar would have a fine effect. 
The Pampas Grass. 
Among the novelties of the day, in the orna¬ 
mental line, few things are more desirable than 
the Pampas Grass, (Gynerivm argenteum.) It is a 
native of Brazil, and therefore requires some 
protection here, in Winter, though we under¬ 
stand that in England it endures the hardest 
frosts. No description that we can give will 
convey a just idea of it to those who have not 
seen it. It resembles the Tritoma, somewhat, 
though the leaves are much longer, and more 
rush-like. They often reach six and eight feet 
in length, bending over at the top as gracefully 
as a weeping willow. They are bluish or sil¬ 
very green in color. But let us turn the descrip¬ 
tion over to an enthusiastic cultivator: “It is a 
perfect fountain of green foliage and feathery 
flowers which, under a brilliant sun, appear 
spangled with silver.It throws up from ten 
to forty stems, terminated with a panicle of light 
colored flowers.” Another writes: “ I have a 
Pampas Grass with over forty flower stems, ten 
to thirteen feet high. It might be described as 
a fountain of vegetation, acquiring more and 
more force from day to day, till at last the gush¬ 
ing fluid springs up into jets of living silver !” 
Now, a plant which produces such jets of 
rhetoric must be worth looking after. We have 
seen it for several years, and watched its habits, 
and though it has not made such grand displays 
as the above would lead one to expect, it never¬ 
theless has proved an interesting object. For 
the finest display, it should be set in the middle 
of an oval bed, and surrounded by other plants 
of similar foliage. Among these we may men¬ 
tion the several tritomas and the gladioli. The 
soil should be deep and rich. An occasional 
watering would promote the rapidity and luxu¬ 
riance of its growth. In the Fall, as soon as 
the first frosts appear, it should be taken up 
and set out in a large pot or tub, and then re¬ 
moved to the cellar for the Winter. A retired 
corner of the green-house would answer better. 
South of Washington, this winter protection 
would be unnecessary, and there it would attain 
a perfection in size and luxuriant flowing which 
can not be expected at the North. Still, it is 
well worthy of all our care, even here, 
Tree Mignonette. 
This is nothing new. It is only the common 
annual plant, brought under the following treat¬ 
ment : Pot a single plant, and when it has at¬ 
tained a strong growth, trim off the side branch¬ 
es and tie up the central stem to a neat stake. 
As soon as the blossom buds break at the top, 
nip them off. The leaf-buds below will again 
push out, and may be allowed to grow three or 
four inches long. After a while, a few blooms 
may be suffered to form, but let them not go to 
seed. Follow up this practice perseveringly, 
and in a few months the soft, succulent stem will 
become woody aud rough, like a shrub. It will 
then live for ten or fifteen years, and blossom 
nearly all the time. 
The “Great Austin Shaker Seedling” 
Strawberry.—C ontinued inquiries, impel us to 
say again, that we can not recommend this va¬ 
riety for general cultivation, while there are so 
many others better. It is large and prolific, and 
late—the last named, its chief recommendation 
—but it is soft, does not bear carriage well, and 
has not the best flavor. It has strong advocates, 
but the above is the more general impression. 
