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PUICE  SIX  CENTS 
Sjjia.SO  PER  VEAR. 
VOI4.  XXXIV.  No.  !i4.  (. 
WIIUEE  No.  14U^.i.  ) 
according  to  Act  of  Congrasa,  In  tho  year  187«.  by  the  Rural  Publlahing  Company.  In  the  office  of  the  Mhrarlan  of  (Congress  at  Waahlngton.) 
r  Entered 
of  th©  latter  do  not  fado  and  fall  off  <jnito  ho 
Bootj  aa  tho  former.  Hence  any  slight  Iohh  in 
nuiiibors  i«  made  up  in  atability  of  character.  A 
goinl  truHrt  of  a  doublo  Oeraninm,  similar  to  tho 
onu  shown  in  Fig.  2,  ia  like  a  bouquet  of  minia¬ 
ture,  full-blown  roBOfl,  but  far  more  hiHting, 
altliough  lacking  Homething  in  fragrance.  Huch 
variotlcH  an  Marie  Lemoiuo,  Triumphe,  CharlcH 
Lyoll,  Lo  Negro,  Aaa  Gray,  and  tho  Hero  of 
Strawbiirg,  when  well-grotvu,  leave  very  liltlo  to 
be  doBirod  in  tiio  way  of  Oeraniuma.  Of  eourse 
a  few  of  the  Ivy-loaved  and  some  of  tho  scented 
kinds  may  bo  grown  for  their  pretty  foliage  and 
fragrance,  but  otherwise  they  do  not  equal  tho 
best  double  varieties. 
COUUS. 
Tho  Coleus  ia  among  tho  most  popular  of  all 
tho  foliage  plants  for  bedding  out  in  summer, 
but  rmfortunately  they  are  not  easily  kept  over 
winter,  except  in  a  greenhouse,  n'he  heat  and 
dry  atmosphere  of  an  ordinary  room  do  not 
seem  to  be  congenial  to  tho  difforent  varieticH 
of  the  Coleus,  still  many  persous  do  manage  to 
winter  them  safely  among  their  other  window 
plants.  Instead  of  trying  to  winter  tho  old 
plants  growing  in  tho  border,  it  is  much  better 
to  Htrike  a  few  cuttings  early  in  the  fall,  .say 
the  last  of  August  or  lir.st  of  Heptembor,  and 
when  these  are  well  rootod,  put  them  in  small 
]}Otfl  and  take  them  indoors  in  time  to  Have  them 
from  frosts,  'i’hese  ttrimll  plants  are  not  only 
very  pretty,  but  a  large  number  can  bo  kept  in 
the  same  space  required  for  one  large  ouo  taken 
from  tho  ganlen,  which,  by  tho  way,  are  very 
likely  to  lose  all  their  lower  leaves  from  the  ef¬ 
fect  of  a  change  of  temperature,  even  if  the 
potting  is  done  carefully.  One  of  these  small 
ColouH  plants,  soon  after  becoming  well  rooted, 
is  shown  in  Rg.  3  (page  377),  the  variety  being 
one  of  the  golden-leaveri,  known  as  Her  Majesty. 
Where  plants  are  kept  in  a  window,  the  Coleus 
may  bo  set  upon  a  shelf  near  tho  top,  afl  they 
require  a  pretty  high  temperature  in  order  to 
keep  fhem  gi’owing  and  preserve  the 
bright  color  of  their  leaves  during  the 
winter. 
WATERINQ. 
Many  make  a  mistake  in  watering 
plants  t%o  frequently  and  a  little  at  a 
time,  just  keojung  the  surface  of  tho 
soil  moist,  while  tho  bottom  remains 
dry.  The  better  way  is  to  give  the 
)  soil  a  good,  thorough  soaking,  and 
then  give  no  more  water  until  tlie 
r-v  soil  shows  considerable  dryness  and 
some  of  tho  larger  leaves  exhibit  signs 
of  wilting.  Of  course  there  are  plants 
— for  instance,  tho  common  Galla  Lily 
— which  thrive  beat  in  soil  that  is  con- 
Htantly  soaked  with  water ;  but  there 
are  comparatively  few  window  plants 
that  require  such  an  amount  of  moist- 
lyt  ®  J  uro  to  keep  them  growing  or  healthy. 
INSECTS. 
An  occasional  sprinkling  with  water 
which  is  put  a  suiiiLI  (piantity  of 
J  ammonia  or  alcohol  will  remove  tho 
pT  various  kinds  of  lice  or  scale  insects 
which  infest  house  plants.  Wo  have 
found  nothing  to  equal  alcohol  in  re¬ 
moving  the  Mealy  bug,  which  is  fre¬ 
quently  very  destructive  to  mo.st  kinda 
of  tender  plants. 
ABOUT  HOUSE  PLANTS. 
As  the  flowers  in  tho  garden  fado  we  begin  to 
appreciate  more  highly  tho  tender  exotics  culti¬ 
vated  in  the  house.  Persona  having  greenhouses 
and  conservatories  arc  among  the  favored  few 
who  have  the  facilities  for  keeping  a  greater 
number  of  plants  than  those  who  have  not. 
Still  it  is  doubtful  if  they  obUiu  more  pleasure 
therefrom  than  those  who  keep  but  a  few  cheap 
plants  in  the  windows  of  their  dwellings. 
Almost  every  woman  loves  ttow'ers  (as  also  do  a 
great  many  men),  and  while  there  arc  thousands 
who  do  succeed  in  keeping  a  few  plants  in  pots 
through  winter,  many  are  deprived  of  the  pleas¬ 
ure,  owing  to  tho  severity  of  the  clunkto  and 
badly-constructed  hoxtses.  Still,  we  have  among 
oiir  readers  a  great  number  of  porsoas  who 
would  ttlmoat  as  soon  think  of  going  without 
tables  or  chairs  as  they  would  without  a  few 
handsome-foliaged  or  winter-blooming  plants. 
In  these  pemons  wo  are  always  sure  of  an  atten¬ 
tive  andieuee  when  talking  of  dowers,  at  any  and 
all  seasons,  and  perhaps  wo  take  as  much  pleas¬ 
ure  as  they  do  in  our  chats  about  tho  treasures 
of  Flora's  kingdom. 
While  working  auieng  our  own  house  plants 
this  morning,  wo  were  reminded  that  there  aie 
some  kinds  better  suited  to  window  culture  than 
others,  and  while  everybody  is  well  aware  of  this 
fact,  some  maybe  at  a  loss  to  make  a  good  selec¬ 
tion  out  of  the  great  number  in  cultivation.  Of 
course,  as  we  look  upon  the  pure  white  Camellia 
flowers  expanding  before  ns,  we  are  inclined  to 
start  a  very  select  list  with  this  Queen  of  winter- 
bloomine.  evercreen  shrubs:  but  the  thought 
MISCELLANEA 
The  “Little  ANNoracEUENT  — 
Eequiescat. — We  have  received  more 
orders  under  the  above  heading  than 
wo  bail  anticipated.  The  oonsequonco 
has  been,  we  were  unable  to  send  to 
any  as  many  seeds  as  we  would  like  to 
Lave  done,  liut  every  order  was  filled 
up  to  the  lime  of  tho  limit,  Nov.  10 
