372 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Nov. 
Inrtinilturnl irpnrtnitnt. 
House Plants in Winter. 
“What is the reason that my plants do not grow so 
well as Mrs. Jone’s? I am sure I take a great deal more 
pains with them, and water, and nurse, and air them, but 
all will not do,- they are weak, slender, sickly, and some 
of my best plants have died—while Mrs. Jones seems to 
take very little care of her’s, and yet they grow and 
bloom beautifully!" 
This appeal to us for aid and advice, which has just 
been made, is not the first complaint of this kind of ill 
success. The truth is, some plants are actually nursed 
to death. Care and attention bestowed on plants, which 
they do not need, are worse than no care at all. It is 
knowing just what to do, and doing that, and no more, 
that gives some persons their success. Or, as a late 
writer remarked, there are two great points to be attend¬ 
ed to, 1 . Not to let your plants suffer by neglect ; and 2, 
not to make them suffer by interference. We would 
class the requisites for good treatment, as follows:— 
1. Plenty of light. 
2. A due supply of water. 
3. Proper temperature. 
Fresh air, cleanliness, and good soil, are obviously of 
importance, but are less likely to be neglected than the 
three first named wants, and we shall therefore add a 
few additional remarks under these heads. 
1. Light. —Plants cannot by any possibility have too 
much of this. -The stand should therefore face the win¬ 
dow, and be placed as near to it as practicable; and the 
window should be broad, as little obstructed in its light 
by outside trees as the nature of the case will admit. 
But rapidly growing plants require most light; hence 
such should be placed more directly in front of the win¬ 
dow. 
2. Water. —This must be given according to circum¬ 
stances. A plant in nearly a dormant state, needs very 
little—those in a rapidly growing condition require con¬ 
siderable. Too much water will make the latter grow 
slender, but they will bear a greater supply if in a strong 
light. It must be remembered as a standing rule, that 
dormant plants may remain comparatively in the dark, 
and with little water; and growing ones should have a 
good supply of water and a full supply of light. But it 
must not be forgotten that green-house plants generally 
are nearly dormant during winter, and the soil must 
therefore be kept but moderately moist, as the plants in 
this condition do not pump any moisture from the soil, 
and little escapes directly by evaporation. Drainage, by 
filling one-fifth of each pot with charcoal, is of impor¬ 
tance. 
Temperature. —Many house plants are destroyed by 
too much heat, which increases the dryness, and both 
these causes together are more than they can endure. A 
cool room, never as low as freezing, is best. From 50 
to 55 degrees is much better than 65 or 70, the ordinary 
temperature of living rooms. 
Syringing the foliage with tepid water, to wash off 
whatever dust accumulates, is of use; and the admission 
of fresh air, when there is no danger of chilling or freez¬ 
ing the foliage, should not be neglected. 
Market Pears. 
In planting 500 trees for standards to constitute a mar¬ 
ket orchard, would you plant mostly Yirgalieus. as some 
of my neighbors have done, or a proportion of other 
sorts, and what should these be? M. W. Western 
New- York. 
The Virgalieu (or White Doyenne) as grown in west¬ 
ern New-York, as well as in some other portions of the 
country, is a fruit of transcendent merit, not only for its 
fine quality, but for its great and early productiveness, 
and for the hardiness of the tree. But the scab and 
cracking, which renders it “an outcast, intolerable even 
to sight," as Kenrick designates it. in some parts of the 
eastern states, has of late years appeared to some extent, 
both in western New-York and Ohio; and it may there¬ 
fore be somewhat hazardous to plant it exclusively. We 
think under these circumstances, it would be best to 
make a selection of five or six of the best varieties, fore¬ 
most of which, and in the largest quantity, we would 
place the Flemish Beauty, a free growing sort on pear 
stocks, and bearing fine crops of large, handsome, and 
excellent pears, ripening about the same time as the Vir¬ 
galieu. The Onondaga, though not so good, is a large, 
handsome and productive variety, and would undoubted¬ 
ly sell well. The Louise Bonne of Jersey which grows 
so well on quince, produces so abundantly, that it should 
form a large proportion of a market orchard. The Bart¬ 
lett, for an early autumn sort, will not of course be for¬ 
gotten ; and the Vicar of Winkfield for a late market 
pear is deservedly popular for its enormous crops. When 
the keeping and ripening of winter pears shall be better 
understood, it is not improbable that they may form a 
most important class for profitable cultivation, and among 
which the Easter Beurre for long keeping, will certain¬ 
ly be one of the best, the planter not forgetting that it 
must have a rich, warm, and highly cultivated soil. 
--*■«-•-- 
Sweet Bough—Color of Apples. 
“ I)oes the Sweet Bough ever have a faint blush ? Some 
specimens exhibited at our State Fair called the Bough, 
had a blush, but I can find no descriptions that mention 
it." J. A. D. The Sweet Bough, in common with 
nearly all green or yellow apples, has a faint blush when 
grown fully exposed to the sun—-and this is so common 
or almost universal with apples of this class, that porno- 
logists have regarded it as hardly necessary to mention 
as a distinctive point. 
Different seasons, soils, and stocks, produce'various 
results in coloring apples. We have known the Rhode 
Island Greening, in some years, to he a full deep green, 
on every part of the tree; and in other years, to have 
very generally a deep reddish brown cheek. The Por¬ 
ter is usually remarkably free from a brown tinge; yet 
during the growth of the fruit toivards the close of sum¬ 
mer, it has been seen to have conspicuous stripes of red 
in the sun, hut which entirely disappeared when fully 
matured. A long warm season does not always produce 
the highest color—it was observed a few years since at 
one of the Ohio fruit conventions, that the specimens 
from the warm region of Cincinnati were not nearly so 
• much reddened as those from the cooler shores of Lake 
