WINDOW GARDENING. 
W INDOW gardening is something more than simply 
filling a box with plants. We hear green-house 
construction men speak of the window garden meaning the 
addition put on the outside of a window thereby making a 
miniature green-house heated by the sun and the warm air 
of the room. The Civic Improvement Societies speak of 
window gardening and window boxes referring to those 
boxes filled with plants and placed on the outside of tene¬ 
ment houses for the spring and summer. Again, we hear 
of window gardening and window boxes in the autumn 
for the cultivation of plants inside the house. W indow 
gardening in its broadest sense includes even more than 
all these. It includes the preparation of the soil, the 
artistic filling of the boxes or arrangement of the pots, 
either inside or outside of the window, and the care and 
treatment of the plants. 
The present methods of heating and lighting by kero¬ 
sene or gas (not electricity) produce a dry atmosphere 
which is detrimental to the vegetable growth. In houses 
lighted by electricity and heated by any system which 
introduces an abundance of fresh air, the matter is not so 
troublesome. Too much heat and dry air are harder for 
plants than insufficient light, but lack of light is also one 
of the drawbacks of the window garden. Dust and insects 
do harm but are more easily overcome. On account of the 
dry air, plants often do better in boxes than in pots be¬ 
cause there is more soil space to evaporate moisture, 
which makes a moist atmosphere about them. Water iu 
zinc pans under the pots accomplishes the same purpose, 
but the pots should be raised so they do not set in water. 
Saucers will answer the same purpose but the moisture is 
likely to pass through the pores and injure the woodwork. 
