toadies' S'lorul feoXinet an3t JHetorioi Home fioHijramaii. 
131 
You are so kind in replying to questions that I 
have made up my mind to ask you several. You 
can reply through the Cabinet, that most charming 
paper, for I must have it next year. I can’t do 
without it. 
Just eighteen months ago I began to collect a few 
house-plants. I had had a great sorrow, and found 
my before happy home so sad and desolate that I 
thought a few plants would give me something to do, 
and brighten our home in the coming winter. I was 
as ignorant as any child, and I think almost all 
persons make mistakes when they begin to cultivate 
flowers. Some of my mistakes were of the most 
common kind. I began by putting cuttings in the 
largest jars I could find. My Geraniums did very 
well all summer, if simply growing had been all, but 
I had no bloom. I read an account of killing green 
lice and mealy-bugs with tobacco-smoke, by throw¬ 
ing a paper over the plant, and holding the burning- 
tobacco under it. I lost several fine plants by trying 
this — the heat to produce enough smoke killing my 
foliage, each time. I think it better to follow the 
advice of one of your correspondents, and put them 
in a closet or small room, where the heat will not be 
so near the plant. I have found that diluted alcohol 
will kill mealy-bugs, and aloes-water will rid you of 
both green lice and mealy-bugs. Lime-water kills 
all angle-worms, and there is no danger to roots of 
the plants. 
I see in a book recently published, by Rev. Edwin 
A. Johnson, he says he would never think of at¬ 
tempting to have a Poinsettia. I can’t see why ; 
they grow tall and are out of the way of other plants, 
and they are beautifully bright all winter. I have 
two of my own propagation, and I never saw more 
brilliant or larger bracks. But I owe their beauty 
to the Cabinet. The first number I ever saw was 
the November number of 1877, and in that there was 
a short article in which a lady complained of failure, 
• but said a florist had kindly told her that the use of 
liquid manure would produce large and brilliant 
bracks; so all last summer I gave mine just what 
liquid manure they would take, every other day, and 
the result is more than satisfactory. 
My window-garden is very bright now, the Poin¬ 
settia at the top; then I have two Justicia superba 
just covered with the beautiful velvety purple.blooms ; 
t hen come Geraniums on each side, all in full bloom 
now, and my Browallias aro little gems. I wish 
every one would try Browallia for winter. It will 
not do to send to a florist in the fall for it. Sow the 
seed next spring, and take cuttings in August. 
Keep all the buds pinched off (for it will want to 
bloom at an inch high), and it will give you hundreds 
of blooms in winter. My Lautanas bloom beauti¬ 
fully, but some object to the perfume. Bouvardias 
are generally considered too much of a hot-house 
plant for amateurs, but, after getting them started, 
they bloom beautifully for me. I have one now in 
bloom with ten largo clusters of buds in different 
stages of development. I put it as near the top of 
the window as possible. Give it warm water in as they stand 50° very well. In this month trim off 
the saucer, and liquid manure twice each week. i many of its branches, and the new growth will push 
Now for my questions. How must I treat Fucli- up rapidly and give you plenty of winter flowers. 
Sponge the leaves frequently and give it rich soil 
with a little sand. The information you need is 
found in Window Gardening, a book published by 
the editor of the Cabinet. 
sias, after receiving them by mail ? I lose almost » 
all. I have used small pots, covered them with a 
sash in a large box, and still the}' die. Please tell 
me how to treat Japonicas—I mean Camellias ? 
Mine bud well, but drop the buds. What book on flori¬ 
culture gives directions for their treatment? How 1 
can I make a fine Eucharis Amazonica bloom ? 
At what time in the year should they bloom ? 
Mine is in perfect health, and is a splendid-looking 
plant, but it will not bloom. 
Do Pelargoniums, like Geraniums, require to be 
root-bound to bloom well ? I have a very large one 
growing in a jar, made in imitation of a stump; it 
will hold four or five gallons. Last spring it did not 
bloom at all. It is now five feet high and very large 
around. Should I repot it, or cut it back now', or is 
it too late to do this ? I am afraid it will not bloom 
next spring. Does Mignonette require a very strong 
sunlight to bloom ? Will you please to get some of 
the wise ones to tell us what plants can do without 
sun, what do best with east, south, and west expo¬ 
sure ? If some one would tell us just what to put on 
the top shelf, then on the next, and next, to the 
bottom; and what plants can sit a little way from 
the window', and behave well and bloom. I am sure 
I w'ould treasure such a list among my valuables. 
The arrangement of my plants gives me much trou¬ 
ble. Please tell me why it is that I can have no 
Heliotropes to bloom ? Is there any particular food 
or treatment necessary ? 
Please reply to my questions as early as possi¬ 
ble, and greatly oblige, Very respectfully, 
kins. M. M. Cooke. 
Prattville, Ala. 
Answer. —Fuchsias require a good deal of care 
and a know’ledge of their peculiar needs. They 
are rich feeders and grow vigorously, w r anting abun¬ 
dant room for their roots. The best soil for them is 
leaf-mould, with a little sand added. Yours have 
been probably kept too warm and close. They need 
plenty of air and light, but not too much direct sun¬ 
light. Tie up the main branch to a standard and 
train the plant in good shape by pinching otf the tip 
of the branches when inclined to grow too much to 
one side. If in small pots see that they do not be¬ 
come root bound. Set them upon your lower shelves, 
and shade a little with the foliage of other plants. 
Your complaint of your Camellia is a common one. 
The buds drop easily if they have too much or too 
little w'ater, or are subjected to sudden changes of 
temperature. A northeastern exposure is good, as it 
gives only the morning sun. Soil, peat and leaf-mould, 
temperature 40° to 50°, with frequent washing of the 
leaves with dewy spray every morning; it does not 
require frequent watering except when in bloom. 
Give warm water. 
Pelargoniums require repotting eveiy spring. 
Mignonette does not require very strong sunlight; 
but it will bear it well in open ground, but not 
in pots. 
SCHOOL-GARDENS. 
i 
Vick's Illustrated Magazine for August has a 
very interesting article on School-Gardens. We. 
have always been advocates of gardens for children; 
not gardens which they might call theirs, and from 
which they could gather the flowers and fruit only by 
permission, but such as they could tend and culti¬ 
vate with their own hands, and the produce of which 
should be their “ very own,” so that they might do 
what they pleased with it. It is in this way that the 
child will learn to Dve the Work for its own sake, 
and to teach a child to love nature is to bestow upon 
him an inestimable gift which nothing can take away, 
the cheor of which no calamity can darken, and 
which wall grow more precious as the years go by. 
The plan of school-gardens commends itself in 
every respect to the approval of thinking minds. 
The cultivation of the soil is the most healthful oc¬ 
cupation for children in the world. The open air, 
the sunshine, in itself the best of medicines, the 
scent of the upturned earth, are all life-giving, and 
when to these is added moderate but active exercise 
we have the very best prescription for the establish¬ 
ment of a strong constitution. 
Doubtless there would be some difficulties about 
the first establishment of school-gardens, but none 
that could not speedily he overcome, for “ w here 
there is a will there is a way.” In our Western 
towns the experiment might be fairly tried, where 
ground is plenty and new ideas take root as easily 
as vegetation. 
The plat for the garden should be, of course, first 
thoroughly prepared and laid out before the children 
are allowed to take part in the work; but they can 
be taught to plant and to work the ground in a very 
short time, and it would be easy to excite a spirit of 
emulation by a system of marks or prizes. The 
garden might be made of assistance in the study of 
botany, of chemistry, while the practical knowledge 
of the work itself would be invaluable. 
It is not necessary that the expense should at first 
be great for plants. Wild-flowers could be sought 
and transplanted, seeds could often be gathered from 
the home gardens, and parents would readily con¬ 
tribute to the general stock, while no small benefit of 
the arrangement would be the turning of the small 
streams of pocket-money into a safe and healthful 
channel. The children would soon learn to prefer 
if their interest were fully aroused, the sweets of the 
florist to those of the confectioner, greatly to the 
benefit of their health. 
Wherever school-farms have been established in 
Europe, on quite a large scale, they have been 
found a success, and why should not gardens be in 
( this country ? We hope that the matter will be 
; pushed with vigor, and that before many years have 
Give your Heliotropes plenty of sunlight, and in passed every school-house in America will have its 
winter let them occupy a high shelf in your window, j school-garden. 
