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HOW TO HAVE GOOD HOUSE PLANTS. 
“ Flowers, scattered unrestrained and free, 
O’er hill and dale and woodland sod, 
That man, where’er he walks, may see 
In every step, the hand of God.” 
To grow plants to perfection is not an easy tiling to 
do : still, the pleasure we derive from them amply 
repays us for the time and labor given. In the selec¬ 
tion of plants great care must be exercised to procure 
those we have the best accommodations for. The 
amount of heat, light, water, and ventilation, needful 
for the well-being of plants, varies with different 
species, and it is necessary to thoroughly understand 
their peculiarities to be able to raise such as will be to 
us both a pride and pleasure. 
After selecting plants, particular attention should 
be given to preparing the soil, most plants requiring it 
to be very rich. There are four lands of soil in use, 
viz.: leaf mold, loam, sand, either common or silver, 
and peat; these are generally mixed. As a general 
rule, one part loam, two parts sand, one part peat, 
two parts manure, and four parts leaf mold, I have 
found best for most plants; a few requiring it a little 
richer and a very few thriving best in poorer earth. 
Sunlight and ventilation are absolute necessities, and 
if one has neither a western or a southern window, it 
is almost useless to try to grow anything except Ivies. 
And herein lies one of the unknown obstacles that 
lovers, but not understanders, of flowers meet with. 
We often hear persons exclaim, “It is no use for me 
to try and raise flowers; they die in spite of all the 
care I take of them! ” when, could the truth be 
known, the plants only need air and sunshine. But 
though we may give them light, fresh air, and proper 
soil, still, if we neglect thorough watering and wash¬ 
ing, our plants soon show their need of both. The 
proper time for watering is either in the morning 01 - 
evening, once a day being usually sufficient. The 
earth should never be either dusty or muddy. The 
water should be lukewarm, and had better be too 
warm than too cold, heating being less injurious than 
chilling. 
When washing plants, use water of the same tem¬ 
perature as you would for watering. If they are very 
dirty, add a little hard soap to the water. Wash both 
sides of the leaves, using a soft sponge or small syringe, 
about once a week ; the stems and branches, if hard- 
wooded, should be sponged once in three or four 
weeks. Never let your plants stand in the sun while 
the foliage is wet, for fear of scorching it, and avoid 
wetting the flowers. 
The insects that infest house plants are a source of 
trouble and annoyance. The most troublesome are 
the green fly, mealy hug, scale, and red spider. The 
mealy bug and scale, though differing in appearance, 
require the same treatment-, namely, each of the little 
pests must be removed separately, and the plants 
washed frequently with warm soapsuds. To the 
green fly, tobacco smoke is certain death. Place the 
plants to be smoked under a keg or barrel, according 
to their height, and with them a dish of burning to¬ 
bacco ; let them remain about twenty minutes. This 
being the most troublesome of the insects, persons 
should be very careful not to allow a plant troubled 
with them to be anywhere near clean ones, or in the 
course of a day or two they will all be in the same 
condition. 
The red spiders are caused by dryness, and are 
destroyed by removing the cause. Water plants, 
especially Calla Lilies, suffer oftenest from them. 
Now, if you wish fine, healthy plants, give them 
plenty of sunlight, fresh air, and water, wash them 
regularly, keep them free from insects, and you 
surely ought to be successful. 
Henrietta G. Briggs. 
Howell, Mich. 
Flower Yase and Border. 
BOUVARDIA. 
I 11 looking over some old numbers of the Cabinet, 
I noticed some questions on the Bouvardia, in answer 
to which the statement is made that “ it may with 
safety bo said to be the most unsuitable plant for 
house culture.” Mine have given me so much 
pleasure that I cannot resist presuming to correct that 
statement, for some may by it be induced to overlook 
a flower which, I think, will add greatly to the beauty 
blossoms. It is the least troublesome of all my plants, 
my only objection to it being its inclination to grow 
high and not keep in as pretty a shape as I like. I 
have no greenhouse or conservatory, not even a bay 
window, but I contrive to keep about one hun¬ 
dred and fifty plants in the house by having shelves 
placed at the windows in sitting and dining rooms. 
The former has what is sometimes termed a twin 
window, facing the southeast. Its shelf is wide 
enough for two or three rows of pots, and contains 
about forty, almost all large. There my Callas, 
Geraniums, Boses, Pinks, Heliotropes, Azaleas, Bou- 
vardias, Browallias, and a Daphne Indieum reveled in 
the bright sunlight, supplying me with flowers all 
winter. At this same window are four hanging- 
baskets, one in the middle of each frame and one on 
each side, about two feet from the top; these two, 
from the nature of the moulding, hang in towards the 
window, and not straight out, as usual; their vines are 
long and almost unite with the tops of the plants on 
p^ithe shelf. One basket is filled with the tiny French 
Morning Glory, and its delicate blue flowers greet us 
brightly every morning; another rejoices in a mass of 
Ferns, brought from the Water Gap two years ago; 
they rest about twice a year, then spring up, and now 
it is a real beauty. The others have vines of the 
Tradescantia, Yellow Ivy, and the ordinary plants 
used for baskets. The northeast windows have narrow 
shelves well filled ; in one hangs two baskets of Oxalis 
and Kenilworth Ivy, two things which do best without 
sun ; in the other a canary bird, who, from its leafy 
bower, gladdens our hearts with its sweet music. All 
Bustic Hanging Basket. 
of their collection. I have a pink, a white, and a 
scarlet, the two former just coming into flower. The 
latter bloomed constantly and freely from November 
to July, flowered iudeed all summer, but not so pro¬ 
fusely as in tbe winter. 
I am careful to clip otf the blossoms as they 
begin to fade, and they soon put out new shoots and 
the shelves are placed below tbe window, that the sun 
may shine on the plants and not on the pots. In very 
cold weather I slip paper between them and the 
window. 
The pride of all my collection was the beautiful 
Lily of the Valley, which filled the room with its 
delicate fragrance in mid-winter. It was my first 
experience in forcing it. I procured a box about four 
or five inches deep (any ordinary soap-box cut down 
will answer), bored holes in the bottom, filled it with 
a mixture of garden soil, leaf mold and sand, which I 
use for nearly all my plants, put in my roots, and set 
it in an iron pan (a baking-pan), which I filled twice 
a day with boiling water. I kept it in the kitchen 
till started, then brought it to a stand before tbe 
sunny sitting-room window. A better plan would be 
to have a stand made with a zinc pan set in, furnished 
^ ® 1 with a faucet, that the water may be drawn off when 
cook Then a box may bo made with perforated bot¬ 
tom to fit the top, and in the centre a pipe or funnel 
placed through which to pour the hot water. Such a 
box could be made quite pretty and an ornament to 
any room. My friends say, “What a trouble these 
must be!” They are a great pleasure and comfort. I 
love them, and they simply repay my love. I give 
them their breakfast soon as possible in the morn¬ 
ing, always using rain water and quite warm, looking 
closely as I give it for the little insects, which, in spite 
of all one can do, will show themselves; and here, let me 
say, I have found nothing so efficacious as the thumb 
and finger for destroying these little pests. I must 
confess though, after one of your correspondents gave 
the result of her examination with the microscope, it 
required some courage to make the attack again. 
Every good thing seems to have its enemies and to be 
obliged to battle for its life. The flowers of the 
heart, planted by the great Gardener, are always in 
danger of being choked with weeds and their leaves 
eaten by their almost imperceptible enemies, which are 
like the green flies, mealy bugs, and red spiders infest¬ 
ing our earthly gardens. Leah. 
