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SUCCESSFUL WINDOW GARDENING. 
The first inquiry of every lover of flowers, or at least 
of every window gardener, is, “ Ilow can 1 get plants 
to blossom during the dreary months of winter? and 
what shall they be ? It requires very little effort on 
our part to have a garden gay with bright Lues and 
sweet with fragrance all the summer months. After 
the seeds are sown or plauts are transplanted from hot¬ 
bed or cold frame, nature assumes, in great part, the 
care of watering, washing, and feeding. There is no 
changing about to give the stinted amount of sunshine, 
no gaseous vapors, no furnace heats, no want of air, 
and if kept free from weeds that would take their food, 
they are sure to grow, and what is better, to blossom. 
But when we take these out-of-door children into tiro 
house, we make them prisoners, and must minister to 
their wants, or they pine away and die; or mayhap 
drag out a sickly existence that 5s more deplorable 
even than death. Then the first requisite to success 
is a proper knowledge of their wants, and this requires 
study as well as experience. There are certain rules 
that apply to all members of the vegetable kingdom. 
filled an inch at the bottom with charcoal, an inch with ' slaught upon your treasures. You must prepare 
coarse soil, and then filled within au inch of the top for war, and that to the death of every green foe, or 
your pets are doomed. Naturalists tell us that a good 
with fine soil, covered lightly, placed in a warm shady 
place, with glass laid over the jar, moistened by setting 
the jars in a dish ot warm water. In two weeks the 
plauts were up; when they had three leaves I trans- 
healthy mother aphis will produce twenty-five young 
aphides daily, so be vigilant. Tobacco is your most 
efficient weapon. The mealy bug resembles a small 
planted to two-inch pots, and when the roots filled scale; the lame are a reddish brown, flat, and 
these, potted for blossoming in five-iueh pots, mixing on many plants are not discovered without close iu- 
’ clmrcoaI dust witb the soiL After a few days, spection. They take up the juices of the plant, and 
gave all the sunshine 1 could, and how they grew, at once arrest its growth and eventually kill it, unless 
They began to blossom in December, and blossomed i ousted. They fix themselves, from time to time, in 
continuously till July, when 1 forbade their blooming order to change their skin, and in their modesty, cover 
any longei, and compelled them to take a rest, divid- themselves with a white powdery substance, which 
ing them and rooting the offshoots. There is no fail- gives them their common name. A wash of strong 
ure with the Primula. Cyclamen Persicum is another suds, or a weak solution of soda will remove and 
sure to blossom if kept dry during the summer and ! destroy them. Rinse in clear water. The infinitesimal 
started the first of September. Begonia is another red spider, though a mite, is a mighty foe. You must 
! sure to blossom-all winter. B. Jasminoides, B. Saun- watch for him and drown him. This means labor, 
dersonii, and B. nitida alba have blossomed pro- If plauts are sprinkled two or three times a week, this 
lusely with me, and what is convenient, they care very insidious enemy will seldom appear. For mites in the 
little for the sun. Abutilon, too, if kept poorly, will earth, I cover the dirt with a sprinkling of cheap, fine 
hang out its cheerful bells all winter. It should be tobacco and then pour on warm water, and it has 
cut back in spring, repotted with plenty of root room, proved very successful. Keep your plants in a vigor- 
and kept shaded till taken within. Every one loves the ous growth, and these pests not only will seldom 
Fuchsia, and craves its graceful bloom, but excepting ; appear, but will bo more easily overcome. 
Speciosa, I have never succeeded in getting the Fuch- 
They must have air, moisture, and food. This is true s ^ a 1° blossom in winter. Avalanche begins in March, 
and Carl Holt and Van Quer de Puebla in April. 
Geraniums are freaky, but last winter I had a large 
Gen. Grant that blossomed beautifully from the first 
of the animal kingdom, and it would be just as sensi¬ 
ble to give a bird and a fish the same cage, and feed 
them from the same dish, as to give a Cactus and a 
Calla the same treatment. In the garden the plants 
send out their roots in all direction and find their own 
food, but when potted, we cut off all their “ visible 
means of support,” and when they have taken up the 
limited amount of plant food afforded by the little earth 
given, how discouraged they must get when every little 
rootlet in search of food reaches the bare walls of its 
prison house and finds it can go no farther. 
This shows the necessity of furnishing as much food 
as possible in a small compass, and leads me to speak 
of the soil. Leaf-mold, garden loam, and a sprinkling 
of sand, make a good soil for most plants; but I find 
an excellent compost under an old cow stable. A few 
loose stones in the foundation are an “open sesame” 
to a perfect treasure house, filled with rich soil that 
has been collecting for fifty years. It is as mellow as 
asbes, and mixed with loam and sand baked, to rid it 
of insect and weed germs, is food fit for the king—of 
plauts. For Roses, Fuchsias, Heliotropes, Carnations, 
Lantanas, and Geraniums, I use two parts compost 
with one of garden soil and a little sand. The double 
Geraniums must be starved to blossom well, if over¬ 
fed they will grow fat, but will not blossom. For 
Pansies and Callas the compost alone lightened with 
sand. Primroses, Salvias, Camelias, and that class, 
have two parts loam, one part compost, and one part 
sand. Even with all your care in preparing soil, many 
plants will after awhile need artificial feeding, particu¬ 
larly when making the rapid growth preparatory to 
coming into bloom. I prepare a fertilizer in this way: 
one part cow manure, one part chicken manure, and 
one part charcoal, put into a keg, cover with boiling 
water and let settle. I use this very differently on 
different plants. Of course drainage must be perfect. 
Now, what shall we have that will blossom without 
fail in winter ? The catalogues are filled with lists of 
winter-blooming plants, but how many of us have 
learned, by the experience of disappointment, how 
uncertain they are. Last winter I was not for a day 
without flowers enough to have made a respectable 
bouquet. First, I class Chinese Primula. I raise my 
single ones from seed. 1 sowed seed in July in jars 
Mrs. H. M. Barker. 
HANGING BASKETS. 
Baskets of living plants may easily be had in per¬ 
fection ; select such kinds as will stand in rooms. As 
id January till taken out in May. Enormous trusses , . , i , ,i , T n , 
J , iiubscs regards the baskets themselves, I like to see the wire- 
kept perfect, hardly dropping a petal for two months. 
As soon as it was in lull blossom, I had it removed to 
work painted dark green. Some paint it with bright 
, . , colors, which quite spoils the effect of the flowers, 
a cool parlor, where it filled a whole window, and as i c i 11 i i i i -,i 
1 ’ which should be gay enough as regards colors, without 
the lace curtains fell over it, it was a thing of beauty, 
and attracted much attention from passers-by. It had 
been kept shaded and pinched out through the sum¬ 
mer. Petunias, both double and single, are fine for 
parlor culture. Sow seed in July, pot when small, 
taken in in September, will blossom beautifully for 
two months or more. Old plauts cut back and taken 
up 
tw 
treated in the same way will give satisfaction. Let 
me add what 1 meant to have said, Petunias must 
have the sun. 
any addition in the way of paint. Inside the ware- 
work put a thick layer of green moss, so as to prevent 
the soil from dropping through; over this put some 
broken crocks, and then fill up with whatever compost 
is best suited to the requirements of the plants with 
which the baskets are to be filled. For summer deco¬ 
ration there are numberless .plants that can be grown 
p in September will begin to blossom in March ; only i i , . , . • , nl • . 
1 1 & > ■> m baskets; but, tor winter bloomrfe, nothing is.better, 
vo months without Petunias. Ten weeks stock i i i ., « ri 
or looks more showy, than Rolhsson’s unique Gera¬ 
nium, or scarlet Tropaaolum, both of which will con¬ 
tinue in flower all through the winter, and droop down 
gracefully all around the basket. A basket, indeed. 
Carnations rooted in sand in June, will blossom never looks well unless it is furnished with some droop- 
finely in winter; but I must not forget Chrysauthe- mg plant round the edge, as, for instance, with the 
mums. 1 have one now that has stood all summer variegated ivy-leaved Pelargonium, called Velegante, 
on au eastern piazza, and has been bountifully sup- while in the centre should be a nicely grown plant, of 
plied with suds from the wash every week. It has Fuchsia. Pretty baskets may also be made of silver 
eighty branches loaded with buds, from two to four variegated Geranium, Lady Plymouth and bright blue 
buds on each branch. It, is nearly three feet in dia- Lobelia, or of blue Convolvulus, with Christine Gera- 
meter—a perfect oval; and, T think, must come : nium in the centre ; in fact,, any flower that suits, and 
nearly up to those exhibition plants that Shirley Ilib- if put in with good taste, will look well. For large 
bard tells of in the Horticulturist. The Pompones baskets suited for lobbies, mixed foliage plants, such 
are beautiful, and offer a charming variety. Now, as variegated Sedums, Echeverias, Iresines, and Ccn- 
witli a supply of Hyacinths and other bulbs, to fill up taureas have au effective appearance. A window box 
January and February, we have flowers all winter, made of wood and lined with zinc, suspended by four 
I have mentioned only those common plants that will, cords or wires, up which can be trained creepers, also 
and have with me, blossomed in a sitting-room, makes a pretty room ornament. The great point as 
warmed with a coal stove. Of course, if one has a regards keeping plants in baskets or boxes fresh and 
green-house or conservatory, we might add many in good health, is to give plenty of water during the 
others. One word of the drawbacks. First, insects, growing season, but more sparingly in winter, and to 
Aphis is the most common. The eggs are deposited keep the leaves clean. If baskets are hung high there 
on the uneven surface of the bark, or on the leaves should be some means of lowering them, as it is trou- 
during summer, and lie torpid all winter, unless taken blesome getting up to them every morning with steps, 
to a warm room, then the larvae appear and the min- If the baskets are small, the best way is to carry them 
ute envelope falls. Have you never seen a white, away and water them outside ; but in the case of large 
filmy dust on your plant-stand, and wondered whence baskets this cannot lie done, so a tea-tray or something 
it came? Be sure a host of aphides are shaking off of the kind should be placed under them to catch the 
their shackles, preparatory to making a deadly on- ! drip. 
V, 
