bluet 
3i 
DJI 
ie 
a 
tes 
ome 
iOttlj 
mnian. 
HfttriHrar Itirbsmitg, 
WINDOW GARDENING. 
When stern winter frowns without it is charming 
to have a mimic summer smiling within, and this con¬ 
summation can he successfully accomplished by making 
our windows gardens of sweet plants and fragrant 
flowers. To the uninitiated it seems a portentious 
undertaking to furnish a window like those often repre¬ 
sented in the pages of the Floral Cabinet and 
works of similar import. After admir¬ 
ingly contemplating the winning picture, 
they lay down the hook or paper with 
a sigh of regret that they cannot possess 
one like it, and try to remain content 
with the customary pots of Geranium, 
a Calla, etc., that are arranged on a 
table or plant-stand in front of the win¬ 
dow. My experience is, that there is 
nothing more easily done in the way of 
drawing-room flower culture than in fur¬ 
nishing and keeping green a window 
garden. Several things are imperatively 
required, and they are good soil to begin 
with, equable and not too warm tempera¬ 
ture, prudent watering and a thorough 
sprinkling occasionally, say once a week. 
I think a mistake is frequently made 
in selecting for the window garden too 
many choice and unfamiliar plants from 
greenhouses; we see them thrifty and 
attractive there, and hope by transplant¬ 
ing them to a very different atmosphere 
and surroundings, to perpetuate their 
beauties. By selecting more hardy and 
familiar ones, we are rewarded by a 
greater luxuriance of foliage and larger 
number of flowers; these can be inter¬ 
spersed with such as will bear the 
translation from the humid air of the 
conservatory to the often unequal tem¬ 
perature of our generally over-heated 
dwellings. I believe that I cannot 
do better than describe here my win¬ 
dow garden of the past season, and 
my simple manner of treating it; it 
boasted of no remarkably rare plants, 
and yet elicited the admiration of all my 
friends. In the first place, I availed 
myself of every ray of sunlight that was 
afforded me, and concentrated it on my 
plants, and gave them fresh air on every 
suitable occasion. 
My sitting-room possessed two win¬ 
dows, one a single one facing the south 
and a double one with an eastern aspect. 
On each side of this large window I 
placed ornamental bronze brackets, 
which supported, on one side, a pot of 
Smilax, and on the other one of bloom¬ 
ing Oxalis — the Smilax I trained on fine cords around 
the windows; attached to the brackets were egg¬ 
shells, encased in a net-work of scarlet worsted, filled 
with water, from which Tradescantia hung in graceful 
plenty; from each division of the window I suspended 
a hanging basket containing, as trailers, the inimitable 
Tradescantia (both green and striped), Ivies and Peri¬ 
winkle; ornamental grasses fringed the edge of the 
baskets, which were otherwise filled with Ferns, Oxalis, 
Begonias, etc.; immediately under these, and in front 
of the window, a large wire plant-stand held pots of 
Designs for Rustic Work. 
shelf which held Tye’s Hyacinth glasses full of the 
richest flowers, and above them hung a luxuriant 
hanging basket; near both windows, on corner and 
side brackets, were glasses and vases of Tradescantia, 
simply growing in water, whose graceful festoons 
nearly reached the floor, adding greatly to the green 
and cheerful aspect of the room. 
The appointed space will not permit me to dwell 
on the beauty of the rustic stand, which was a pyra¬ 
mid of greenness and bloom, nor to particularize more 
freely than I have done, so I will devote the little that 
Dionaea.— Flow shall I grow a 
Dionrea Muscipula? What kind of 
soil does it require—wet or dry, hot or 
cool? How tall does it usually grow? 
And shall I keep it in the window in the 
sun, or away from it in the shade ? I 
have no Wardian case, but can get a 
glass to cover a box, if I only knew 
what kind of soil and light it required. 
Next, will some one answer the same 
questions about how I shall grow my 
Clerodcndron Balfourii. Next, how 
shall I start some plants from seeds of 
the varieties I name: 1. Aloysia Citri- 
odora; 2. Gloxiana; 3. Clianthus; 
4. Violet; 5. Ecbeveria? How long- 
does it take them to germinate, usually? 
Which one should he started under glass 
in window in sun, and which in shade ? 
And do any of them require bottom heat 
to start them ? Last, hut not least, by 
any means, will our kind editor please 
give ufe some illustrations of Aunt 
Carry’s hanging baskets, and vases and 
stands made of gourds. 
Constant Reader. 
Answer. — Dionsea-— Soil: Peat and 
sphagnum ; wet ; warm ; one to four 
inches; in the sun. In a warm, light 
place. 1. Seeds require heat; 2. The 
same; 3. Sow in open ground; 4. 
Middle of May ; 5. Echeveria, sow on top of soil as 
soon as ripe. The time of germination depends on 
the heat given; sow in the shade and keep them 
moist. 
Wiggletails. — How shall I prevent and destroy 
wiggletails (mosquitoes) in a tub for aquatic plants? 
Henry Cordes. 
Ajiswer. —Boil the water; some gold fish might 
destroy some, and continual change of water might 
prevent their rapid increase. 
the following named plants: A Calla graced each side 
of the lower tier; Diadem Pinks (taken from the 
garden after blooming all summer) were their neigh¬ 
bors, while Zonale Geraniums, Fuchsias, Heliotropes, 
Mignonette, Candytuft and Monthly Roses mingled 
their sweet offerings together. The stand was finally 
crowned by a white Jessamine whose graceful sprays 
and pearly fragrant flowers gave enchantment to the 
view. The trailing plants, from the hanging baskets 
above, mingled with the foliage below forming a per¬ 
fect bower about the window. My front window, 
which came nearly to the floor, was furnished with a 
remains to me to my method of managing my window 
garden, which can he told in a few words: The soil 
used was leaf-mold fresh from the woods, prepared 
with a slight sprinkling of sand and a little manure 
added to the mixture; I watered them freely with 
warm water and transported them always once a week 
to the kitchen sink, where I showered them plentifully 
with tepid water, adding ammonia during the latter 
part of the winter; and once a week I also gave them, 
in lieu of their usual drink, a good dose of liquid 
manure; when the weather was very mild I opened 
the window and let them breathe for a few moments- 
When insects appeared, as they will do 
“ in the best regulated families,” I 
picked or washed them off; if any plants 
drooped, I removed them to a cooler 
room and they rallied. A number of 
plants that are regarded rather as ordi¬ 
nary and only suitable for our summer 
gardens, frequently furnish the most 
suitable blossoms for our winter ones. 
I tried Petunias, Candytuft and Sweet 
Alyssum, and this season shall add 
Phlox and Dicentra; and as the same 
Diadem Pinks, that I transplanted from 
my garden, still look thrifty, I shall 
again take them up and crown my 
window garden with them. 
Violet Vane. 
