[oral ^■aijtnei toil) SrHciorial BHEame llonipanian. 
life-' 
A BEAUTIFUL WINDOW. 
The summer is ended; the bright autumn leaves lie 
faded beneath our feet; we almost feel the breath of 
winter, and if we are destitute of house-plants to 
brighten our rooms, how long and dreary the winter 
seems. If we would have plenty of blossoms on our 
plants in winter, sunny windows are indispensable. 
But do not despair, yon who are so unfortunate as to 
live where the glorious sun cannot enter, for I am sure 
I can arrange a beautiful window, even for you. Cro¬ 
chet three scarlet casings, with scarlet tassels and cord, 
just large enough to easily admit a cocoa-nut shell. 
Bore holes in each one to insure good drainage, and 
fill with light, rich earth. In the first plant Kenil¬ 
worth Ivy; in the second, four or five bulbs of yellow 
Oxalis. Hang these opposite each other. Fill the 
third with German Ivy, pinching off the ends of the 
shoots until it has sent forth branches on every side. 
Hang this directly over and between the two first. 
Fasten side brackets on each side of window. Have 
window-box, or whatever you like, to fill lower part! 
of glass. My plants for the sunless window shall be | 
Begonias, Calla Lilies, Tradescantias, pink and white 
Oxalis, all the Ivies, Coboea Scandeus, Vincas if your 
room is warm enough, Ivy Geraniums, Madeira Vines, 
Acaranthus, Coleus, Pilea, Chinese Primroses, Lyco¬ 
podiums, Ferns and sweet-scented Geraniums. Train 
Coboea Scandeus and Madeira Vine up either side of 
window. The bright-hued foliage plants, judiciously 
arranged, will take the place of the blossoms one fails 
to obtain from the greater part of these plants. Be¬ 
gonias need careful watering and excellent drainage, 
or the roots decay. 
A description of my -window-garden may be of serv¬ 
ice to some one of the Cabinet’s many readers. Its 
dimensions are, thirty-two inches by sixteen, and eight 
inches deep—painted green outside. The box is lined 
with zinc, soldered in the corners. Several holes are 
pierced through the zinc in centre of box, directly over 
one previously bored through the bottom of box — this 
is for drainage. A layer of charcoal to the depth of 
an inch is added, and the box filled with rich soil. In 
the centre stands my Smilax, in a pot sunk in the 
earth, and clinging to and around a frame two or three 
feet in height. On one side is a pot of white Mauran- 
dia, trained over another frame of different style and 
shorter than the first-named. It has completely cov¬ 
ered it, and the white, waxen flowers cfflitrast finely 
with the mass of delicate green, making a most beau¬ 
tiful plant. Opposite this, on a similar frame, is twined 
a lovely Ivy Geranium, Centaurea, the brilliant Aca¬ 
ranthus, and different kinds of Coleus help to fill the 
box. Saxifraga peep out from each of the four cor¬ 
ners. Tradescantia and Kenilworth Ivy run and race- 
over everything, climbing up the plants and trailing 
over the edges of the box. Dear little Ivy, what 
should we do without it ? Here and there, all over the 
box, are bulbs of yellow Oxalis. All too young to 
bloom are disposed of in this way, while a few older 
ones are mixed with them. I think them beautiful— 
the glossy, delicate, yellow blossoms look up so lov¬ 
ingly from their nest of green. Their leaves, with the 
Ivy, will entirely cover the surface of the box. A six 
inch pot, filled with good soil, will grow from one to 
two dozen matured yellow Oxalis bulbs, which give 
me every season many hundreds of fragrant flowers. 
In summer I take, them out, dry them off, and put 
away in a paper bag until wanted in October. If I 
could have but four plants, and those four to be of 
easiest culture, I should choose a pot of Calla Lilies, 
a pot of different kinds of Oxalis, an English and Ken¬ 
ilworth Ivy. If you are without a Calla there seems 
to be something wanting. They have such a stately, 
tropical appearance. I have seen them so large that 
leaves and blossom both touched the ceiling overhead, 
while the pot stood upon a common, low workstand. 
My English Ivy was a tiny hit of a branch five years 
ago last spring. I rooted it in a bottle of water, then 
potted, repotting when necessary, and now it is yards 
and yards long, with many beautiful branches. The 
pot stands on the floor, behind an oval table which is 
placed against the south wall of my sitting-room. A 
large mirror hangs over the table, behind which the 
Ivy is trained, and from this point branches in all di¬ 
rections, covering that sale of the room, with half of 
east and west side. In the summer it is trained up the 
front piazza, where it runs the entire length. 
Chinese Primroses are most desirable plants for house 
culture, blooming abundantly the entire winter and 
spring. Bouvardia Hogarth is a fine winter bloomer. 
Primula sinensis albaplena is very beautiful. Did you 
ever try white Centranthus for winter blooming? It 
is lovely. Sow the seed early in spring in the hot-bed, 
and as soon as the ground is reasonably warm trans¬ 
plant. They bloom quite early, and I prize them very 
highly for loose bouquets, giving them just that finish¬ 
ing touch, that delicate uet-work, one so much admires. 
The seed falling to the ground will sprout, and the 
young plants you find in early autumn are just what 
is needed for winter bloom. I put two or three in a 
cigar-box, with a plant each of Sweet Alyssum and 
Mignonette. They grew up and over the box, hiding 
it completely—giving me a profusion of flowers until 
they were banished from the house in May. 
Browallia is a charming little plant, literally covered 
with its tiny blue and white starry-like flowers. But 
if you want an elegant, a rich, royal, velvety blue, 
search the world over and you will never find the equal 
of Torreuia Asiatica. I go into ecstacies over the 
flower, hut the scraggy-looking vine I conceal as much 
as possible beneath something more pleasing to the 
eye. Catalonian Jessamine is exceedingly pretty, both 
in its manner of growth and bloom. Scarlet Salvias, 
if kept small and backward, pinching off any hud that 
may chance to show itself until the middle of October, 
make excellent and showy plants, hut are prone, like 
Carnations and Roses, to he infested with that deadly 
enemy, the red spider. Thorough sprinkling will pre¬ 
vent its ravages about as well as anything; aud I will 
say that an excellent sprinkler can be obtained in this 
wise. Go to the tinners and ask for a fine clothes- 
sprinkler holding a pint. If he has none, he will 
make you one for about twenty or twenty-five cents. 
Cork tightly, and you have just the thing—as good as 
a real shower. Geraniums are very easy of culture, 
and give great satisfaction, blooming freely if confined 
in small pots. The single Hybrid Petunias, blotched 
and striped with their many beautiful markings, are 
great favorites. Old plants cut hack nearly to the 
roots, or young plants from seeds or cuttings, do equally 
well. Give them plenty of sun, and with delicious 
Heliotrope and fragrant Mignonette, your room will he 
filled with rich perfume. The Ageratums are excel¬ 
lent bloomers, especially A. Mexicanum, remaining in 
flower a long time. Pilea Arborea is very pretty. It 
is covered with myriads of buds so tiny one. hardly no¬ 
tices them; but watch them closely, and when fully 
grown immerse the whole plant in a pan or pail of 
quite warm water. The tiny buds soon fly open, and 
you have thousands of Lilliputian Apple Blossoms (at 
least they always make me think of them), while little 
clouds of smoke rise from here and there, aud as you 
gaze you say, “Wonderful.” 
When you carry your Fuchsias to the cellar, he sure 
to leave one behind. I refer to the ever-blooming 
(called Lustre). Mine is so loaded with bloom all the 
year that it seems cruel to cut it hack, even when it 
reaches the ceiling and begs for more room. A Sweet 
Potato Vine makes quite a pretty plant for a hanging- 
basket. Start it in a glass of water, and be sure to 
give it the very hottest place on the mantel behind 
your kitchen stove, lest your patience he exhausted 
while you wait for it to grow, and you be tempted to 
throw it away in disgust. If your soil is prepared 
aright, you will need no artificial stimulants until to¬ 
wards spring. The rest of the season a little can he 
profitably used. Here is a recipe for stimulant, per¬ 
haps new to some reader. Dissolve in one pint of hot 
soft water four ounces of sulphate or nitrate of ammo¬ 
nia, two ounces of nitrate of potash, one ounce of white 
lump sugar, cork lightly in a glass bottle, and use a 
tablespoonful to three or four quarts of soft warm water. 
I prepare my soil for potting in this way. In an old 
box or barrel, in spring, I put half a bushel of very 
fine, well rotted, barnyard manure, half a bushel of 
leaf mold gathered a year or two before, two or three 
pansfull of wood ashes, the same of sand from middle 
of street, and a quantity of common garden soil; n ix 
well together, and leave it to decay until wanted in 
autumn. 
I give you one or two inexpensive plans for window 
vases. Procure a deep wooden bowl, eighteen inches 
in diameter. Three-quarter oval iron; that is, oval 
iron three-quarters of an inch wide—it requires four 
pieces, each three feet long. Bend each one into the 
shape of a new moon, with a scroll at the lower end. 
Tire legs are joined in the centre by a cross-piece like 
a +. A blacksmith can shape the legs for you. They 
should spread at the top enough to admit the bowl, the 
edges of howl being even with the upper end of leg; 
fasten to the bowd with screws; spread the legs at bot¬ 
tom one inch more than at top. Handle, half-inch 
rattan. Paint the whole green. Bore hole in bottom 
of howl. Put six or seven inch pot in centre; fill with 
good soil, and plant whatever is suitable, twining the 
vines hack and forth around the handle, and in a short 
time you will have a thing of surprising beauty. 
Another, very simple and very pretty, is made in 
this fashion. A small box for lower base; a smaller 
plank for second base; an urn off the top of an old 
stove next; then a deep wooden bowl. Paint the 
whole tw T o good coats of white, and sand with marble 
dust while the last coat is fresh. Seaweed. 
-— —- 
Propagating Plants.—Mrs. A. M., of Georgia, 
wishes to tell the Cabinet readers her simple hut re¬ 
liable mode of propagating plants. Take an ordinary 
soup plate and fill it with sand ; saturate thoroughly 
! with clear water. Then pinch off the tender branches 
1 of whatever plants you wish to propagate, about two 
inches long, and set them out in the prepared plate, 
thick enough to cover the whole surface; then set the 
plate in the sun. Keep it thoroughly wet, and in the 
sun all day, (I set mine on a chair, and move the chair 
around as the sun changes). Treat in this w 7 ay for 
eight days, then transplant in pots they are intended 
to grow in. In taking them out of the sand you will 
find a perfect network of delicate, perfectly white 
roots. I have just propagated a plate of Heliotropes, 
and this plan is worth the trial for these alone, as I 
have never succeeded in increasing them in any other 
way. 
h m 
