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uikiiet OLiiil 3Pictariiil Some l^omjmriiofL 
MY SUCCESS AND FAILURES IN HOUSE 
PLANTS. 
As I have a better talent for reading than writing 
or composing, and feeling I could say nothing of inter¬ 
est, I contented myself by reading what others more 
experienced had to say, and therefore have not made 
an attempt until now. I feel as though I would like 
to say a few words in regard to my experience in the 
culture of flowers. I first became acquainted with 
the Cabinet by a kind friend having it.sent to me on 
a trial trip of three months. I was so delighted with 
its pages, and found it so useful and instructive, that 
I subscribed for it. I now feel as- though I could not 
get along without it and cultivate flowers successfully. 
I have a Chinese Primrose, grown from seed. I 
bought the seed for double white, but 
the one I grew proved to be only semi¬ 
double. However, it is very pretty. It 
requires a great deal of care to grow 
them from seed. I planted mine in a 
small pot; kept the earth damp and 
‘shaded until fully up; then gave it only 
the early morning sun; as it grew larger 
I gave it more sun. Having but little 
experience in house-plants, and not 
knowing the nature of the plant, I 
thought it needed sunshine to make it 
grow. It did grow, and bloomed the 
first winter, although it had a delicate 
and unhealthy appearance. Through 
the winter I kept it. in my sitting-room, 
near a south window. Thinking it 
needed a different treatment, I tried shade 
ami air last summer; and since I have 
brought my flowers indoors I have kept 
it in my parlor, where there has been no 
fire this fall. I feel doubly paid for 
all my trouble, It is growing in a ten- 
inch pot, measures twenty-two inches 
across, and has been in bloom two 
months. I kept the flower-buds pinched 
off from June until September, causing 
it to bloom more freely through the win¬ 
ter months. This I learned from the 
Cabinet. 
I have a white Begonia, grown last 
summer, measuring twenty-seven inches 
high and twenty-five across. It requires 
shade, too. It has such glossy green 
leaves that,no one can help admiring it 
who sees it. I had a red, Begonia I thought a great 
deal of. I had it on a stand near the window during 
that cold spell last winter, and it. froze and I lost it. 
I would be glad to exchange- a white for a red 
one. I also have other plants I would give in ex¬ 
change if any of the readers of the Cabinet wish to 
do so. 
I am better prepared to guard against the cold this 
winter, for my good husband has made me a present 
of a Wardian Case. I now have it full of plants— 
Calla, Begonia, Cyclamen, Parlor Ivy, Catalonian 
Jessamine, Carnation, etc. I read about ladies having 
Geraniums to bloom through the winter. I have been 
unsuccessful in that line. I am trying Lady Callum’s 
advice, in February number of Floral- Cabinet, 
hoping thereby to be successful in having blossoms. 
I would be pleased to know the name of the ever- 
blooming Geranium spoken of by her. 
Hancock, Ind. Mrs. Sophie A. Horner. 
HOUSE PLANTS. 
I am a great lover of plants myself, and have got so 
that tlie care tendered to them by me is quite a pleas¬ 
ant pastime. Do not think that I am some celebrated 
florist, and write this article as an advertisement. Far 
from that. I am nothing more than a printer, and 
work daily for a living. But as many of my friends 
have said to me, “I wish I could have suck nice flow¬ 
ers as you have, and have such good luck in raising 
them as you have,” I have takeu this means of telling 
all ladies, publicly, how they may have a little win¬ 
dow garden. In the first place, a small table, two and 
a half by three and a half feet, made out of planed 
hemlock boards, is the cheapest; and, painted with 
any kind of paint to keep it from warping, will answer 
as well as any costly wire stand, as the sun may strike 
down on all plants that it may contain. 
Those that are not able to buy flower-pots may use 
old tin fruit-cans. TRese may be picked up in the 
deep and wide, so as to shield them from the cold 
winter weather, as they contain the life of the plant 
from fall to spring. House plants have no such large 
roots, and therefore do not need so much earth. I 
find that all of my plants do better iu small cans than 
in pots. It is not in the different plants that causes 
this difference, as I have Rose-bushes, Hyacinths, Be¬ 
gonias, Geraniums, and other plants, one of each, set 
in pots and cans, and give ‘them each the same treat¬ 
ment and care that each variety requires. 
For a hanging basket, if you don’t feel able to pur¬ 
chase a fancy one, take an old round tin pan, which can 
he found around most any house, punch through the 
sides at the top four holes, one opposite the other, 
| through which put wire or picture-cord; suspend-it 
| from the ceiling in front of a window, to a small hook 
which may be screwed through a lath or in a beam, if 
you can’t afford a bracket-hook. Fifteen cents’ worth 
of green paint will do to paint this and a number of 
cans such as I have before spoken of. I 
have used one of these for two years, 
with yellow myrtle hanging over the 
sides and two Begonias in the centre. 
All who have seen it say it is very hand¬ 
some. 
Many who are too poor to purchase 
plants may ask: “How can we get them, 
they cost so much?” If you have a 
Mend that lias plants, they would not 
refuse you a cutting, which is worth as 
much as a rooted plant, if treated well. 
The cuttings should be taken from new 
wood. Trim well—not forgetting to cut 
the lower leaf off', and the wood within 
a quarter of an inch under the leaf, as 
this is where it takes root — set in moist 
sand about an inch; keep well watered; 
keep them in a warm, light place, but no 
sun is required until they have taken 
rt )ot. 
This is how 1 have a window-garden 
that has not cost me three dollars. 1 
have nearly a hundred plants, most all 
of which I have raised from slips my¬ 
self — some I have got for nothing, others 
in exchange. When I commenced 
housekeeping, nearly three years ago, I 
had about half a dozen plants, which 
have multiplied to the number above 
spoken of, "mostly by cuttings. The 
spring months are the best time for prop¬ 
agating. L. M. S. 
Group of Hanging-Baskets. 
streets most anywhere, and answer every purpose as 
well if not better than an earthern pot, as they do not 
draw the moisture all out of the earth. I have about 
fifty of these cans in use, and have had them during 
the past two winters, and find plants do a great deal 
better in them than in pots. Before setting plants iu 
them, I break clam-shells in small pieces, and throw 
them in the bottom of the can, as they keep the dirt 
from clogging at the bottom, and also give the water 
free access to pass through the holes which I make 
(four or five in number) around the sides, about an 
eighth of an inch from the bottom. The largest Gen¬ 
eral Grant Geranium I had last winter was about two 
feet high. This I had in a pint can. It bloomed 
freely all through the winter, throwing forth large 
clusters of beautiful flowers. 
House plants do not need as large a quantity of dirt 
as hardy plants do, for this reason, a hardy plant re¬ 
quires plenty of earth so that it may spread its roots 
A Grass-Plat. —We had, in previous years, a very 
! pretty plat of grass, not large enough to be called a 
lawn. Last year we built a house, and the grass was 
, covered with clay. It was dressed with good soil and 
seeded, hut the grass has not grown very well. Please 
! tell me, then: 1st. Would you advise seeding again 
this coming fall, and covering with manure and dead 
leaves during the winter ? 2d. Will Rhododendrons 
grow on a lawn a good deal shaded by large trees? 
3d. Will double Dentzia grow and bloom in the same 
situation? We are in northeastern Pennsylvania, 
latitude about forty-one degrees. 
Wyoming. 
Answer. —1st. Seed again next spring, and cover 
plentifully with manure. The clay earth is not as 
! good as fresh field or garden soil to grow in. 
2d. Just the place for Rhododendrons. 
3d. Double Dentzias should have just a little more 
