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F. F. Rockwell garden and grounds. When a direct personal reply is desired please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
November 
HEN November comes we are 
thankful indeed to turn to the plants 
rescued from the garden — or more pru¬ 
dently grown all summer for winter gar¬ 
dening — that make cheery some spot in 
the living-room. 
Without, the sky is dull, the wind chill 
and cutting: it is the season of sere and 
yellow leaves and a desolate outdoors. 
Within, every petal, even every fresh green 
leaf, for weeks to come, will be treasured, 
and rightly so, for whatever adds to beauty 
adds to life. 
However, the trouble is not over — in 
fact, it has just begun — when we get our 
plants into' the house. Only yesterday I 
called at a house where the mistress ex¬ 
hibited with some pride a fine lace fern 
{Asparagus plumosus nanus) which she 
had been doctoring up during the summer 
for a friend. She added sadly, however, 
that she could not keep it in its present 
The nitrate solution should just cover the 
roots of the plant to be forced 
flourishing condition because she has gas 
illumination in the house. There are many 
less experienced women who do not realize 
the baneful effect of even a trace of gas in 
the air, and who fuss over their plants all 
winter and watch the leaves and flower 
buds die as they unfold, without knowing 
what causes the trouble, and wondering 
why they do not have better luck with 
flowers. 
How I Save My Geraniums From 
Year to Year 
F OR a number of years I have not been 
obliged to buy any geraniums for my 
garden, having saved my stock from year 
to year. While I succeeded in carrying 
over the plants, I cannot say that they 
were particularly good to look at in the 
early spring, because of their long drawn 
out scraggy appearance. Judging from 
what I saw in other gardens, I was con¬ 
tent with this condition. A fortunate meet¬ 
ing with a person more skilled in the gar¬ 
dening art than myself quite upset my 
notions. It was a happy upheaval, how¬ 
ever, for I learned much about geraniums, 
and now instead of plants for which I feel 
obliged to make apologies, I can show a 
stock that will compare favorably with 
that grown for the trade. In the fall I 
now take out of the garden all the gera¬ 
niums that I care to carry over through 
the winter. Some of these I pot and 
others I pack away in boxes, first cutting 
them down to mere stumps. Almost 90 
per cent, of these small cuttings will grow 
to be plants. These boxes with the stumps 
are put in the cellar and just kept alive by 
an occasional watering during the winter. 
If a weak growth shows up it is pinched 
off. 
About March I take out these stumps 
and pot them and place them at the cellar 
windows. Geraniums thrive best in a cool 
place. A warm room produces a lanky 
growth that makes poor plants. 
I get good plants by bringing them 
along - slowly in a cool temperature. If 
there is need of forcing it can be done with 
nitrate of soda, never with heat. This 
must be done carefully, as a disregard of 
instruction will defeat expected results. 
I take a number of bowls, or larger re¬ 
ceptacles, and fill with enough water to 
cover the roots of the geranium's stumps. 
Before this is done, however, I dissolve 
in the water about five or ten grains of 
nitrate of soda, according to the relative 
size of the vessel. The geraniums are then 
'put in the light. In a short time root ac¬ 
tion begins and the plants make such rapid 
growth that in a month they can be potted 
off as stocky plants or even planted out¬ 
doors. In administering this treatment, 
remember to change the water when it gets 
foul, and also to wash out the roots of 
the plants, as they are apt to collect a 
greenish scum. 
In potting the geraniums from the water, 
do it carefully as the roots will be found 
very tender and rough treatment will do 
them great harm. I sometimes puddle the 
loam and pour it in on the roots. This is 
a good method and results in the minimum 
injury to the delicate root fibre of plants. 
After standing in the light awhile the effects 
soon show in a vigorous and stocky growth 
( 322 ) 
