HOUSE AND GARDEN 
November, 
igi r 
3 2 3 
In connection with my cellar treatment 
I have a coldframe out of doors, and just 
as soon in the spring as possible, even be¬ 
fore the frost is gone, I put out my plants. 
On cold nights I cover them with mats. 
This treatment in the coldframe hardens 
them and makes them in prime condition 
for planting. 
I wish I could impress on people the 
fact that there is no mystery or difficulty 
in keeping plants over during the winter 
in the cellar and then getting from these 
same plants in the spring a new stock suffi¬ 
cient to plant your garden many times 
over. The idea is to keep them quiet in 
the winter and then force them early in 
the spring. Cuttings taken from any of 
them at this time will grow and will, with 
the aid of a coldframe, make sturdy plants 
by planting-out time. 
Care of Plants in the House 
I N order to be successful with plants in 
* the house, one must give them the 
right conditions: a proper environment, 
proper temperature, proper ventilation and 
proper degree of moisture. 
In regard to the first condition there is 
not room here to go into much detail. In 
most dwelling houses there may be found 
one or two sunny windows that may be 
fitted up with shelves and used for the 
winter garden. The first shelf, on a level 
with or a few inches below the window 
sill, may be made a foot or even two wide 
and longer than the width of the window, 
as some plants will thrive without direct 
sunlight, and may be kept in the partially 
shaded background. Other shelves, eight 
to twelve inches wide, may be fitted in 
above, at sufficient height to allow the 
plants on lower shelves plenty of room. 
If a thin strip of wood, say y 2 x 3 inches, 
is nailed along each edge of the shelves, 
and they are covered with an inch or so 
of small pebbles, the pots will drain bet¬ 
ter, look neater, and make less muss than 
if simply set on the flat hoards. 
There are many instances in which a 
special place may be easily made for win¬ 
ter plants. Bay windows may frequently 
be partitioned off from the rest of the 
room, by glass partitions or even by cur¬ 
tains of closely woven cloth, and the tem¬ 
perature and moisture in the air within 
the enclosure managed independently of 
the rest of the room. This is fully as im¬ 
portant in keeping the proper degree of 
moisture in the air as it is in giving an 
even temperature, for no matter how 
thoroughly the latter may be regulated, if 
the air is dry, as it is almost certain to be 
in any living-room, the plants will suffer. 
The temperature for most house plants 
should be kept at from forty-five to fifty- 
five degrees at night — not under fifty de¬ 
grees when it can be prevented. The day 
temperature may run ten to fifteen de¬ 
grees higher. The temperature should be 
kept as even as possible, as much harm 
being done by sudden changes as by too 
low a temperature. Do not go by guess¬ 
work ; a good thermometer should be kept 
near the plants, but shaded from direct 
sunlight. 
Ventilation is as necessary as heat. 
Plants to be healthy must have fresh air. 
As a general rule, plants in the house 
should be given all the fresh air possible 
while maintaining the required degree of 
temperature. This does not mean, how¬ 
ever, that on a cold windy December day 
you should open a window near your 
plants because the thermometer climbed to 
sixty or sixty-five. To do so would work 
havoc with your plants. Direct drafts 
must at all times be avoided when the out¬ 
side atmosphere is cold. A window in 
another part of the room, or behind a 
screen, may be used. Or in very cold 
weather, it will be better to bring it in in 
some more roundabout way — through a 
hall or an adjoining room. Too frequent¬ 
ly in cold weather our living-rooms are 
closed up tight as drums, and the air be¬ 
comes unfit for humans as well as for 
plants to breathe. This is a false policy, 
for it is easier to keep warm in a fresh than 
in a de-oxygenized atmosphere. Plants 
are more neglected usually in regard to 
ventilation than on any other score. 
There is also a good deal of misunder¬ 
standing in regard to watering. Too fre¬ 
quently one finds the “little and often” 
system in use. A little sprinkle on top of 
the soil will wet it down half an inch or 
so and leave the bottom as dry as a cobble¬ 
stone in a drought. Others indulge in the 
“plenty and often” way, keeping the pots 
and boxes saturated at all times so thor¬ 
oughly that the soil is heavy, like mud. 
Well drained pots in summer, when water 
is evaporated very rapidly and when they 
are making rapid growth, will stand a 
great deal of watering. But in winter, 
when for the most part they are under¬ 
going their resting period—usually from 
October to February, and when the soil 
will retain moisture for days—no such 
quantities should be given. The safest rule 
is to water thoroughly until the soil is wet 
through (as can be determined by invert¬ 
ing a pot some ten minutes after watering, 
and knocking out the ball of earth) and 
then withhold it altogether until the soil 
itself, by slightly drying out and whiten¬ 
ing on the surface, indicates that more 
water is needed. Water thoroughly and 
then withhold it altogether until it is again 
actually needed, as near as you can judge. 
It is not, however, for moisture in the 
soil that plants in the house suffer most. 
Moisture in the atmosphere is what they 
lack. It is dry air that holds them in 
check when the lady of the house thinks 
she has given them every care, and is sure 
that no coal or furnace gas is working 
insidious injury. It is in overcoming this 
difficulty that the enclosed partition of 
some sort affords great assistance. The 
air within such an enclosure may be kept 
as moist as desired. A good deal, how¬ 
ever, can be done in the living-room. In 
the first place, keep dishes of water evap- 
(Continued on page 326) 
The pleasure of house plants to cheer the winter days need not be missed simply because 
local conditions appear adverse. Here a little ingenuity has made a substitute for the 
greenhouse 
