House and Garden 
Beware of the “ little-and-often” plan of watering. 
Some persons follow it, giving a small amount of 
water “every time they think of it.’’ They never 
have good plants. Why ? Simply because a small 
amount of water fails to supply the need of the 
plants, to begin with, and is soon utterly dissipated 
by evaporation. When you water any plant, do it 
thoroughly. Give enough to saturate the soil. 
Then wait until the surface looks dry. Then give 
more on the same liberal scale as at first, and keep 
on doing this throughout the season. If this is done, 
there is no good reason why you should not grow 
plants as well in boxes at the window, and on the 
veranda, as in the garden. You need not be afraid 
of over-watering your plants. 1 he roots of them, 
and evaporation, will take care of all that does not 
run away at watering-time, and no such disastrous 
results will occur as take place in the winter window- 
garden. In falling the window-box use the best soil 
you can get. 
Be sure to fasten window-boxes securely in place. 
A box ten or twelve inches wide, and as many inches 
deep, and the length of the window-sill,—and no 
box ought to he smaller if you would grow fine plants 
in it—will contain a good deal of soil, and the weight 
of it will try the strength of a few nails so severely 
that they often fail to stand the strain put upon them, 
and some day, after you have applied a pailful of 
water they give way and your little garden is de¬ 
molished. Guard against accidents of this kind by 
fastening the box so securely that it will be able to 
hold its own against a much greater weight than is 
likely to be put upon it. 
Do not get the idea that a fancy box is necessary. 
I have seen finer plants grown in a pine box that any 
storekeeper will sell you for ten cents, then in tile 
boxes that cost as many dollars. Perhaps the ex¬ 
planation lies in the fact that the pine box had cracks 
and crevices in it through which all surplus water 
ran off freely, while the tile box, being practically 
water-tight, retained so much that the lower stratum 
of soil was kept in the condition of mud, thus bring¬ 
ing about a diseased condition of roots which soon 
ended the usefulness of the plants growing in it. 
I am often asked what plants to use in the window 
and veranda-box. I would reply: Whatever kinds 
you like best, among others those which succeed in 
the garden in summer, under ordinary culture. As I 
said above, there is no reason why you need not be 
successful with them if you give them all the water 
they need. I would advise planting vines and 
drooping plants about the edge of the box to hide it 
after a little, and back of them plants of upright 
habit. Geraniums, Heliotropes, Tea Roses, Petun¬ 
ias, Fuchsias, and Lantanas will furnish a generous 
amount of bloom throughout the season. Coleus, 
Dracenas, Crotons, and fancy-leaved Geraniums 
will supply vivid touches of color in foliage. Senecio 
Moneywort, Lysimachia, Tradescantia, Nastur¬ 
tiums, and Ivy-leaved Geraniums will soon drape 
your box with a wealth of greenery, and make it 
impossible for the passer-by to tell whether it is a 
ten-cent bargain, or a ten-dollar tile one. At north 
windows ferns will flourish, as will Pansies and 
Asparagus Sprengert ,—the latter planted where it 
can droop over the box. Such a box of plants will 
have a cool, dainty look about them that those of 
more brilliant color will be lacking in. 
I he accompanying illustration is from a snap shot 
of a veranda-box that was beautiful in its simplicity. 
Single Petunias and German Ivy drooped over it, 
and a double Petunia, Geraniums, and a thrifty 
Coleus made it brilliant with color, while a Dracena, 
in the centre, furnished a charming contrast in green 
to the vivid hues of the flowers and the richlv-colored 
foliage of the Coleus. All simple, inexpensive 
plants, you see. Probably a dollar would have 
covered the first cost of them. But their combined 
beauty made the place in which they grew an ad¬ 
mirable substitute for the garden its owner could not 
have. Such a box may be grown at the window of 
the living-rooms of the home with very little trouble, 
and the pleasure to he derived from these little gar¬ 
dens has a value that cannot be computed in dollars 
and cents. 
If you want to educate the children to an apprecia¬ 
tion of flowers, let each one of them have a window- 
box, or a box on the veranda, in which to grow such 
plants as they may select. Take a little pains, at 
first, in telling them how to plant and care for them. 
In a short time they will become enthusiastic little 
gardeners on a small scale, and I venture the pre¬ 
diction that after one season’s experience you can 
safely give over box-gardening to them. They will, 
doubtless, take better and more regular care of their 
flowers than older persons are likely to. 
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