70 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
The Garden in the House 
(Continued from page 68) 
Give Your Friends a Box of 
Gladiolus Bulbs 
for Christmas 
Here is a pleasing gift indeed, 
and one that will bring many 
happy thoughts of you in the 
summer days to come. 
Box of 30 First-Size Bulbs $1.00 
10 America — soft flesh-pink; 
10 Mrs. Frances King — light 
crimson-scarlet, 10 Augusta— 
white with purple throat. 
Postpaid in U. S. A. east of 
Mississippi River. Points west 
25c extra. 
If desired, we will enclose your 
card of greeting and ship direct. 
Arthur T. Boddington Co., Inc. 
Dept. Hi, 128 Chambers Street 
New York 
An Original 
Christmas Gift 
Any lover of flowers and plant life 
will be delighted with this artistic 
wicker plant basket in which flowers 
and ferns grow luxuriantly. It is 
self-watering and requires attention 
but once a week. Water is drawn 
thru a sponge to the delicate root 
fibers in the correct quantity. No 
dripping to injure draperies or floors. 
Measures 10"across top. Fitted with 
strong chains. Price $6.00 delivered. 
This plant basket is one of the Illi¬ 
nois Plant Baskets that are exhibited 
at the International Flower Show 
every Spring. 
Send for our interesting booklet 
showing self -Watering plant stands, 
window boxes and hanging baskets. 
MILLER £r DOING 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 
places; but wherever they are found, 
they are confined to a small section. 
In the western hemisphere, Mexico 
has some, and so have Central and 
South America. In the eastern hemi¬ 
sphere they grow in Asia and in 
Southern Africa—a distribution as 
wide as the world, surely; but in none 
of these places are they scattered. It 
is a most puzzling circumstance. 
In spite of this eccentricity of 
theirs, however, begonias are as sim¬ 
ple to grow as any plant living, and 
begonia culture is just play, provided 
you are exact. Begonias do not want 
much, but they want just what they 
want when they want it. The par¬ 
ticular hybrid that everyone wishes 
to grow, the Gloire de Lorraine just 
mentioned, belongs to what is known 
as the semi-tuberous or Socrotan sec¬ 
tion, a distinct division of the family 
sprung from semi-tubers discovered 
and collected in the year 1880 on the 
island of Socrota, or Sokrota—a 
sandy, scorching mite of the earth’s 
surface that sticks out of the Arabian 
Sea off Africa’s easternmost point, 
and guards the Gulf of Aden. 
With this land of the nativity of 
one of its parents in mind, it is easy 
to understand why Gloire de Lorraine 
endures the dry air of living-rooms 
exceedingly well. A temperature with¬ 
in ten degrees of 55° F., either up or 
down, will suit it; and it must have 
plenty of water. But under no cir¬ 
cumstances should water ever be 
sprayed on its leaves or flowers; used 
thus, it spots and ruins them at once. 
After the plant has finished bloom¬ 
ing, cut off the tips that bore the 
flowers, give it a little less water than 
before, but do not let it dry out, and 
permit it to rest naturally until sum¬ 
mer. Then repot it in June, relieving 
its roots of a part of the old earth 
and replacing this with new. This 
soil must be light in texture, but it 
must also be rich. One part thor¬ 
oughly rotted cow manure to three 
parts of good earth and woods loam 
or leaf mold, and one part of sharp 
sand, will give a proper mixture. Re¬ 
ly upon good care, attention to ven¬ 
tilation, fresh soil, and plenty of light 
to keep it free from red spider and 
rust, making sprays unnecessary. 
Begonias may have all the sunshine 
available during the winter, but after 
flowering, while they are at rest, keep 
them in the shade or partial shade. 
Do the same after repotting, until 
cold weather comes again and they 
approach their blooming season. 
Raising and Caring for Cyclamen 
Cyclamen are lovely, and an indoor 
garden of just these alone is a won¬ 
derful sight. They, too, blossom over 
a long extended period, and their 
flowers provide beautiful colors as 
well as a great variety of color. The 
wise gardener will perhaps choose 
the Persian, or Persicum, strain for 
ordinary culture, for these are easier 
to grow than the Giant. 
It usually takes fifteen months to 
bring cyclamen from the seed to the 
flowering age; but it is much better 
to raise the plants from seed than to 
buy bulbs in the fall, because it is not 
natural for cyclamen tubers to be 
dried out the way other bulbs are, and 
as they must be when dug up and 
taken to market. 
The seeds are terribly slow to 
germinate—or seem to be. Really 
they are not slow at all; but before 
any growth appears above the earth, 
a tiny little bulb is produced below 
ground. This done, up come the 
leaves, two months after sowing. 
When there are two leaves, trans- 
■ plant the little seedlings into boxes 
or flats, but do not give them much 
root room, for that retards them. It 
does not seem to be natural for them 
to run much to root at first. Trans¬ 
plant again to little pots when they 
begin to crowd; and finally, put them 
into their permanent 6" pots in the 
autumn following the winter of their 
sowing. Here they will grow and be 
ready to bloom by midwinter. 
Put them outdoors in summer, and 
keep them there in partial shade. They 
like warmth, most of them, yet they 
cannot stand the scorching of our 
midsummer sun at midday; and in¬ 
doors in winter, a temperature of 50° 
F. at night is essential to keep them 
at their best. For potting, use a mix¬ 
ture of good loam with one-fifth 
rotted horse manure and some sand, 
if the loam is heavy. Give thorough 
drainage, always, and fumigate or 
spray for green fly with any good nic- 
otene preparation. Tobacco stems 
around the pots may act as a partial 
preventative, but there is no certain 
insurance against this pest. Watch 
for it; and get after the first ones the 
instant they appear. 
Two Other Good Plants 
The fact that there is a rose—an 
honest-to-goodness pot rose—that will 
blossom all the year round, throws 
every other plant out of the running, 
with many who are rose enthusiasts. 
Of course, it is not a great, fragrant, 
lovely tea-rose; instead, it is just a 
little clustered red roselet, so like the 
crimson rambler that that is its pet 
name, “baby rambler.’’ In the lists 
it is Mme. Norbert Lavavasseur. 
It is characteristic of this plant that 
every branchlet of new growth in¬ 
variably produces a cluster of flowers 
at its tip; and new growth is constant¬ 
ly put forth to take the place of the 
passe wood which you must of course 
remove when a flower cluster fades. 
Red spider will appear on it at 
times, undoubtedly; but spraying will 
make short work of him, when he 
comes. Watch for aphids, too, just 
as you would watch for them on roses 
out-of-doors, and spray for them. 
Feed with applications of fine bone 
meal, a tablespoonful to a pot about 
every ten weeks. Indoor plants cannot 
forage by means of roots constantly 
extending and seeking what the rains 
and weather have brought down into 
the earth; so remember to be as care¬ 
ful about their meals as you would 
about those of any other pet. 
The Paris daisy or Marguerite is 
another splendid, free-flowering in¬ 
door plant. You may have it in either 
yellow or white. Etoile d’Or is a 
good yellow, Mrs. F. Sander and Cor¬ 
onation are both fine whites. Nothing 
is easier to handle than these Mar¬ 
guerites, for nothing ever ails them 
and insects leave them alone. More¬ 
over, you can raise new plants from 
cuttings as easily as you can with 
geraniums, which is saying much. 
Cuttings are made in July for plants 
to bloom indoors the following win¬ 
ter ; and after flowering all winter 
indoors, these plants may go out into 
the garden, and will flower all summer 
there. They are perfectly hardy, too, 
so leave them out, if you wish. Dur¬ 
ing half of the year at least the per¬ 
sistent things are covered with blos¬ 
soms ; more than likely, indeed, they 
will be in bloom for eight or nine 
months out of the twelve. 
These are the four very best plants 
for indoors, according to my own 
preference and belief. A tableful of 
any one of them is the indoor or win¬ 
dow garden supreme, to me; but, of 
course, there are geraniums and 
fuchsias and all the great tribe of the 
ferns, and lemon verbena for its fra¬ 
grance, and many, many more which 
I shall not try to enumerate here, that 
are interesting to grow if one wishes. 
Magic Flowers 
A LTNIQUE novel decoration 
for your CHRISTMAS Table. A 
source of keenest interest to sick 
friends, invalids and shut-ins who 
watch with daily delight the mys¬ 
terious blos¬ 
soming. 
The Byzantine 
Wonder Lily 
This bulb 
needs NO 
water, NO soil, 
NO care, only 
Sunshine and 
warmth to un¬ 
fold its deli¬ 
cate rosy flow¬ 
ers, in 10 to 
15 days, con¬ 
tinuing in 
bloom 3 to 4 
weeks. 
Each 3 12 
Large bulbs.$0.20 $0.50 $1.75 
Monster bulbs . . .30 .80 2.75 
Jumbo (scarce) . . .40 1.10 . 
Price Includes Delivery 
MAGIC LILIES OF VALLEY 
So pure, So fragrant, 
So entrancing. Who¬ 
ever knows it, loves it. 
Planted in our spe¬ 
cially prepared Moss- 
fiber, this beautiful 
er will grow and bloom 
inside 18 to 20 days. 
We furnish with every 
order sufficient M o s s- 
fiber to grow the pips; 
also FULL directions 
‘How to Grow success¬ 
fully.” 
6 pips .$0.45 
12 pips.75 
20 pips . 1.15 
50 pips . 2.75 
100 pips . 5.00 
Price Includes Delivery 
Send for our Bulbbook for House Bulbs. 
H. H. BERGER & CO. (Established 1877) 
70 Warren Street, New York 
No. 529 
“Admiration 
Book Rocks 
Height 9 1-2*1 
Price $7.50 
Pair 
“ARTBLQNZ" 
for Decorative use in the home 
for The Gift Distinctive 
Equal of the finest bronzes in appearance, 
modeling and workmanship, 
flange in price from $1.50 up and abso¬ 
lutely guaranteed. 
Sold by the best stores everywhere. Send 
4 cents to-day for 1916 catalogue, men¬ 
tioning House and Garden. 
KATHODION BRONZE WORKS, Inc. 
299 Madison Ave., New York 
Stttdio and Factory, 366 Gerard Avenue, N. Y. 
Canadian Representatives: Fraser & Netherby. 
Toronto. Canada. 
Pacific Coast Representatives: Van Praag Brothers, 
164 Sutter Street, San Francisco, Calif. 
