HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1913 
Tomatoes for early fruiting indoors may be 
started under glass in January 
started in the usual way, transplanted 
twice and then potted off into small pots, 
shifting to 3" and then to 4", if possible 
before placing in the benches or boxes 
(made about 16 x 20 x 8) in which they 
are to fruit. The cucumbers may be put 
into 4" pots, using five or six seeds and 
a very light rich soil, thinning to two 
plants after they are well started. 
Lettuce, beets and cauliflower for set¬ 
ting out in frames should also be started 
now, and brought to as sturdy a size as 
possible before their shift from heat. The 
other seeds for vegetable plants to go out 
into the open, it is a bit early for, but I 
always like to start a few even as early as 
January, to be sure they are all right, and 
to have a few extra big early plants. Any 
potted plants from which you expect to 
propagate should be started into active 
growth now, by giving more water and 
heat and, if required, re-potting. The 
resultant new growth, when it has ma¬ 
tured sufficiently to “snap” on being bent, 
makes ideal material for cuttings, and will 
root readily in medium coarse sand, kept 
moist and supplied with bottom heat by 
placing the cutting box on some of the 
return heating pipes. They may be kept 
in the shade for a few days but after that 
should receive plenty of light. 
Many of the perennial flowers bloom 
first season from seed if started early, and 
they should be put in about this time. Use 
very finely sifted light soil, water thor¬ 
oughly the day before sowing the seed, 
just barely cover it from sight if it is fine, 
as most of these flower seeds are, and 
transplant as soon as they are large 
enough to handle; nothing is gained by 
waiting, and they are much more likely 
to be injured by “damping off.” 
Vines for Window Decoration 
INES growing gracefully about a 
window inside of the house create 
a decorative effect that cannot be excelled 
by any other arrangement of plants. Ex¬ 
amples are common where feeble attempts 
are made to effect a window decoration 
of vines, but it is the exception to find an 
instance where the success has been such 
that it will attract more than passing 
notice. This is not because of the plants 
themselves, but rather as a result of the 
improper way in which they were treated 
in the preparatory stage and then the lack 
of subsequent care after they had estab¬ 
lished themselves. 
Vines can be grown in the house, but 
the one best adapted for such use is the 
English ivy. This plant can be made to 
do wonders under house culture, and not 
only to adorn the windows, but to send 
its runners entirely around the room, if 
so desired. 
There is one thing absolutely necessary, 
however, to get these results, and that is 
a window where there is an abundance of 
sunlight. It is the warmth of the sun 
during the first six months on the roots 
of a newly potted plant upon which de¬ 
pends the success or failure of the plant’s 
growth. Another thing to be considered is 
the kind of plant that is used for the pur¬ 
pose, whether it is pot-bound, newly pot¬ 
ted or growing in too large a pot. 
The most desirable plant to start with 
Ivy is well adapted to training about windows, 
giving a very decorative effect 
is one that has been growing in the pot 
for some time and has become well rooted, 
almost pot-bound; but if this is not pos¬ 
sible to get, a number of small plants 
packed closely into a large pot, say eight 
inches, will serve almost as well, though 
perhaps a little slower in producing re¬ 
sults. If there should be an ivy vine grow¬ 
ing on a house within reach of your win¬ 
dow, lead a number of streamers into the 
room, and treat them as follows. 
The idea is to keep these vines growing 
in the room while getting nourishment 
from the roots in the ground outside, but 
at the same time establishing roots for 
themselves in, pots, so that in time they 
can be separated from the parent vine 
without experiencing any shock. T 0 
45 
do this, take a six-inch pot and enlarge 
the opening in the bottom so that the vines 
may be passed through it without tearing 
the leaves. Bare of leaves the vines 
nearest the pot for a distance of about 
three feet. Make two or three circles of 
this bared space and tie together. These 
are then to be pulled back into the pot 
and loam packed about them. Place the 
pot where the sun will fall upon it, and 
if this is done in the very early summer 
separation can be made in the fall. The 
same treatment can apply to an old plant 
that has been grown in a pot, using, how¬ 
ever, a number of thumb pots to get the 
same results. This is an interesting ex¬ 
periment, and always affords an endless 
amount of pleasure to those trying it. 
A small shelf may be necessary to sup¬ 
port the pot, yet this is not absolutely 
necessary, for two brass hooks, one at 
the top of the pot and the other at the 
bottom, will hold it rigidly in place. In 
this case, watering should be done lightly 
and frequently and a cork can be placed 
in the hole in the bottom to prevent the 
water from leaking through onto the floor. 
Another thing to be watched is to see 
that the plant has not become so pot-bound 
that its growth will be injured from some 
unforeseen cause. A small plant must not 
be allowed to dry up, while a large plant 
should not suffer from the same cause. 
In shifting from the smaller pot to the 
larger, don't disturb the roots. Remove 
the pot and put the plant in the larger 
sized receptacle and pack the dirt hard 
about it. 
Once established, an ivy can be placed 
in almost any part of the room and can be 
made to grow for years by a little fertiliz¬ 
ing and the renewal of the top-soil once 
a year. 
Insuring Good Fruit 
W HILE little can be done out of doors 
at this time in the vegetable or 
flower garden, you may take advantage of 
warm days to prune small fruits and spray 
apples, pears and plums for scale—San 
Jose scale, that most insidious and most 
effective enemy of good fruit. Currants 
and gooseberries should be pruned suf¬ 
ficiently to keep the bushes in open form, 
as a precaution against mildew as well 
(Continued on page 64.) 
Now is the time to start cauliflower plants 
tor setting out in frames 
