HOUSE AND GARDEN | 
April, 1910 
The hardy Farleyense Maidenhair is a delicate 
house-fern worth cultivating 
which have lived all winter in a New 
York City residence, a severe test for any 
plant, fern or not. 
If the soil in which Maidenhair ferns 
are growing ever becomes dry, the fronds 
immediately wither and nothing can be 
done to recuperate them. Should such 
an accident happen, remove the injured 
fronds and keep the plant in as good a 
condition as possible until the following 
spring, when new growth will be made. 
Window Light 
'\^ 7 ’E have just moved into a three-story 
’ ’ house and as there are large bay win¬ 
dows on the southern and western sides of the 
house we are anxious to try our luck at win¬ 
dow-gardening. Which of the windows should 
we choose? We wish to confine our house- 
plants to one room. 
The southern window is an ideal posi¬ 
tion, although you should anticipate the 
glare of even winter’s mid-day suns by 
planning for adjustable shades. Although 
an abundance of light is necessary to suc¬ 
cess with most house-plants, the mid¬ 
day sun may prove too strong for “ rest¬ 
ing” plants. Palms and ferns will require 
such protection when the sun is high in 
the heavens. 
The English Daisy 
W ILL you please recommend some bed¬ 
ding plant for April and May that will 
be profuse in flower and prove effective in two 
border beds in which, later, I can set out some¬ 
thing else ? We usually have an early, mild 
spring. When and how should seed be sown ? 
The English Daisy ( Beilis perennis), a 
hardy perennial, should fill your require¬ 
ments well. These profusely blooming 
little plants send forth thousands of pink 
and white rosettes, and with the Pansy 
they share the honors of being about the 
best bedding plants from the latter part 
of April through May. After that you 
can lift them and naturalize them else¬ 
i 6 5 
where. They thrive best in a rich, moist, 
partly shaded soil. Sow the seed early 
in the hotbed, or indoors, and transplant. 
The Longfellow is a particularly beautiful 
rose-colored variety, and the Snowball 
a white one. When sown in open 
ground May is the proper planting time. 
If left to themselves your English Daisies 
will need more or less thinning out from 
season to season, as they spread perse- 
veringly when once they have found a 
growing spot that they take a fancy to. 
Ratio of Fertilizer Elements 
W ILL you kindly tell me something about 
the proportion of elements necessary 
in high grade fertilizers? 
See Mr. Crocker’s article on Garden 
Fertilizers in House & Garden for 
February, 1910, page xii. High grade 
fertilizers have of nitrogen from 10 to 40 
per cent, of potash from 14 to 50 per cent, 
and about 20 per cent of phosphoric 
acid. A good fertilizer, lasting in effect 
about the following ratio: nitrogen 2; 
potash 5; phosphoric acid 4, modified as 
the condition of the soil requires it. It 
bears repeating to urge the gardener to 
study the individual problem before him. 
If he is not sure of his soil he cannot do 
better than to send a sample of it to one 
of the Agricultural Experiment Stations 
in his state. Expert advice will then be 
given him, and he will have no need of 
guessing himself out of his difficulty. 
The Child’s Garden 
ON’T forget to teach your children 
the delights of gardening by plan¬ 
ning for them and showing them how to 
plant little gardens for themselves full 
of interesting things, not the plants you 
alone fancy but plants that will entertain 
and interest them. At first the plot 
should not be so large that the little 
fingers will tire in keeping it in order, 
for a wee gardener should have a wee 
garden that is not beyond his strength. 
Nothing can be more effective for a wall border 
than a bed of Anemones 
Anemones for Wall Borders 
LONG, flat, gray stonewall divides part of 
our garden from a corner of the tennis 
court, and I would like your suggestions as to 
what I could plant as a border along it that 
would be hardy and come up again. Some¬ 
thing effective that would blossom into the 
fall, for we stay late in the country. 
You could not have a better plant 
than the hardy perennial Anemone (A. 
Japonica) , especially the beautiful, semi¬ 
double Queen Charlotte variety which 
has the pink of a La France Rose. This, 
with the beautiful green of its stem and 
leaves, will produce an exquisite color 
harmony against the gray wall. It blos¬ 
soms from August through Septem¬ 
ber. Mixed with the A. Japonica, var. 
alba, the pure white of the latter lends 
desirable contrast. A. sylvestris, thor¬ 
oughly hardy and of tall growth, flowers 
from spring to July. A. coronaria, var. St. 
Brigid, is the best variety for April bloom. 
Everyone knows and loves the 
English Daisy 
As an Edging Plant the English Daisy has an 
exquisite charm of its own 
