76 
House & Garden 
Patriotism 
and the 
Christmas 
Gift 
Patriotism demands 
that your Christmas 
gifts this year be confined 
to articles of utility. Sweep 
aside all the horde of fool¬ 
ish, costly gew-gaws and 
give your family a present 
of enduring usefulness and 
beauty—the 
DDHAKIF 
‘(Tide Li-^tt of Your Personality" 
The Decolite is the only light¬ 
ing unit that enables you to bring 
about perfect harmony between 
lighting and decorative scheme. 
This is accomplished by inserting 
fabric of appropriate design (silk, 
cretonne, crepe paper, etc.) be¬ 
tween the two glass “bowls.” 
The effect produced by the light shin¬ 
ing through the colored fabric is one of 
indescribable softness and charm. The 
Decolite also provides an ideal light to 
reading and sewing, and, due to its scien¬ 
tific construction, is a saver of current. 
After the holidays the holly design may 
be replaced by material to harmonize 
with draperies. 
Better Light for Home, Office, 
Factory, School, etc. 
The Decolite is one of many lighting 
units belonging to the Holophane System, 
which provides better lighting at lowered 
cost. 
If your dealer cannot supply the 
Decolite. write us. Don't take a substi¬ 
tute. Write us anyhow for Free Booklet 
showing Decolite in colors. 
HOLOPHANE GLASS CO., INC. 
340 Madison Ave., Department L 7 ~ 
New York City 
THE GIFT OF GIFTS 
Flowers! Not fully developed flowers that soon will fade, hut 
flowers “in embryo"—Bulbs! For those of your gardening friends 
who are fond of flowers we cannot imagine a more pleasing gift than 
Wing’s Christmas Box of Gladioli 
Twelve Select Bulbs of such -unusual kinds as Canary Bird, Peace. Ruffled Glory, 
Primulinus Hybrids, etc., all top-notchers in their class, every one properly labeled. Tins 
collection will acquaint you and your friends with the best obtainable in Gladioli. 
A Wide Choice of Other Patriotic Gifts 
awaits your selection here. We will mail eight beautiful Dahlias for One Dollar postpaid. 
Or. if your friends are inclined toward the substantial side of gardening, let us send them, 
with your compliments, a box of Pedigreed Vegetable Seeds containing thirty-two packets of 
prize-winning kinds for One Dollar. You will find cur complete catalog to be a most 
dependable guide to gardening for profit and pleasure. Write for your free copy TODAY'. 
THE WING SEED COMPANY, Box 1527, Mechanicsburg, Ohio 
U nderground 
Garbage Receiver 
snaBu^raa^sia 
LYNN ' rGoC M Ai,a 
means less danger from germs. Act NOW—for your protection. 
Eliminate the banging of a dirty frozen garbage pail. 
SOLD DIRECT SEND FOR CIRCULAR 
Look for our Trade Marks 
C. H. STEPHENSON, Mfr., 20 Farrar St., Lynn, Mass. 
Spong¬ 
ing the 
leaves of 
foliage 
plants is 
needed 
Leaves 
which are 
broken o r 
w i t h e r - 
ed are best 
clipped off 
The Garden that Grows in the H ouse 
(Continued from page 57) 
to follow any set rule 
of giving so much 
water once in so of¬ 
ten. You must learn 
to judge by the con¬ 
dition of the soil 
whether or not it is 
in need of watering. 
If the soil used is 
suitable for potted 
plants, such as that al¬ 
ready described, after 
watering it will be 
uniformly moist clear 
through to the bot¬ 
tom. To tell whether 
or not you are giving 
enough water, try 
several plants half an 
hour or so afterward. 
Hold the stem of the 
plant between the left 
forefinger and middle 
finger, and rap the 
edge of the pot 
sharply on the edge 
of the shelf or the 
back of a chair; this will bring out the 
root ball intact, so that you can see just 
what condition it is in. If it is not 
moist clear through to the bottom, you 
are not giving enough water. Sometimes 
it is necessary to apply the water sev¬ 
eral times in succession, in small 
amounts, in order to get the soil thor¬ 
oughly soaked. 
Atmospheric Moisture 
But that is by no means the whole 
problem. The atmosphere as well as 
the soil affects the growth of plants. 
If a large part of the normal moisture 
in the air has been dried out of it 
by hot air or steam heat, with inade¬ 
quate ventilation, plants will not thrive, 
even though they receive an abundance 
of moisture at the roots. Indeed in 
ordinary living rooms, it very frequently 
happens that all the plants are drowned 
at the roots and dried at the tops. To 
keep the air as moist as it should be, 
in case the heating is done by some 
method that has a tendency to leave the 
air dry, water for evaporation should 
be left near every register, radiator or 
stove. It should be placed in something 
low and broad, so as to facilitate evap¬ 
oration at all times. 
With the air normally moist, one good 
watering should be sufficient for sev¬ 
eral days for most things during the 
winter months. The reason for this is 
that both plant growth and evaporation 
are much less now than during spring 
and summer. Too frequent watering, 
therefore, would keep the soil saturated 
and be bad for the plants. 
Another thing to keep in mind is 
that plants in flower, or those making 
growth ready to flower, require more 
moisture than those which are being 
kept through the winter after making 
their active growth during the summer. 
Vegetables that are being grown or 
“forced” require com¬ 
paratively frequent 
watering, while those 
being “wintered” or 
kept nearly dormant 
in a frame will need 
little or none. 
In reading direc¬ 
tions for various 
plants or flowers, the 
beginner will fre¬ 
quently come across 
the information that 
they should be “kept 
on the dry side”—or 
on the wet side, as 
the case may be. This 
means merely that 
they should be given 
rather less, or rather 
more, water than the 
average plant. 
A Place for the 
Winter Garden 
If you are going 
to attempt growing 
things in the winter, you should be 
ready to spend a little time and work 
on arranging the conditions for them, 
even if they are to be no more than a 
dozen plants in a window. Lack of at¬ 
tention in this respect is the cause of a 
very large part of the troubles and fail¬ 
ures in winter gardening—and inciden¬ 
tally it is the cause of the ruin of many 
good carpets and floors. 
The first thing to consider after se¬ 
lecting a place which will conform as 
closely as possible with the require¬ 
ments for light, ventilation and temper¬ 
ature, is the matter of suitable supports 
for the posts or boxes. The table or 
plain narrow shelf ordinarily used is 
not suitable. Any surplus water will 
run off it to the floor; the plants will be 
crowded too much; and full advantage 
of the available light is seldom utilized. 
A plain board table made to come 
just below the window level, or a strong, 
broad shelf, should be made specially 
for the pots or boxes. The table or 
shelf should always be fitted with 
a narrow upright strip that will come 
1 " to 2" above the top. Nail this on 
tightly, first painting it with white lead, 
so that it will be almost watertight and 
keep any moderate amount of water 
from dripping on the floor. It will also 
hold in place sand, fine gravel or fiber 
on which to place the pots, without 
saucers. Frequently a second shelf may 
be placed one-third or halfway up the 
window, making it possible to have di¬ 
rect sunlight for many more plants. In 
many cases the window can be built out 
without much expense—that is, a storm 
window, with sides, top and substantial 
bottom may be put on outside, making 
much more space for the plants without 
taking up so much of the living room. 
Finally, if you expect to make a real 
sport out of your winter gardening, you 
should take it seriously. 
The surface of the soil in 
the pots must not be allowed 
to cake and stop venilation 
