The Kentia is most reliable of all the 
house ferns 
A basket of English primroses and ferns that would make an 
excellent gift, particularly if grown by the giver 
Acalypha hispida is cultivated for its 
long red spikes 
House Plants 
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS REGARDING THE CHOICE AND CARE OF PALMS, FERNS 
AND FLOWERING PLANTS INDOORS—WHAT TO GROW AND HOW TO GROW IT 
by Luke J. Doogue 
Photographs by the author and N. R. Graves 
E VERY one feels the absolute need of plants in the house 
during the winter, and while a small percentage of these 
people can afford to turn the work over to a florist at so much 
per season, the great majority are obliged to depend wholly upon 
themselves in their effort to keep their plants looking well. 
The greatest trouble with plants in the house is not with the 
plants themselves but with the abuse they are subjected to, which 
goes under the name of care. Too much care is as bad as much 
neglect. 
One of the greatest sources of destruction for house plants is 
repotting. In some way or another the 
idea of repotting seems to have deeply 
rooted itself into about everybody’s 
head and it stands as a panacea for all 
plant ills. Plants in health and out of 
health are repotted. And when this 
repotting is done in the house by one 
who is inexperienced, the results are 
always much more serious than if done 
by a gardener in a greenhouse. The 
fact of the matter is that your plants 
will do very much better in a seemingly 
small pot, undisturbed, than in a pot 
too large or if frequently repotted. 
Keep your fingers off the roots of the 
plant if it is doing well, and even if it is 
not doing as well as you would like, give 
it a little stimulant, instead of repotting. 
A plant will respond to ir just as a man 
will. Put in a little bone meal and the 
result will be gratifying. It will help 
where a repotting would kill. Then 
again, if you feel that you must repot, 
just knock the plant out of the pot and 
without disturbing the roots place it in 
The begonia is an old favorite of which there are 
varieties with variegated foliage 
another pot and ram the loam about it. This is heresy, according 
to all good gardeners’ ideas, but it works well just the same. 
And the pot should be but a size larger than the one the plant was 
taken from. Pots too large are a great handicap. 
No rule for watering applies to all cases. If your plants need 
water give it to them. If the weather has been dull and sunless 
don’t give the plants any water. Keep the soil moist, not soggy; 
that is, keep it on the tendency towards dry rather than wet. 
But when you water be sure that the lower part of the plant gets 
the moisture as well as the top. A plant properly potted will 
have easy drainage as shown in an illus¬ 
tration herewith. 
As an experiment, if you have an old 
rubber plant that seems fit to be thrown 
out and in a pot that you think hope¬ 
lessly too small, take it and thoroughly 
saturate it; put it in the sunlight and 
put on a dose of bone meal—about a 
tablespoonful to an eight-inch pot. 
Water it every third day and give an 
occasional dose of nitrate of soda, a tea¬ 
spoonful to three gallons of water. 
Don’t feel badly if you happen to forget 
to water it at the regular time. The 
chances are that you will not throw 
away your old plant. Many an old 
plant can be coaxed into doing further 
duty by just such little attentions. If 
your plants are in jardinieres be sure not 
to allow the water to collect in the bot¬ 
tom. The reason is that it gets sour and 
foul and the plant does not like to have 
wet feet continuously. The best way 
is to take the plants out and water them, 
Afterwards put 
allowing them to drain. 
(200) 
