THE LADIES ’ FLORAL CABINET. 
263 
well under similar treatment. All of them require 
stove temperature, and the compost which suits them 
best is a mixture of two parts peat and one of fibrous 
loam with a little silver sand, and they like to be kept 
as near the light as possible. To a certain extent A. 
dolabriform resembles the old-fashioned, yet beautiful 
A. lunulalum but is more graceful in appearance; its 
stalks are more slender, and the pinnaj smaller and 
rounder; moreover, the deciduous habit of a luuulatum 
is a great drawback to it. It is very provoking in 
autumn to see a plant of it in a hanging-basket gradu¬ 
ally going down until nothing is left but the bare basket 
itself, and tire knowledge that it must remain in that state 
for about five months in the year, is certainly not con¬ 
ducive to its being largely grown. In A. dolabriform 
this drawback is removed; it is a thoroughly evergreen 
species, admirably adapted for small baskets, in which 
it shows itself off to perfection, and the young plants 
belonging to two or even three generations growing on 
thq tips of its graceful, elongated pinnate fronds with 
dolabriform pinnules, produce a charming effect, 
and make it a most attractive as well as a most useful 
plant. 
To Mr. Williams we are indebted for this valuableaddi- 
tion to our already long list of beautiful plants used for 
the ornamentation of our stoves, in one of which in his 
nursery at Halioway it is now making a charming dis¬ 
play.” 
HANGING-BASKETS. 
Of the many designs for hanging-baskets, but few are 
of any practical value for the purposes intended—that of 
conservatory or parlor decoration—from the fact of their 
being made so shallow that the plants do not have suffi¬ 
cient root-room, neither is there soil enough to sustain 
the large number of plants with which they are filled. 
The ordinary pattern, a wooden bowl, covered with 
roots of the Kalmia, Holly, or Blackberry, may justly 
be considered the poorest of all, because the soil is so 
shallow at the edges that it is constantly dry, while in 
the centre it is often sodden and sour. The best, cheap¬ 
est and most artistic device we have seen, is made by 
taking a small tub, the smaller sizes of a nest, always to 
be had for about fifteen cents each, at any house-fur¬ 
nishing store. Cover with Chestnut bark or Pine cones, 
when, if well done, it will be not only adapted for the 
purpose required, because of its shape, but it will present 
a natural, hence ornamental appearance. Before filling, 
proper drainage should be furnished. It matters but 
little what the design is, whether it be round, square, 
or octagon-shaped; whether it be cheap or expensive, 
the main tiling being to have the structure of sufficient 
depth to hold soil enough to sustain and nourish the plants. 
The important consideration is the proper selection of 
plants to be grown, and this is not as difficult a matter 
as is generally supposed, for the simple reason that 
plants that will thrive well in pots in the window, wall 
thrive equally well in the hanging-basket. What is ap¬ 
propriate is quite another matter, and that is altogether 
a matter of taste; for taste in arrangement, in adapta¬ 
tion, it is that makes a collection of plants look well 
anywhere. 
For the hanging-basket plants, of a trailing or climb¬ 
ing habit should be chosen, avoiding, excepting for 
a centre plant, any erect, stiff-growing specimen; and 
for the centre, a plant with a graceful branching habit, 
like the Begonia Rubra, or one with beautifully-recurved 
leaves, like the Pandanus or the Dracaena Indivisa, 
should invariably be chosen. The too common custom 
of crowding into a basket a large number of species 
without regard to harmony in form and color, and particu¬ 
larly, whether they are all adapted to the same condi¬ 
tions of growth, is the principal cause of failure in this 
branch of window-gardening. As in the open border, a 
single specimen, well grown, or a group of any one variety, 
is the most artistic gardening, so with the hanging- 
basket, when it contains but a single plant, chosen for 
its adaptation, or filled with a number, all of one 
variety, the effect is far more beautiful and pleasing 
than where it is filled with plants of various forms and 
habit of growth. 
One of the most satisfactory plants we ever tried for 
a large basket was the common Morning-Glory. As a 
house-plant, it is far more delicate in form than when 
planted in the open ground, consequently, in the basket 
it does not out-run its boundaries, but twines gracefully 
around its supports, its branches drooping down and 
twining about in the most artistic manner, and produc¬ 
ing its charming flowers the entire winter. The flowers 
are smaller than those on the plants in the border, but 
remain open nearly the whole day. There may be a 
more beautiful flower than the Morning-Glory; if so, we 
have failed to see it, particularly in the winter season. 
Seeds may be sown in the basket at any time, and they 
will usually come into flower in about six weeks from 
the time of sowing. 
For situations where there is not much light, ever¬ 
green Ferns, or Selaganella’s, make beautiful objects, 
they grow well together under the same conditions, and 
are perfectly allied in their forms and habits. The 
Begonia Rubra forms a beautiful plant in the centre of a 
basket, but must have lower-growing plants for the 
outer circles; and for this purpose, nothing is more 
beautiful than the Lycopodium densum, or some of the 
stronger-growing varieties. For the edge of the basket, 
the Kenilworth Ivy, or the Othonna Crassifolia, are 
well adapted; either droop gracefully over the edges, 
and when well grown will hang down nearly two feet 
below the basket. 
A basket filled with Nasturtiums is a beautiful object; 
their foliage is always bright and clean, they grow 
vigorously, and flower profusely. They are readily 
grown from seed, or from cuttings; the latter plan be¬ 
ing preferable, as they come into flower much sooner 
than when grown from seeds. The English Ivy is much 
used as a basket plant, more because of its poetical asso¬ 
ciations than for its real beauty. In its stead, we should 
use what is popularly known as the German Ivy (Senicio 
