IN addition to what has been said in the chapters on the culture of flowers, it is thought proper to add a few hints upon the subject of window gardening.

There are but few plants that will not thrive in-doors under proper conditions of light and temperature. A window which admits much light by day should be selected, and as plants must have their periods of sleep, provision should be made for shutting off the bright glare of the lamp at night. A few plants, well cared for, look better than a window full of plants so closely crowded as to cause them to grow spindling and turn yellow.

Regarding soil, the reader is referred to other chapters in this work; but it is well to state that the pots for window plants should be filled to the depth of one or more inches with charcoal, to assist in drainage and to keep the soil sweet.

Care should be used in watering, as plants are easily "drowned out." If during a gentle, warm shower the plants can be so placed as to receive it, they will be all the better for it. They should generally be watered once a day with a watering-pot, - never poured on, - the water being about the temperature of the room. The morning is, perhaps, the best time for watering, and it never should be done while the sun shines upon the plants.

Fig. 75.

Plants that have flowered all the summer cannot be expected to continue the process during the winter, as they must have a period of rest before they can mature. Those which are wanted for flowering in winter, must be started late in the summer from seeds or cuttings, or if started earlier they must be set away or laid down till autumn. The bulbous plants for winter use should be laid down in the shade in May, and given no water till September, when they may be repotted, and will become active in a few weeks. Cuttings for winter may be potted in midsummer. Monthly roses, geraniums, fuchsias, heliotropes, callas, begonias; and for climbers, the cypress-vine, nasturtium, and ivy, are the plants that require the least trouble and succeed best.

Fig. 76.

For supporting the pots, a window box is the cheapest; it can be lined with zinc, and filled in around the pots with moss, if desirable. A strong wire stand, set on castors, is very handy, as it can be moved around, and is moreover ornamental.

The illustrations given in this department are intended to suggest the methods that may be employed in window gardening, and it is not deemed necessary to enter into a lengthy description of them. On page 329 is illustrated a bay-window. Below is given a good plan where the baywindow is wanting, and drops a hint as to how an ivy may be concealed behind a mirror, with its graceful loops hanging down on each side, and a small portion just peeping into the glass.

Fig. 77.

The cut on page 331 shows how the scroll-saw may be employed in window gardening. The lambrequin at the top is made of wood, decorated with the scroll-saw.

Fig. 78.

We have seen shrubs employed with excellent results, in making a background for the more showy plants; and in one instance a species of maple, eight feet high, in full leaf in midwinter, was perhaps the most admired of the whole collection.

Of course the arrangement of plants in a window or cabinet must depend in a great measure upon the taste of the possessor; but excellent effects can be produced almost anywhere with small-leafed ivy, madeira-vine, smilax, and other hardy climbers, set off by a few showy geraniums, and similar flowers.

One of the principal reasons why flowers bought on the streets or at the markets prove so unsatisfactory, is because they are placed in small pots to save room, in the damp pits where they are grown, and when they come to be transferred to the sitting-room, or balcony, the earth soon bakes, and the flower-buds fall off without opening.

If the common flower-pots in which the plants are growing be placed inside ornamental pots a few sizes larger, and the intermediate space be stuffed with wet moss, the closing up and fading can generally be prevented. A still better plan is to arrange a window box to receive the pots; this should be from seven to ten inches deep, filled with earth or moss, and lined with zinc.