Plants kept in the house over winter require attention paid to certain
requisites, heat, light, ventilation and water. Too much heat is just as
injurious to them as a deficiency. If the air is dry and hot the plants
will soon be infested with the red spider, green fly and mealy bug, so
try to maintain a temperature of seventy or seventy-five degrees by day
and fifteen degrees less at night. To get the moist air, so essential to
all plants, water may be evaporated on the stove. .
Light should be given at all times and as much as possible. Gerani-
ums and heliotrope revel in the sunlight. Such charming window
plants as the rex begonias are partial to shade, but can be put in among
other plants. The same with the fuchsias. Turn your plants frequently
if you would have them symmetrical, and don't be afraid to pinch off
the tops if you want them bushy. Geraniums, fuchsias and coleus
have a strong tendency to run up one long stem which, of course, makes
a spindling plant.
Ventilation should be given on every fine day. Do not allow a
draught of cold air to blow on your plants, however. Watering should
be done when the surface soil is dry, and only then. There are some
exceptions to this rule, however, for callas, hydrangias, rex begonias
and some others require abundance of water. Preparation for the win-
ter garden should commence along early in the summer. One cannot
expect a rose or a fuchsia, which has given its lovely flowers during
the summer, to keep right along in flower, Roses for winter blooming
must be pot-grown and of varieties adapted to forcing.
The leaves of plants need washing and syringing to remove the dust
that gathers on them. Some plants, such as begonia rex, do not like
their leaves moistened. Others, like the camellia, require the leaves
sponged off one by one. Always use soft, tepid water, and attend to
washing them at least once every week. Pick off the yellow leaves at
the same time.
The drainage of the pots should admit the surplus water to escape
easily through the hole in the bottom of the pot. Never allow the water
to stand in the saucers.
One great error in window-gardening consists in attempting to grow
too many plants. Better to have one healthy, well-grown plant than a
dozen sickly, enfeebled things which have neither beauty nor blossom.
PLANTS FOR WINDOW GARDENS
To get the box ready for plants, put in pieces of charcoal in order to
make a drainage. For the soil, take a mixture of leaf-mold and black
muck, from the woods, finely pulverized ; add to this a small quantity
of sand.
Sand is a requisite for some flowers, especially the succulents, and in
limited quantity for ferns and other plants that enjoy a light, loose soil.
100 FLO WERS.
Bank sand, so called, is miserable stuff for this purpose, and should
never be used. Road sand is far better, especially if sharp and gritty.
Sand obtained from the shores of large bodies of fresh water is the best
by far. Care must be taken that seaside sand is not used, as the salt
contained in it is injurious to vegetation.
Page 88
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Plants kept in the house over winter require attention paid to certain requisites, heat, light, ventilation and water. Too much heat is just as injurious to them as a deficiency. If the air is dry and hot the plants will soon be infested with the red spider, green fly and mealy bug, so try to maintain a temperature of seventy or seventy-five degrees by day and fifteen degrees less at night. To get the moist air, so essential to all plants, water may be evaporated on the stove.
Light should be given at all times and as much as possible. Geraniums and heliotrope revel in the sunlight. Such charming window plants as the rex begonias are partial to shade, but can be put in among other plants. The same with the fuchsias. Turn your plants frequently if you would have them symmetrical, and don't be afraid to pinch off the tops if you want them bushy. Geraniums, fuchsias and coleus have a strong tendency to run up one long stem which, of course, makes a spindling plant.
Ventilation should be given on every fine day. Do not allow a draught of cold air to blow on your plants, however. Watering should be done when the surface soil is dry, and only then. There are some exceptions to this rule, however, for callas, hydrangias, rex begonias and some others require abundance of water. Preparation for the winter garden should commence along early in the summer. One cannot expect a rose or a fuchsia, which has given its lovely flowers during the summer, to keep right along in flower, Roses for winter blooming must be pot-grown and of varieties adapted to forcing.
The leaves of plants need washing and syringing to remove the dust that gathers on them. Some plants, such as begonia rex, do not like their leaves moistened. Others, like the camellia, require the leaves sponged off one by one. Always use soft, tepid water, and attend to washing them at least once every week. Pick off the yellow leaves at the same time.
The drainage of the pots should admit the surplus water to escape easily through the hole in the bottom of the pot. Never allow the water to stand in the saucers.
One great error in window-gardening consists in attempting to grow too many plants. Better to have one healthy, well-grown plant than a dozen sickly, enfeebled things which have neither beauty nor blossom.
PLANTS FOR WINDOW GARDENS
To get the box ready for plants, put in pieces of charcoal in order to make a drainage. For the soil, take a mixture of leaf-mold and black muck, from the woods, finely pulverized ; add to this a small quantity of sand.
Sand is a requisite for some flowers, especially the succulents, and in limited quantity for ferns and other plants that enjoy a light, loose soil.
Bank sand, so called, is miserable stuff for this purpose, and should never be used. Road sand is far better, especially if sharp and gritty. Sand obtained from the shores of large bodies of fresh water is the best by far. Care must be taken that seaside sand is not used, as the salt contained in it is injurious to vegetation.