Plants for winter blooming should be brought into the house before the nights get chilly. By becoming gradually accustomed to the air of the house before the doors are closed and the fires started, they will be less affected by the change.

Do not crowd into the window more plants than it can conveniently hold. Plants must have room to breathe and grow, and abundant light. No plant should touch its neighbours. Even with this amount of room at the start they will be badly crowded before spring, and it will probably be necessary to remove some.

Shelves, brackets, and stands should be in place before the plants are brought in, as changing about and handling are bad for them. Plants with tender foliage, as Cinerarias, Primulas, and the like, do best on a window-bracket, and the capacity of the window is greatly increased by the use of brackets. Plants with drooping leaves should have single brackets, to avoid contact with other plants. The Bougainvillea, also, does better on a bracket, being of a trailing habit. It is not, however, a good winter bloomer, usually coming in late in March and continuing until December, but it is very reliable during that time and requires less care than any house-plant with which I am familiar, unless it be the Araucaria.

See that all shelves are securely fastened, and strong enough to sustain the weight to be placed upon them. The additional protection of a small brass chain fastening the outer edge of the shelf to the window-casing above it will ease the strain on the brackets and give greater security.

See that all hanging-baskets are securely hung with copper wire, and that there is no danger of the hooks from which they are suspended pulling out.

Do not start in with a number of plants the requirements of which are entirely unknown. Where conditions for their proper care are not obtainable it will be wiser to content one’s self with familiar plants offering a reasonable hope of success, as Geraniums, Hyacinths, or Primroses. A healthy, vigorous plant, however common, is preferable to a sickly one, be it ever so rare.

A fair degree of atmospheric moisture should be maintained by keeping a dish of water on stove, register, or radiator. Where bulbs are grown a healthy degree of humidity is secured by evaporation and transpiration as shown by moisture gathering on the glass when the temperature falls. Moisture in the soil is a more difficult matter, and greater harm is done through ignorance in this particular than in any other way. Either plants are allowed to suffer for water, or they are drenched indiscriminately. All are watered alike, irrespective of individual need, whereas the requirements of each should be studied. A few plants, natives of bogs—as the Calla—require constant moisture when growing. Heliotrope, on the other hand, turns yellow when over-watered. Water should be applied thoroughly when given and then withheld until the plant is nearly dry again. This induces a stocky growth, with well-ripened wood, capable of producing healthy bloom. To keep a plant constantly wet may produce a quick growth, but it will be a soft one, incapable of the best results.

Flower-pots should not be filled to the brim with earth, but sufficient space should be left to hold enough water to thoroughly saturate the soil in each pot—a full inch or more in the case of six-inch pots, and at least half an inch for small pots. The soil must be sufficiently open to take the water quickly. Heliotrope, and some other plants, form a thick network of roots, which the water cannot penetrate readily, and channels should be opened through them with a pencil or stick. See that the water really penetrates the soil instead of merely passing between the ball of earth and the pot. Hanging-baskets of wire and moss are best watered by setting in a large pail until thoroughly soaked. One such watering will last a week, unless the room is very hot and dry.

Give sun-loving plants all the sunshine possible. Geraniums especially love to be close to the glass, and the difference is quickly seen in the quality of the blossoms. Shower every day, if possible, especially such plants as Heliotropes, Cinerarias, Cyclamen, Lantanas, and, if not once a day, at least once a week. Dipping the entire plant in a tub of quite warm water is a great benefit, as in that way every part of the plant is reached.

I do not especially approve of the advice so constantly given to “keep an old fork handy to stir the soil, that the roots may have air.” The leaves are the lungs of the plants, and if these are kept clean there will be no trouble about their breathing. Moreover, if necessary to get air to the roots, stirring the soil would be a very poor way to do it, as cultivation of the surface is intended to keep air out and moisture in. To this end we make a dry mulch over flower-beds and the farmer cultivates his corn in a “dry spell,” knowing that the formation of a dry crust will result in the rapid evaporation of the moisture in the soil, the dry air shrinking the soil and opening up its pores, as it were, letting the hot air in and the moisture out. This advantage the practice has: it counteracts any tendency to sourness in the soil, and should be resorted to whenever there is any suspicion of this, or when the earth in which tender or succulent-stemmed plants are growing seems hard and will not take water readily. The Amaryllis objects to this disturbance, and hard-wooded plants, which require firm potting, should not be disturbed by more than the merest scratching of the surface.

Give support to such plants as need it, promptly; failure in this respect may result in the loss of a cherished blossom, or the disfigurement of a plant.

Pinch back all weak and straggling growths, trimming the plants to grow stocky and symmetrical.

Avoid, as far as possible, a sudden change of temperature, as a sudden chill will greatly injure some plants, though they may not be actually frozen. Plants may be left in the window as long as the glass is not frosted, but at the slightest appearance of frost they must be moved back out of actual contact with the glass. The thermometer drops suddenly at times, and plants that were considered quite safe at night may be found frozen in the morning. When the thermometer in the window indicates a safe temperature and that outside a stationary one, though very low, the plants may be left where they are; but beware of falling temperature, and protect with several thicknesses of newspaper between the plants and the window, bringing it well out beyond the window-frames. All cracks between the sash and casing should be carefully sealed with strips of cloth or paper, the colour of the woodwork, neatly pasted over, effectually shutting out draughts. This alone will help immensely in protecting plants, and storm-windows are safe and save much trouble.

Fresh air, which plants must have, should be supplied through another room, where it will be warmed before reaching them. A screen, so placed as to cut off draughts when a door is opened to air the room, will be found a great convenience.

When plants are frozen they should be thawed very gradually. Darken the room and keep the temperature low, raising it gradually. If, however, the plants are in a living-room, where the temperature cannot conveniently be kept low for any length of time, remove them to the cellar until the frost is drawn out of them, when, if not too badly damaged, they may be returned to the window and encouraged to grow. Geraniums are rarely injured by one freezing, the loss of the leaves being the chief damage, and if the plants are returned at once to the window this may prove an advantage, as wherever a leaf falls a new shoot will usually be forced, making the plant much more stocky and thrifty. During an unusually severe storm, a Geranium left in the window of a room away from direct heat was badly frosted. As it was not a very choice variety no effort was made to save it. The room was closed, and a temperature of 12° below zero reigned for several days. When the weather moderated and the temperature rose to 32° the room was opened and warmed, the Geranium remaining on its shelf. In a few days, seemingly, the axil of every vanished leaf had bourgeoned into tender green, and in a short time the Geranium was as thrifty as ever, blossoming better the following summer than at any time before. Favourable growing conditions should be given as soon after freezing as possible, that all the vitality may be utilised and not wasted to sustain life in the unfavourable conditions existing in cellars.

Showering with, and dipping in, cold water slightly above freezing are also good for frosted plants; 33° is about right, as a higher temperature will be apt to precipitate the evil it is desired to avoid—the rupture of the plant-cells.

The freezing of the soil in pots, which often happens with bulbs or plants kept quite wet, does no particular harm, and no attention need be paid to it as long as the tops are not frozen.

Remember that heat rises, and that the upper sash of a window is many degrees warmer than the lower, so that by having an upper shelf you can grow plants requiring a much higher temperature than those on the lower shelf. For the same reason hanging-baskets require much more water than plants on low shelves, and should be showered frequently to counteract the dryer atmosphere. A rubber sprinkler is indispensable for this purpose; by its use flowers may be sufficiently showered every day to keep back red spiders and materially change the atmosphere.

Compost, sand, old manure, and drainage material should be prepared in the fall and put in a frost-proof place ready for any repotting that may be necessary during the winter, and for the early sowing of seeds in the house.

In another chapter will be found formulas for the various insecticides required for the extermination of the pests likely to attack plants in the close, dry air of the living-room. If attention is paid to the supply of fresh air and moisture little, if any, trouble will be experienced on this score.

Plants coming into bloom will require some fertiliser, and as there are objections to the use of manure-water in the house the following formula will be found very satisfactory: Get at the druggist’s one and a half pounds (or ounces) nitrate of soda, one-half pound (or ounce) phosphate of soda, and one pound (or ounce) sulphate of potash. Mix and pulverise the material thoroughly. When required for use put a rounding tablespoonful of this mixture in a gallon of hot water. To fertilise the plants put a teacupful of the water, when cool, on a six-inch pot, and more in proportion on larger pots. Do not use oftener than once in two weeks, and do not let it touch the foliage.

All the Asparagus group are benefited by the use of a good fertiliser, especially is this the case with A. Sprengeri, which makes a root growth so vigorous that it would be unmanageable were it not for the use of fertilisers, which make it possible to keep it within reasonable bounds.

Begonias, on the other hand, are usually injured by the use of fertilisers.