Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1848-01-29
n grftuIturaI.
Cultivation OF House Plants

Cultivation OF House Plants.
The cultivation Of plants in the house
has become 50 universal In our communi
ty, and an object Of so much interest In our
fairer hall Of creation, that | have yentured
to send youa few ideas, (drawn from my
W e~xperience,) upon the manner Of cut
tivatipg and preserving Them, in the hope
of contributing something to promote this
simple and beautiful taste.
Nothing Is more common than 10 see
windows filled with draw n up and weakly
plants, denuded oftbeir foliage, and looking
as If they were maintaining, with The ad.
verse circumstances In which they are
placed, q desperate struggle for existence.
To remedy this evil, 10 put tho lovers Of
plants In a way TO procure a vigorous
growth and free bloom, Ii the object Of iii
communication for If the view Of d fine
plant in the winter, well clothed with green
and graceful foliage and loaded with flow.
ers, gratiies our love Of the beautiful, re.
mindipg us Of "serdant spring and summer
redoleDt Of sweets 70 also doth the de-.
iolfated and wittered plant give % only
pain, reminding us Of ''sere and yellow"
autumn, and the biting frosts Of winter.
Any effort which tends to promote The
love Of the beautiful, to etnbeilish The home
Of the humble and The poor, as well as the
proud and the aAuent, thereby contributing
to the sum ofhnman happiness, and adding
one more link to the golden chain which
binds the various classes Of the great human
family together, is not unworthy the lover
Of his kind, nor the philosopher who aims
at their improvement for this must come
through the subsection Of unnatural, false,
and selfish tastes, supply ing, in their stead
the natural, the tue, and beautiful. 1t IS
said Of the ancient Romans that they cared
not for fine furniture, but cmbcliished their
houses with flowers. The effect Of this on
the public mind could not but have been
good, and the Romans only degenerated
when luxury crept in peryetting simple and
true taste, and enervating that character
which We constantly refer to az the type Of
all that IS yalorous and great.
~
Most plants have roots and stems, bark
and leaves the roots terminate in minute
rootlets or spongioles, whose Office Is 10
take up the food Of the plant in q liquid
state. II is then carried up to the leaves,
where it il spread out to the action Of the
light and air, TO be elaborated and fitted to
and nourish the plant il il return
ed from the leaves through the cellular
and furnishes the woody structure,
buds, leaves and flowers, Two essentials
must be remembered in this connection
the proper food for the plant must be pre-.
sented 10 the root, and the leaves must
be exposed to The action OF the light and
air, for thus only are the juices prepared to
feed the plant. The necessary prelimina.
ries TO growth are then q proper soil, a good
system Of leaves, light, and air The leaves
also absorb a quantity u carbonic gasfom
the atmosphere, which makes wood, II il
thus thai cuttings are supported until they
become rooted. Leaves are the lungs d
which exhals the superabundant
moisture which The roots take up they do
This more rapidly when exposed 10 . cur.
I fair than in q close atmosphere, and
hence TO give them air promotes the forma-
lion Of firm wood.
TIE presence Of life in the plant controls
he action of soil and the salts it contains.
8c., upon the plant and Of the plant upon
Them, and hen this principle i weak, the
spong,oles use their discriminating power,
and take in with equal facility that which il
and that which i Pernicioua. The