Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-09-11
Answers to Correspondents.

BED-R ooMs-What is the best covering
for bedroom floors LUCIA. Vallejo.
A,s,oer. The Household is well aware
that carpets are the most fashionable, and
is equally aware that they are the most
unhealthy. Mating or oilcloth is better.
The latter is preferable. Use rugs at the
bedside and in front of the dressing case
wardrobe and washstands.
CURTAINS. DO you favor wooden cur
tSins IN living or sleeping rooms, and
are they now the 6 thing?"
ST. B.. Santa Barbara.
.Ans1er. No; and they are not " the
thing" except with those who cling to a
merely fanciful custom All sensible peo-
pie now discard heavy stuffs as liable to
hold dust odors and the germs of disease.
Lambrequins of smooth-surfaced materials
rule, and even they are abbreviated much.
Stiff curtains are about as unhealthtul as
carpets, and against the latter we make
open war.
DARkENED Rooms. Should the sleeping
room be darkened by curtains Some re-
marks in the Household recently lead me
TO thinkIyou hold it to be right to darken
the room. I think light and air are essen
tial to sound sleep; !. E., such light as
there is at night. Mrs. JULIA B.,
Sacramento.
4assger are right. We have al
ways so held. Reason indorses it. DIR.
Richardson is good authority, and he says
&EThere is muck difference of opinion on
the question of window curtains and win
dow blinds in the bedroom. Some persons
who have been unhealthily educated are
unable TO sleep except when the room is
entirely dark, the faintest ray of light be-
ing sufficient to break their repose. Others
can sleep when light enters into the room
in the fullest degree l have no doubt
those are most healthy who can sleep with
out any window shade whatsoever, and l
am sure that every one can be trained so as
TO sleep without blinds if the training do
but commence early enough in life. Light
purihes and inyigorates and children that
sleep in darkness, by their blanched
faces alone may be distinguished from
those who sleep in well lighted room.
More than this, the admission of daylight
early In the morning tends to create a
habit of early rising, which is so conducive
to health. He who halls the sun instead
of letting the sun hail him is the wise man.
Those who sleep like moles in a hole,
though they may grow sleek and fat. are
not sun-healthy ; they are feeble, subject
TO headaches, excitable, pale and nervous.
For these reasons | would, therefore, teach
that the half-blind of muslin is all that is
sufficient for the bedroom window, and
that the roller-blind should only be used
to prevent the actual glare of the sun, or
to shut out the view into a room that Is
exposed to other houses that overlook it.
Heavy curtains for bedroom windows, or
curtains of any kind, are altogether out of
place, except as mere ornamental append
ages. and they, when present for appear
ance sake, should never be drawn except
On emergency, in seasons of extreme cold
or heat.
Care and Treatment Of Hanging Baskets.
Hanging baskets add so much TO the
zdornment of our homes during the sum-
Tner that l am induced to give few plain
directions for their management. In the
FIRST place get them nicely filed with suit
able plants, and, presuming such is the
case, do not expose them all at once to the
,scorching sun and drying winds. Let an
old newspaper, or piece of thin cloth be
pinned around each, during the very hot
test part of the day, removing it at night,
which, after few days shading, may be
discontinued entirely. The watering of
baskets is most important point, and must
be done effectually and as often as necessary.
Be sure the water penetrates the whole,
whether it is required once day or once
week This must be ascertained by the
appearance of the plants, and as soon as
there is the least sign of whiting let them
4, +ha hae+ o,,1
way is to immerse the basket in tub of
water until the air bubbles cease to rise !;
as long as the bubbles continue there are
some spots st II dry. Immersion is not ne
cessary at every watering, but certainly
once or twice week. Some fertilizing
agent must be applied at least twice
week, and the easiest applied and one of
the most efectual is guano, in proportion
of one tablespoonful to three gallons of
water this can be used for alternate
watering with the dimensions, and / may
say here, that for all liquid manuring of
house plants there is nothing better
than guano, used in proportion as given
above. The plants in hanging baskets
must be regulated and cared for-that is,
the strongest growing ones must not be al
lowed to run over and choke the weaker
cnes. Take off the largest and those
leaves showing and signs of decay. Pinch
out the points of coleus achyranthas and
other plants that are inclined to destroy
che symmetry, or even take out whole
branch; remove altogether such plants
that have done Towering for the season
and which impede the growth of others.
Urns, vases and boxes, filed with plants,
require nearly the same care and treatment,
excepting that they cannot be dipped in
water but sharp pointed stick or thin
rod OF iron, thrust in the soil and reaching
to the bottom in several places, by twist
ing round and withdrawing will leave
spaces for water to percolate through the
whole. NJ.