The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-10-30

4
things have teaching power peculiarl
: their own, and this is especially SO wher
i | there are children. One of the best {
lessons to instil into the minds c
, children is that all flowers are beautiful
even the most common ones, for it
these that our greatest poets have mos
| delighted to honor. Daisies, bluebells
primroses, dafodils, snowdrops ant
violets, wild roses and woodbine have al
been woven into song and story from thu
time of Chaucer to the days of Tennyson
The one great charm which Fingers
round our garden blossoms is their beau
| tiful reality. These ere essentially gen
uine. If you put wax flowers or fruits
into your windows or on the tables O.
your rooms, no one with any taste vii
waste second glance on them even
the child who at first was taken with
their bright colors will soon forget them,
but this is never so of real flowers.
The best soil or earth for fuchsias and
geraniums-indeed, for all the ordinary
kinds of plants grown in windows is
what gardener calls ''tibrous loan. y
This is obtained from upland pastures
and sheep-Walks, and consists of mel.
low, friable, nut-colored earth, rich in
vegetable fibre. This should be cut in
layers about three inches in thickness.
and may be stacked up until wanted for
use. Broken up into rough pieces the
size of hazel-nuts, this sort of earth con-
tains all the elements really necessary
for plants existence. AS before men,
toned, a few sods of fibrous earth of this
kind may often be obtained from grassy
roadside. When prepared for pots it
should not be too finely pulverized.
One of the most common of errors into
which inexperienced undergraduates
fall is that of using finely sifted earth for
plants-that is to say, soil destitute of
fbrous rootlets and other organic mate
rial. 1t is from this fibrous matter,
when acted upon by water, heat and air,
that the plants derive their food. The
tips OF the tiny roots of fuchsia or a
myrtle, for example, are really hungry
little mouths eager to suck up nitrogen
Gus matter soluble in water, SO that the
soil, apart from its mechanical use of re-
taiaing plant firmly in all erect position,
must contain organic or manurial matter
easily dissolvable in water. But if any
ordinary earth be taken, you may safely
leave your plants to manage their own
chemistry if you place good drainage
material below the soil and water regu-
larry and keep their leaves free from
dust and insects. As is we'll known, rain
water is best. Every gallon Of fresh
rain-water contains about half grain of
salts, and Liebig, that great
agricultural chemist, calculated that this
quantity per gallon is amply sufficient
to nourlsh a forest of oaks. Thus rain
water is the best you can use for your
pet plants, and in towns il is rendered
still more nourishing, owing to the SCOT
collected by it as it falls on the roofs ere
it finds its way into your water-tub be-
low.
DRA1NAGE.-Broken bits of earthen-
ware or of flower-pots are most general
ly placed as drainage beneath the soil,
but the action Of these is mechanical
only, and rs substitute for these oyster
shells, broken bones, charcoal, nodules
of common coal, or even cinders may
be used, containing as they all do plant
food in soluble form. II is a good plan
to put layer of moss over the drainage
to prevent the soil washing down and
blocking up the drainage hole in the
For all strong growing
plants old broken bores may be mixed
with the soil With advantage.
WATERING.-Now, as to the watering
Of your plants, it is necessary to be
methodical, and little practice will
teach you more than anything l can tell
you here. The best plan is to look over
your plants every morning. Thus you
will perceive that the four great essen
tials of healthy plant life are heat, air, |
light and constant mo sture. That all |
plants like heat rather than cold is |
proved by their rapid growth during the
su Inner as contrasted with their slow
or absolute rest during the WIN
ter. Air and light are as necessary for |
plants as for ourselves. might even go
a little farther and say that when the |
plants grow up in your windows tall and
thin, with wiry stalks and pale yellowish
leaves, they indicate by their general ap-
pearance an insufficient amount of light
and air. When this is the case more air |
ard more light through clean window
panes would be beneficial. Moisture is |
necessary, since the roots can only alb |
sorb nutriment when in soluble state. |
AS we have said, the soil itself is COM
posed of particles through which air.
spaces abound. The water must be just
sufficient to keep these particles moist, |
and the air in the spaces is thus kept in |
the co ldition of moist air. The roots |
traverse these air-spaces, and it is, there
fore, moist air which roots want rather |
han water. IF it were water simply |
which plants wanted, we should cork up |
The hole in the fower-pot, and prevent |
The water from getting away. Instead of
his, we try to hasten the passing of the
water through as much as possible, by |
not only keeping the hole as clear as
possible, but often by putting pieces of
broken material over the hole to act as
drainage.
fTfo Ia nna,SSra.oJN