Part 10

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Don't invest your money in new plants until you are satisfied that they have all the merit claimed for them. As a general thing, the "novelties" sent out every spring at a high price are greatly inferior to the good old stand-bys. We seldom hear anything about them after the second season. Put your money into plants that you know can be depended on.

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Don't attempt the culture of hanging-plants unless you are willing to give them the care they must have in order to be satisfactory. Plants suspended in the window, where the temperature is considerably higher than at the sill, speedily dry out, and after this has happened a few times they become diseased and finally die. It will be necessary to apply water daily and in sufficient quantity to saturate all the soil in the pot or basket. Because it requires special effort on the part of the owner to get to suspended plants, they are generally neglected. It is a most excellent plan to have them arranged in such a manner that they can be let down into a tub of water and left there until the soil has absorbed all the water it can retain. This can be done by cords running over pulleys in the ceiling. Try it. Hanging-plants are always pleasing when healthily grown, and the window-garden that is without them is not living up to its privileges.

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Don't "fuss" with your plants too much. See that they get all the water they need, as much sunshine as possible, plenty of fresh air, an occasional application of some good fertilizer, and shower them frequently to keep them clean, and be satisfied with this treatment. They object to being treated as some mothers treat their children, who would be much better off if they were let alone after actual wants were provided for. Don't coddle your plants.

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Don't start dahlias into growth in the house early in the season, thinking that you are going to "get the start of the season" by so doing. We used to think that, because the dahlia came from a country where the summer was long, we must get it to growing in March or April, and we set the tubers out in pots and boxes and forced them to make a rapid and weak growth so early in the season that long before it was safe to put them out in the garden they were poor, spindling things, with just enough vitality in them to make it possible to say that they were alive. When they were planted out the change from indoors to outdoors had such a debilitating effect on them that for weeks they were undecided whether to live or die. If they lived we considered ourselves fortunate if we got a dozen flowers from each plant. Nowadays we understand the plant better. We don't attempt to start it in the house. We wait until the weather and the ground are warm and then we plant the tubers in the garden where they are to grow and bloom. We make the soil very rich. The plants begin to grow shortly after being planted, and in late August they come into bloom, and all through September they yield such a profusion of flowers as we never thought of getting from the plants when grown after the old method. The dahlia is one of our very best late-summer flowering plants when well grown. It must have a rich soil--it must not be allowed to get dry at the roots at any time--and it must be given substantial support, as its stalks are extremely brittle and easily broken down by hard winds and heavy rains. Dahlias are very effective when planted in the border among shrubs and perennials. There are few plants with a wider range of rich and brilliant color. By all means give them a place in your garden.

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Don't sow hollyhock seed in the spring expecting to get flowers from your plants the same season. They will not bloom the first year from seed.

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Don't allow your pansies to bloom--or try to bloom--during the hot, dry, midsummer season. They may produce some flowers, but they will be so inferior in quality that you will get no pleasure from them. I would advise cutting away all the old branches the latter part of July and encouraging the plants to renew themselves preparatory to fall flowering. If this is done, and strong, healthy growth results from the liberal application of a good fertilizer during August, you may expect a generous crop of large, fine flowers all through the autumn. If it is not done, and the plants are allowed to keep on trying to grow through the trying period of late summer, you will get few flowers and no really good ones.

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Don't allow any plant to develop seed if you want it to keep on blooming after its first flowering period. The aim of all plants is to reproduce themselves, and this can only be done by seed development. If we interfere with the ordinary process of seed production by cutting away all flowers as soon as they begin to fade, the plants will at once make another effort to perpetuate their kind, and, as the first step in this direction is the production of flowers, it will be readily seen that it is possible to make many of them bloom all through the season.

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Don't expect good flowers of any kind unless you are willing to give them the care and attention they require. If you are not willing to do this, or if, for any reason, you cannot do it, don't attempt gardening. Have enough regard for the flowers to not undertake their culture unless you can do them justice.

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Don't throw away plants of any kind. Somebody will always be glad to get those you have no use for.

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Don't neglect a plant to-day and think you can make up for that neglect by being very good to it to-morrow. Plants must receive care when it is needed, and this care should be given regularly, instead of spasmodically, to be effective.

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Don't begin to water your plants in your garden in a dry season unless you can keep on doing so as long as the dry spell lasts.

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Don't fail to keep close watch of your asters. Of late years many failures have resulted from the attack of a black beetle, which comes from no one knows where--comes so suddenly and does such deadly work in so short a time that the plants are often ruined before the presence of the pest is suspected. There is but one way of getting rid of this pest, and that is to make use of nicoticide, the standard remedy for all plant troubles of this kind. A small quantity of this extract of tobacco, diluted with water and sprayed over all portions of each plant, will effectually rout the enemy if applied promptly and thoroughly. Unless something is done as soon as the beetle is discovered, it will destroy every plant. Be on the lookout for it constantly, acting on the supposition that it will be sure to put in an appearance some time during the summer. Get ready in advance for prompt action against it by laying in a supply of the insecticide at the beginning of the summer.

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Don't think that your house plants need repotting two or three times a year if they are growing in good-sized pots. Once a year is quite often enough if you apply fertilizers at intervals of four or five months. Plants in small pots may outgrow their quarters, and these should be shifted to those of larger size when they have filled the old ones with roots.

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Don't make the mistake of putting small plants in large pots, thinking that they will be benefited by it. Wait for them to signify a desire for more room by filling all the soil of a small pot with roots. A plant with a small, weak root-system is often seriously injured by giving it a large pot to grow in, as it is not in a condition to make use of all the nutriment in a large amount of soil. A plant treated in this manner will often develop a sort of vegetable dyspepsia as a result of giving it more food than it can digest properly.