CHAPTER XIII.. The Double Window.

THE DOUBLE WINDOW.

Advantages of a Double Window.--Their Use in the North.--The Manner of decorating them.--Glass Stands.--Plants proper for the Double Window.--Grevillea, Kennedia, Blue Lobelia, Gesneria, Gloxinias, Achimenes, Brunfelsias, Torrenia Asiatica, Ixora, Echmea, Begonias.--Sparmannia.--Retractility of its Stamens.

Advantages of a Double Window.

After having done our gardening in the parlor, wishing for a little more room in which to pursue it still further, we came out of doors. Here also our work is completed. Let us then go in again.

In all countries where Winter brings in his train a long succession of vigorous colds, in order to guard the better against these, the inhabitants, instead of having in their windows but a single sash, use the wise precaution of having two--the outer one even with the outside of the house, the inner one even with the inside wall of the apartment. Thanks to this arrangement, the cold reigning without is so far excluded that a mild temperature is preserved in your chamber, while, at the same time, there remains between the two sashes a vacant space which is at your disposal for any uses to which it is susceptible of being put. It is the very thing for our gardening purposes.

The English like to keep avadevats there; by the Dutch, this space is dedicated to canary birds, which they understand perfectly how to rear, Holland being the country of all others where these birds do most abound. There is nothing, however, ladies, to prevent you from appropriating it to your favorite pets--flowers.

It is evident that whenever the interior sash is kept open, the interval between the two sashes receiving, as it then does, a portion of the atmosphere of the chamber, will of course be of the same temperature. This space, then, is equivalent to a little conservatory, either merely tempered or hot, according as the person who occupies the chamber is more or less chilly; and in this temperature all the cultures that can be conducted on a large scale in greenhouses, tempered merely, or hot, are equally possible on a small scale in the double window.

Manner of decorating it.

Before filling it with flowers, you must suspend there an elegant earthen-ware vase in which to put a plant from the order bromeliaceæ--a Guzmannia, for instance, the leaves of which plant resemble those of the ananas; and in the centre of this foliage there appears a flower of so brilliant a red that one cannot steadfastly gaze at it without its fatiguing the sight. The size of this vase must be proportioned to the width of the window, and to the dimensions of the plants that you propose to cultivate there. It is best that the small pots which you have at the two sides be supported on shelves formed of panes of glass, because wooden stands would intercept the light too much. I think you would do well to follow, in arranging the plants in the double window, the advice I gave with regard to those in the garden at the window.

Plants proper to be placed here.

Place on the shelves of the glass stands at the two ends of the window-sill plants of a low and tufted nature: first, on the upper shelves, such as, without being precisely climbing or running plants, are taller than they are broad. There is nothing of this sort more graceful than the shrubs of the genus Grevillea. On the front or lower shelves place small plants which bear many flowers, such as the Kennedias and the blue lobelias of Surinam. Arranged in this manner, they will not be in your way when you wish to stand close to the outer sash to look out at the wintry scene, as a contrast to your tropical garden within. Your double window is an excellent place also for making a display of the plants you have obtained from seeds and slips reared in the hot portable greenhouse. Your choice is not a limited one by any means. In the course of my instructions, I name only some of those which I consider as most worthy of your attention. What I shall say in regard to their culture will be a sufficient guide to you, should you desire to admit into their society others that require the same temperature.

Gesneriaceæ.

The double window can also lodge, very much at their ease, plants of the order Gesneriaceæ, of the three genera, Gesneria, Gloxinia, and Achimenes. I have already had occasion to remark with what perfect docility a leaf, or a mere fragment of a leaf, from a plant of this last named genus will take root when we wish to propagate it by slips.

The gloxinias are not less accommodating: their foliage resembles the most beautiful green velvet, and their flowers, in the form of a goblet, have in the inside a large spot, which is always of a different shade from the flower itself. The gesneriaceæ require a great deal of water and of heat; they must be watered several times a day, and whenever you have reason to fear that they may be seriously injured by the cold at night,--which would happen only when it freezes very hard outside,--you will take the precaution of placing them on your mantel-piece for the night. Their bloom continues very long, and will fully recompense you for your trouble. Treat in the same way the Brunselsias, the torrenia Asiatica, the yxoras, the æchmeas, and the small begonias, which, in company with each other, inside of your double window, will constitute there a charming little parterre taken from the tropical flora.

Sparmannia.

Do not forget to add to the above one or two plants of the Sparmannia, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. In this pretty plant you may observe, while it is in bloom, the phenomenon of retractility,--with a contrary effect, however,--which renders the sensitive plant so curious. Touch delicately with the end of your finger the summit of the stamens of a flower of Sparmannia in full bloom: instead of modestly closing, in imitation of our gentle mimosa, they will forthwith scatter, spreading out in every direction with a brusque and instantaneous movement. Some time after they will return to their former position. This property of the stamens of the Sparmannia, less generally known than that which manifests itself in the closing of the leaves of the sensitive plant, is not less curious or interesting to observe.

Forced Strawberries.

If you have two or three double windows instead of one, place pots of strawberries upon the glass stands of one of them; they will bloom in January, and will give, each one, five or six strawberries in February, when out of doors the earth will perhaps yet be hard frozen, or covered with snow, and the river will be covered with skaters. At such a time a single strawberry, gathered from a plant forced by your care, in one of your double windows, will have the right to seem supremely delicious to you.

CONCLUSION.

And here, my dear ladies, ends the series of notions upon horticulture in the house that I proposed to give you. Can the Parlor Gardener flatter himself with having inspired you with a little interest for those plants that you already loved without knowing it,--for you were predisposed by your nature to do so,--and that you will love better and better in proportion as you know them more? One thing above all ought to have struck you in the course of our discourse: it is, that in all that I have taken the liberty to recommend to you, there is not a single process that each of you cannot practise by yourself; not a single culture that you cannot succeed in by conforming to my hints. Success in our undertakings, whatever the thing may be that we undertake to do, is always pleasure--often happiness.

Let us understand each other, however. I do not pretend that every thing you do will be always crowned with success; you will often go wrong, and then your attempts will necessarily fall through; this is inevitable. But this much I can promise, and answer for--that with a little reflection you will always be able to discern the cause of your failure; and this being seen, you can then begin again, and obtain from a second attempt what you could not from the first.

My dear ladies, I shall enjoy the pleasure--in imagination, at least--of seeing you engaged in adorning with these beautiful children of Flora, first your mantel-piece, next your étagère, then your flower-stand, your balcony, and your terrace, all in due succession. I can picture to myself the liveliness of the satisfaction with which you will watch the growth and the opening of the first bud of the first camellia, grafted with your own hand, and that also with which you will gather the first fruit of the first cherry tree that you will have forced under my directions. No doubt the ladies of your acquaintance will take pleasure in following your example--this inoffensive taste for gardening is also a growing and spreading thing. Permit me, then, dear ladies, to indulge the hope that there will spring out from all this--amidst the violets and mignionettes--a little kind recollection of THE PARLOR GARDENER.

INDEX.

Alaterne, 122

Aquarium, 86

Aquarium, construction of, 89

Aquarium, parlor, 88

Balcony to the East, 100

Balcony to the North, 98

Balcony to the South, 107

Balcony to the West, 103

Bean, Spanish, 100

Buddleya, 112

Bulbs, choice of them, 21

Cactuses, 34

Camellias, 84

Christmas rose, 119

Chrysanthemums, 106

Cleaning of plants, 18

Clematis, 124

Clianthus, 112

Cobea, 100

Crocus, 25

Currants, 138

Delphinium, 125

Digitalis, 99

Double window, 143

Echinocacti, 35

Epamprement, 137

Epinoche, 91

Fruits grown on the terrace, 129

Fuchsias, 116

Fruit trees, dwarf, forced, 138

Flower bulbs, 21

Galanthus, 118

Garden in the apartment, 11

Garden on the étagère, 31

Garden on the flower-stand, 44

Garden on the mantelpiece, 20

Garden on the terrace, 120

Garden on the window, 96

Gesneria, 147

Glass shelves, 145

Gloxinia, 147

Glycine of China, 124

Grafts à la pontoise, 82

Grafts of Camellia, 84

Grafts of Orange, 80

Grafts, what practicable, 78

Greenhouse, cold, 56

Greenhouse, warm, 73

Grevillea, 146

Hepatica, 99

Hibiscus, 125

Hollyhock, 124

Holly, variegated, 122

Honeysuckle, 124

Hyacinth, flowering in water, 21

Hydrocharis, 92

Hypericum, 99

Ivy, Irish, 98

Japan quince, 119

Jonquil, 24

Kennedia, 146

Larkspur, 125

Ligatures for grafts, 81

Lobelia, 146

Mandevillea suaveolens, 46

Melocacti, 35

Mesembryanthemums, 38

Mignionette, 102

Mimosa pudica, 92

Mimulus, 99

Nemophiles, 99

Nipping off buds, 134

Pansies, 102

Passion flower, 46

Pelargoniums, 71

Periwinkle, 122

Plants bought in flower, 45

Plants for the double window, 130

Plants for the flower-stand, 45

Plums, 137

Pruning grapes, 134

Quince, Japan, 119

Ranunculus, 62

Ranunculus, aquatic, 94

Raspberry bush, 137

Rhodiola, 5

Rice, grafted, 92

Rose, Bourgainville, 124

Rose, Boursault, 124

Sedum (stone-crop), 38

Seed-bed, 58

Sempervivum (house-leek), 5

Shrubs, branching, 124

Shrubs, climbing, 124

Slips in the cold portable greenhouse, 66

Slips in the warm portable greenhouse, 73

Slips of begonia, 69

Slips of camellia, 74

Slips of chrysanthemums, 71

Slips of dwarf succulent plants, 68

Slips of leaves, 68

Slips of pelargoniums, 71

Slips, rose, 71

Snow-drop, 118

Spanish beans, 100

Sparmannia, 148

Stapelia, 36

Stock gillyflower, 102

Strawberry, Alpine, 132

Strawberry, Chili, 132

Strawberry, Goliah, 132

Strawberry, Queen of Great Britain, 132

Strawberry, Virginia scarlet, 132

Strawberry, Wilmot superb, 132

Terrace, balcony, 110

Terrace, garden, 120

Thinning grapes, 134

Thunbergia alata, 46

Tomatoes grafted on potatoes, 78

Vases, hanging, 101-104

Vine cultivated in flower pot, 133

Violet, double climbing, 47

Virginia creeper, 124

Watering, 13

Warmth, 16

Winter rose, 119

Wood pink, 46

Yxora, 148

FOOTNOTES:

The epacris is a New Holland shrub, which the first settlers mistook for a kind of heath, and which is still called heath in Australia, where the true heath (erica) is unknown.--Mrs. Loudon’s Ladies’ Companion to the Flower Garden, edited by A. J. Downing.

Tussilago--coltsfoot. Vanilla tussilago is probably the tussilago fragrans.

Round-shaped cacti, which take their name from their resemblance, in form and spines, to a curled-up hedgehog.--Mrs. Loudon’s Ladies’ Companion to the Flower Garden.

HAND-GLASSES--Portable frames or covers, formed of iron, zinc, or wood, and glazed. These glasses differ from bell-glasses in being longer and composed of numerous small pieces of glass, which are fastened together by narrow strips of lead. Hand-glasses are generally square; but they may be made of an octagon, or any other shape that may be found most convenient; and they are sometimes made with a pane to open to admit air, or with the upper part to take off. This is very convenient; for as hand-glasses are chiefly used for protecting half-hardy plants during winter, it is necessary to give them air every fine day, and it is very troublesome to be obliged to lift the hand-glass off the plant, and to lay it on one side, whenever this is done. Bell-glasses, on the contrary, being principally for preventing the evaporation of moisture from the leaves of cuttings, do not require any opening, as the plants seldom want any air till they have rooted.--Mrs. Loudon’s Ladies’ Companion for the Flower Garden.

Peat mixed with sand.

From the word pompon, the worsted ornament worn in soldiers’ caps, in lieu of feathers.

Frog-bit--a pretty little British water-plant with white flowers.--Mrs. London’s Ladies’ Companion for the Flower Garden.

Description of the water ranunculus in America by Dr. Darlington, of West Chester, Pa., in his Flora Cestrica:--

“Ranunculus, Linn., (Latin rana, a frog, the plant often growing where frogs abound.)

“Ranunculus aquatilis, Linn., water ranunculus; Vulgo, river crowfoot.

“Root perennial. Stems numerous from the root, procumbently floating, nine to eighteen inches long, very slender, smooth, jointed, branching, and usually throwing out a couple of filiform roots at the joints. Leaves alternate, one at each joint, ... segments half an inch to an inch long.... Petals white or ochroleucous, yellow at base....

“Habitat, flowing waters; Brandywine, frequent. Flowers June to August.

“Observation.--I have often found this plant entirely submersed (and usually in swift-running water) so deep that the flowers certainly never reached the surface. Professor De Candolle enumerates five varieties of this species, four of which Professor Hooker gives as natives of British America; but I have only met with the present one in this county, (Chester County, Pa.)”

The althæa is an hibiscus.

The eighth, being peculiarly a French strawberry, has been omitted.

It would be well to try this method with other grapes.

Order Bromeliaceæ (the pineapple family) consists of American and chiefly tropical plants; with rigid and dry channelled leaves, often with a scurfy surface; a mostly adnate perianth of three sepals and three petals, and six or more stamens; the seeds with mealy albumen.--Gray’s Botanical Text Book.

Order Gesneriaceæ, consisting of tropical herbs, with green foliage and showy flowers.--Gray’s Botanical Text Book.

There is an interesting history of the yxora in Mrs. Loudon’s book.

Transcriber's Notes:

Italics are shown thus: sloping.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.

Perceived typographical errors have been changed.