Part 7

=Things in Glass=: Glass jars, whether of preserves, fruit, or vegetables, had better be wrapped in paper, held on by a rubber band, and set so as not to touch. They should be kept where it is dark, dry, clean, and cool, on slat shelves or plank ones bored full of half-inch holes. Light, through its weird actinic rays, plays hob with flavors, and may even induce worse things. Yet jellies set in full sunlight for, say, ten days gain a richer texture and keep better ever after.

=Fruit and Vegetable Storage=: With a cool, dry, airy cellar have movable bins of slats with firm, low legs, whitewashed yearly inside and out. Store in them apples, potatoes, sweet and Irish, turnips, carrots, beets, what not. Lay grapes, choosing perfect bunches only, upon swinging slat shelves and cover with cheese cloth. In a temperature around forty degrees there will be no rotting nor drying up, provided only sound things have been brought in.

=Canning Things=: The secret of success in canning things is perfect sterilization. Do the work if possible in bright, windy weather, out doors if you can; if not, in a kitchen very clean and well aired. Bring into it no specked or rotten things—decay is a ferment the same as yeast, and spores of it spread through the air. It is better to prepare things outside. Drop apples, pears, or peaches in water as pared or hulled, and keep them covered until ready to cook. Have two kettles of syrup, one bubbling, the other barely simmering. Have a boiler of boiling water for the jars. Empty a jar just at the moment of using, fill it running over with boiling-hot fruit and seal instantly. The simmering-kettle is for filling up the other. Keep the bubbling-kettle filled with syrup to capacity, drop in barely fruit enough to fill a jar, cook for five minutes, then seal. A few cloves and a blade of mace in the top of each can improve flavor. Use at least half weight of sugar to fruit—three-fifths is better. Invert after sealing and screw tops harder when cool. If a can leaks, empty it, reheat, fill, and seal securely. Set hot jars away from draughts until cool. Remember, though, the fruit which comes out of your cans will be just as good and no better than what went into them. Therefore spend your time and strength only on good fruit, ripe, but not over-ripe.

=Outdoor Pantries=: Save in the very hottest weather edibles, cooked or raw, keep better in fresh air than in a refrigerator. An outdoor pantry can be set on a back porch or on legs in a shady yard, or even made fast to the wall. A goods box, whitewashed, set firmly about waist high, furnished with shelves inside and a door of screen wire, will hold meat, milk, cakes, pies, bread, surplus fruit, raw or cooked, and keep them to the queen’s taste. Have clean bags with drawstrings to slip over dishes of meat, as hams, roasts, a fowl in wait for Sunday dinner. Lay raw meat upon lumps of charcoal, put other lumps over it, and wrap tight in clean cloth, then lay upon a rack or slat shelf. Put milk in a bright tin bucket with a tight cover, stand it in a pan, put in half inch of water, then wrap the milk bucket with a thick cloth, letting it touch the water. It will keep damp and, by evaporation, cool the milk.

Where ice is hard to get have holes made with a post-hole digger, a foot across and four feet deep. Fit stout wooden tops to them big enough to lap an inch all round. Put a handle on firmly and screw a stout hook in the middle underneath. Suspend things from this hook by a cord or light chain, as a bucket of milk, or butter, a bottle of wine, water, or grape juice, or a bag of fruit. Fresh meat even can be kept several days, of course wrapping it well before hanging it. Rain ruins this form of cold storage, but for camps, summer bungalows, and so on it is a very present help.

A greater one is a dry well either rock-walled or planked up. Have it seven to eight feet deep, wide enough for a ladder, and set shelves around the edge. Or it may be simply dug, covered, and things let down into it at the end of strings. An abandoned well or cistern comes in handy for such use. If deep and dry, whole carcasses as of lambs, sheep, pigs, or deer can be hung and kept safe.

=Dried Fruit=: Keep sun-dried fruit in a warm, airy place, sunning it often. Look it over for worms, throw out infested bits, scald the residue one minute in full boiling water, spread thin, and dry in the oven. In a long damp spell bring dried fruit into the kitchen and hang where heat will strike it, but away from steam. All this applies equally to sun-dried vegetables, such as corn, okra, and green peas, likewise to beans and peas full grown.

=Keeping Rich Cake=: Plum cake, spice cake, or iced pound cake keep a long time treated thus: Pour a teaspoonful of brandy upon the under side, let it soak in, then wrap the whole loaf in a clean cloth and sprinkle with brandy. Put into an earthen crock with a tight cover, lay a fresh apple on top, and keep shut. Once a week set the crock upon a cooling range until warm through, removing the apple while warming. Put in a fresh apple every fortnight, and renew the brandy treatment at the same time. Plum cake almost demands this keeping, being better for a year of it. Other cakes should not be kept over six months.

=Keeping Melons for Christmas=: Plant melons so they will ripen a little before frost. Build a rail pen, floor it two feet above ground, and lay on the floor a foot of corn stalks well packed. Stand other stalks about the edge, then fill in a foot of fresh corn husks. Bed in these the melons, cut each with a short length of vine, and the vine ends dipped in melted paraffine. Wrap the melons in tissue paper, take care not to let them touch nor lie too close to the stalk wall. Cover with another foot of husks, packed down firmly, but not rammed. Over these put more corn stalks, filling the pen with them. Lay on a slanted roof of boards, weighting them in place.

=Fresh Eggs=: A strictly fresh egg has a tiny air space at either end betwixt shell and lining. Lying makes the air bubbles rise and join. A fresh egg sinks in water end down, one less fresh commonly lies on its side. Break an egg, empty the shell, look in the ends; if the spaces are lacking it is not fresh. Or boil hard—a fresh yolk will have white evenly all round. After some days the yolk will be near the shell or pressing against it.

IX

HOUSE PLANTS, WINDOW BOXES, CUT FLOWERS

=Soil=: Soil for pots and boxes must be very rich and light. Mix it of one-half well-rotted animal manure, one-quarter leaf mold or rotted sods, and one-quarter good loam. If the loam is heavy clay make it one-half clean sand. Heap and keep under cover, away from sun-baking and the leaching of rain. Sift for use. Sprinkle now and again to keep it moist.

=Pots=: Use clean pots and sound. Break up cracked ones for drainage. Wash pots as soon as empty, stack, and stand in air. Wash again before using, dry, then wipe over outside with a cloth wet in copperas water. This to prevent the annoying green scum. Repeat the wiping over with copperas water about once a month. Keep pot surfaces clean—their dull red, so kept, is more artistic than any jardinière. Further, it makes for plant health—a clean pot admits air to the roots.

=Window Boxes=: Window boxes must be well drained. If set outside it is imperative that they be made fast. Lacking regular window guards, use hooks and staples. Paint wooden boxes dull green outside and white inside. Choose tile ones to harmonize with walls and windows. Have uniform boxes for a row of windows—this applies equally to boxes proper and what grows in them. Indoor boxes should have zinc trays fitted to them, with strips laid across to insure drainage.

=Potting=: Pots must be proportioned to their contents. A hyacinth bulb will thrive in a four-inch pot. A clump of three will grow in a six-inch one; it should be shallow. A shallow eight-inch pot will hold a dozen tulips or Roman hyacinths or two dozen crocuses. Broad pots, rather shallow, are best for all manner of bulbs save the tall-growing lilies, such as the Amaryllis family, Auratum, and Easter lilies. Plant rooted cuttings in two-inch pots, shifting them as they grow. Over-potting is a drawback, especially with flowering things. Do not shift until the pot is filled with roots—test for that by turning out—and shift to the next size. Seasonal bulbs rarely require shifting, but those kept year in and out must be separated from their offsets and given fresh earth. In shifting put an inch of broken pot in first, arranging a big bit over the hole, fill in a little earth, then set the plant upon it; the ball at its root should come within an inch of the top. Hold it plumb and fill in sifted earth about it, shaking the pot gently after each handful. Shake hard when the pot is full; fill in chinks around the edge and put a little fresh earth on top, then water freely but without splashing. Let it drain and set in place. Always have something underneath to catch the drip. Glazed ware is better than the clay saucers—they make damp spots.

Plant bulbs their own depth in earth except the finer lilies. Set them only a little way in earth. It is safer to make a little hole in the earth, put in a handful of clean sand, and bed the bulb in the sand. Keep very wet—sand will not rot the bulb surface. Fill up with soil an inch higher, but keep it away from the bulb with a sand blanket, and put a very thin layer of sand on top. Plant ordinary bulbs in succession from September to December, keep damp and dark for some weeks to insure root growth, then bring to light, water, and fertilize, turning every three days to make symmetrical.

=Plant Choice=: No plant will live long without light—few will thrive without more or less sunlight. The green-and-white Aspidastra is the hardiest in this respect. Plants used for interior decoration must be often shifted, set in light, fertilized, and bathed till thrifty, while others in good condition take their places. Weekly changes will maintain a proper effect. Palms and ferns are most satisfactory for such uses; flowering things get ragged very quickly. Begonias carefully tended and not allowed to dry out nor get hot make a brave showing. So do wax-leafed woody things—dwarf orange and lemon trees, rubber trees, dwarf evergreens and box trees.

=Plants for a North Light=: Fuschia stands pre-eminent, next to that thrifty ferns, ivy of both sorts, dwarf evergreens, spiderwort, moneywort, and trailing box vine. An hour or two of sunlight will suffice for all these, other conditions to their mind; also, in their season, for pansies, violets, and the dwarf Japanese morning glories so wonderful in color and texture.

=Filling Window Boxes=: Make fast, put a layer of broken pot over the bottom, upon that a very thin layer of excelsior. Cover two inches deep with fine earth, then arrange roots of your trailers along the outer edge and bank up with more earth. Next put in the plants, crowding them rather thickly, pack earth around and about them, water freely, make sure all plants stand straight, then shower plentifully, using a fine sprinkler. Water every day—twice daily in very hot weather—shower every other day, and fertilize once a week. This if the plants thrive. If they turn a sickly yellow, starve a bit, after watering plentifully with water a little too hot to bear your hand in.

=Choice of Window Plants=: Flowering geraniums deserve first place for a season’s bloom. White and pink ones smothered in green look better against a red brick wall than scarlet or crimson. But scarlet and white, or scarlet and crimson with feathery green, such as asparagus sprengeri, are beautiful against white walls, brown or buff ones, or any sort of stone. Pansies with alyssum edges are lovely while they last. Choose them for early spring, putting in geraniums or primroses later. Potted bulbs show beautifully in window boxes with edges of trailing green. Rose geraniums in window boxes help to drive away flies. Piazza boxes in midsummer have nothing more effective than the savage splendors of gladioli. Plant in double row, starting the bulbs in pots and setting out when a foot high. Nasturtiums also make a splendid show. So do all the tribe of begonia, provided the sun is not too hot. Morning and evening rays suit them.

=Palms and Ferns=: Small thrifty plants need to be shifted yearly. After they reach a good size do not shift, fertilize instead. Keep pot surfaces clean, set at least a foot above the floor, water plentifully and regularly, but do not let it stand at the roots. Sprinkle or wipe with a damp cloth weekly, and monthly give a plunge bath in your own bath water. Let stand till barely tepid, then tie a cloth over the earth, and lay your plant on its side in the tub. Splash and scrub well, set upright, drain off water, and shower well with clear, clean water. Bathing thus is the best insurance of health and a protection against the depredations of every sort of pest.

=Roses and Woody Things in General=: Only a very few roses are adapted to house culture unless there is a greenhouse for their refreshing. The catalogues name them. Get vigorous year-old plants and bake the earth for planting them at least an hour in a moderate oven. This to insure against the beetle which lives in earth and has no other cure than prevention. Make the earth very fine, sift it lightly through the roots, water well, put on more earth, wet it, fill up the pot, drench, drain, and set in light, but away from sunlight, for several days. Pinch off any flower buds, also new ones appearing before the rose is well established. After thrifty growth sets in let bloom, but not overbloom. Pinch off all but the most promising buds. Water with tepid suds weekly. In between give liquid manure. Make it strong—roses are gross feeders. Bathe often, keep warm and in light, turning every other day. The many-flowered roses sold around the holidays are good for nothing but to be set out in the border after their bloom is past.

Fuchsias, azaleas, lemon verbenas, the spireas, and genesta require much the same care. Fuchsias, as has been said, do not demand full sun. Also they like a moderate temperature. The others thrive in heat and light. So do camellias and gardenias. These, however, are apt to disappoint anybody without a genius for growing things. Rubber trees too big for the plunge bath must have their leaves well wiped with white soapsuds, then with clear water. Tall palms demand the same care. All plants need a moist atmosphere, so keep water on radiators and wet sponges over registers. This is as good for people as for plants.

=Fertilizers and Fertilizing=: Liquid manure is an ideal fertilizer so far as concerns the plants themselves. It has the drawback of a bad odor. To use it set the plants outdoors, give in sufficient quantity, let soak in, then water well with warm water and leave to air some hours. To make, put well-rotted manure in something tight, pour boiling water upon it, stir well, and let stand. Stir again before dipping out—it should be as thick as cream. After using it on window boxes close the windows until the smell is gone. Things too big to move can be fertilized and the windows left open, closing doors—so fertilize in mild weather. The odor will pass in two hours if the tepid watering has been thorough.

Many good commercial fertilizers are almost or quite odorless—ammoniated bone meal, for example. There is also a fertilizer in lozenge form which is scentless and wonderfully effective. Dissolve a lozenge in boiling water, let stand all night, then stir well and apply. Give a teacup—the same as of liquid manure—to a ten-inch pot, a tablespoonful to a four-inch one, and half that to a thumb pot. A quart will be none too much for a three-foot window box filled with soft-stemmed plants. They demand more than woody plants. Over-fertilizing is bad—it turns leaves yellow and scants bloom. Plants suffer indigestion the same as people. The remedy for it is to set them in a sink or on a grating and pour hot (not boiling) water through the pot until it runs out clear.

=Insects and Insecticides=: Insects are the pest of house plants. The worst of them are plant lice, mealy bugs, white and black flies, red spider, and the various scales. All are fought with pretty much the same weapons—namely, soap and water, smoke, and eternal vigilance. Greenhouses and hothouses are almost universally infested. Hence every new plant must be suspected. Do not set it among other plants clean and thrifty for at least a fortnight, and then only after a thorough bath. A plant badly infested had better be thrown away, and quickly. Flies white and black are hardest to fight; they fly away at a touch on the pot. Set the infested plant apart, with a stick standing higher than itself fast in earth, throw a thin cloth over, letting it reach the ground all around, then slip under it a lighted smudge, and set over cloth and plant either a box or a barrel, with paper pasted over the cracks. Let stand two hours, then plunge in a tepid bath, keeping on the cloth until well under water. This to hold in any flies left living. Splash well, drain, and while damp dust with either insect powder or finely crumbled tobacco, putting it on both sides of the leaves.

For plant lice spray thickly with strong tobacco water, leave an hour, then bathe, and dust with more tobacco. A little flowers of sulphur mixed in makes the treatment more effectual. Bathe in suds (carbolic soap, if possible) next day, and follow with a clear tepid shower.

Red spider is invisible until it appears as red blotches upon foliage. Water, and still more water, combined with smoking cures it. Shower infested plants heavily every day for a fortnight, smoke with tobacco twice a week, and keep well dusted with either tobacco or pyrethrum powder. Mealy bugs, which are white and woolly, as big as grains of wheat, should have a sulphur dusting after smoking and bathing. All the big scales, which are never very numerous unless plants are fatally neglected, should be hand-picked, then the plant well washed with whale-oil soapsuds dashed with carbolic acid. San José scale, which is almost invisible but feels like fine rough sand upon the under sides of leaves and over stalks, is so deadly and difficult any plant found infested should be burned at once, the pot broken, and the earth soaked with boiling water. Cures for it there are, but too difficult for amateurs, withal somewhat dangerous.

Buy tobacco dust, make tobacco water. Pour a gallon of boiling water upon a pound of tobacco stems, let stand a day, keeping warm, strain and use. Cut the spent stems fine and mix through potting soil. Enough tobacco water to color it mixed in makes a plunge bath more effective against insects. Make smudges thus: put a few slivers of wood or half a dozen matches crossed in a small flat tin, cover with either pyrethrum powder, tobacco dust, cut up stalks, unspent, or flowers of sulphur mixed with fine damp sawdust. Light, see that there is not too much blaze, and set beneath plants. Do not make smudges big enough to give out scalding heat; better two or three small ones if heavy smoke is required.

Red rust and brown scale, the special enemies of palms, need to be washed off with strong carbolic soapsuds and a soft brush before bathing and smoking.

=Earth Worms=: Lime water is the remedy for earth worms. Stick holes in the earth quite to the bottom, then pour on clear lime water (see section Renovators) till it stands on top. The worms will crawl up to escape it. Lime water is also good to sweeten sour earth. Give a half cup after the hot-water treatment. Dig up the earth in pots so as to keep a light, clean surface. Green scum, while not dangerous, does not make for plant health.

=For Roaches=, dip cut potatoes in arsenic mixed with sugar and lay cut side down on the pots and about them. Gather up every morning, dropping instantly into a vessel of boiling water—this to destroy such insects as remain alive. But never put out poison if there are children in the house.

=Cuttings=: Cuttings root best in clean sand, kept very wet and warm and under glass. Make the cuttings of new wood, neither soft nor fully ripe. Cut with at least two eyes—three are better—slant cuts, and set in sand slantwise, with one eye above the surface. Shift as soon as growth begins fully to thumb-pots, and keep the pots plunged in another box of sand. Make geranium cuttings, whether scented or flowering, of healthy stalks full of sap and vigor. June is the best time to make cuttings of lemon verbena, fuchsia, heliotrope, and roses. Tips of strong shoots from either fuchsia or heliotrope will root then almost for the chance. Chrysanthemums from cuttings of the flower stalk give much finer bloom than those from old roots.

Leaf cuttings are interesting. Tuberous begonias root thus readily. Roses are more difficult. Peg down the leaf on wet sand under glass, make tiny cuts in it, and keep very wet in sunshine. Roots will strike from the cuts after they have calloused.

Summing up, the needs of a house plant are the same as those of a human being—air, light, food, water, cleanliness, and love.

=Cut Flowers=: Cut flowers early in the morning, stand loosely upright in clean water away from light until they can be arranged. In hot weather sprinkle lightly if arranging must wait, and cover with a light cloth. Florist blossoms must be kept cool and damp; stand the holder in the bathtub, draw three inches of cold water, and spread something over them.

In arranging do not mix nor crowd. Tulips with only their own stalks and leaves are wonderfully decorative, but a single other bloom makes them blotchy. No green save the featheriest asparagus fern should ever go with flowers which have handsome foliage. Lay fern fronds upon the cloth rather than disfigure with them a centerpiece of roses. Tall, stiff stems, as jonquils, narcissi, and lilies, absolutely require tall, slender holders. So do long-stemmed roses, especially the cloth-yard American Beauties. It is vandalism to put anything with them. Carnations bear massing, but the vase should have space about it. Lilies lose immeasurably by crowding. A single handsome tall stalk gives distinction, where three or four imperfect ones huddled would be commonplace.

Half a dozen roses with fine foliage will make a handsome centerpiece thus: put into a low, flat bowl, rather flaring, a woven-wire cake rack nearly the same size. Cut stalks, if long, to six inches. Use the cut-off stems to mat through the woven wire. Cover well with cold water, then arrange the flowers so each will show for itself, thrusting the stems between the wires at the proper angle. A wreath of asparagus fern laid on the cloth outside adds much more to the effect than if the green were twined among the flowers. Lacking a cake rack, flatten a big potato after peeling it, make holes in the upper surface with a wire nail, and anchor the stems in them.

Hanging-holders for trailers should have something inside—wet sand or wire net—to hold their contents stable. If a tall flower pot is set in a niche or corner, arrange a light to fall directly on it, as a fairy lamp or tall candle set upon a bracket. Beware of having too many flowers, and particularly too many sorts. Even blossoms can swear at each other—decoratively.