Tender roses, azaleas, cape jasmins, crape myrtles, oranges, lemons,
figs, oleanders, may be kept in a _light_ cellar if frost never
penetrates it.
If kept in parlors, the following are the most essential points to be
observed. The thermometer should never be permitted to rise above
sixty degrees or sixty-five degrees; nor at night to sink below forty
degrees. Although plants will not be frost-bitten until the mercury
falls to thirty-two degrees, yet the chill of a temperature below
forty degrees will often be as mischievous to tender plants as frost
itself. Excessive heat, particularly a dry stove heat, will destroy
the leaves almost as certainly as frost. We have seen plants
languishing in a temperature of seventy degrees (it often rising ten
degrees higher), while the owners wondered what could ail the plants,
for they were sure that they kept the room warm enough!
Next, great care should be taken not to overwater. Plants which are
not growing require _very little_ water. If given, the roots become
sogged, or rotten, and the whole plant is enfeebled. Water should
never be suffered to stand in the saucers; nor be given, always, when
the top-soil is dry. Let the earth be stirred, and when the _interior_
of the ball is becoming dry, give it a _copious_ supply; let it drain
through thoroughly, and turn off what falls into the saucer.