niums, petunias, violets, primroses,
and verbenas make especially good growths.

[Illustration: A BEAUTIFUL WINDOW FLOWER]

If the temperature is from 50 deg. to 90 deg., averaging 70 deg., try abutilon,
begonia, bouvardia, caladium, canna, Cape jasmine, coleus, fuchsia,
gloxinia, heliotrope, lantana, lobelia, roses, and smilax.

If your box or window is shaded a good part of the time, raise begonias,
camellias, ferns, and Asparagus Sprengeri.

[Illustration: FIG. 111. FERNS FOR BOTH INDOORS AND OUTDOORS]

When the soil is dry, water it; then apply no more water until it again
becomes dry. Beware of too much water. The plants should be washed
occasionally with soapsuds and then rinsed. If red spiders are present,
sponge them off with water as hot as can be borne comfortably by the
hand. Newspapers afford a good means of keeping off the cold.

CHAPTER VI

THE DISEASES OF PLANTS

SECTION XXVII. THE CAUSE AND NATURE OF PLANT DISEASE

Plants have diseases just as animals do; not the same diseases, to be
sure, but just as serious for the plant. Some of them are so dangerous
that they kill the plant; others partly or wholly destroy its usefulness
or its beauty. Some diseases are found oftenest on very young plants,
others prey on the middle-aged tree, while still others attack merely
the fruit. Whenever a farmer or fruit-grower has disease on his plants,
he is sure to lose much profit.

You have all seen rotten fruit. This is diseased fruit. Fruit rot is a
plant disease. It costs farmers millions of dollars annually. A
fruit-grower recently lost sixty carloads of peaches in a single year
through rot which could have been largely prevented if he had known how.

Many of the yellowish or discolored spots on leaves are the result of
disease, as is also the smut of wheat, corn, and oats, the blight of the
pear, and the wilt of cotton. Many of these diseases are contagious, or,
as we often hear said of measles, "catching." This is true, among
others, of the apple and peach rots. A healthy apple can catch this
disease from a sick apple. You often see evidence of this in the apple
bin. So, too, many of the diseases found in the field or garden are
contagious.

Sometimes when the skin of a rotten apple has been broken you will find
in the broken place a blue mold. It was this that caused the apple to
decay. This mold is a living plant; very small, certainly, but
nevertheless a plant. Let us learn a little about m