HAVING had considerable success in growing a large number of tender plants, without artificial heat except two windows in the house, I will try to tell your readers how it is done.

Starting about June 1st, I set out several plants of three or four varieties of alternantheras and also several varieties of coleus. (I think it better to grow the coleus in pots all summer if you can take proper care of them.) In the fall, before frost, I put them in pots and keep them in cold frames as long as possible, say until October 1st. Then I place them in a sunny window.

March 1st I begin taking cuttings. I had some tin pans made about 1½ inches deep, six inches wide, and long enough for three of them to fill a window sill. I fill these with sand and place the cuttings as near together as possible, keeping the sand quite wet. During the day I leave them on the sill in the hot sun, and at night place them on a marble shelf over the stove, where the sand becomes thoroughly warmed. In a week every good cutting will be rooted and ready to be planted into boxes, or if they are coleus, into small pots. By the time the first crop of cuttings is rooted another will be ready to be taken from the old plants, and this operation I continue until I have all the plants needed.

The great difficulty after the plants are rooted is in knowing where to keep them before putting them in frames, which I do about May 1st. After the middle of March I can keep them in any sunny room without a fire, and by planting them near together in the boxes, I manage to grow a large number.

Last spring, from six clumps of alternantheras in five-inch pots, I grew over 1,200 plants, with a few plants of santolina and variegated alyssum, rooted the same as alternanthera. I grew Pyrethrum aurcum and Oxalis purpurea from seed, and all these gave me sufficient plants for a large carpet bed. I wintered in cold frames 1,000 Sempervivum Californicum, which I used with the above.

The same season from six coleus I grew 250 plants, and, these with geranium Madame Salleroi, which I winby adding a small quantity of well-decayed cow manure to a sufficient amount of good loam. Then mix in sufficient sand to afford good drainage. Pots five inches in diameter should be selected. Place several small pieces of crock at the bottom for drainage and fill with the above compost, pressing it rather firmly. Then with the fingers make a hole in the centre of the pot of sufficient size to take one bulb. This is much better than pressing the bulbs into the soil, as they are less liable to be displaced during the formation of roots. The crowns should be just above the surface of the soil. When all have been potted they may receive a watering and then be covered six inches deep with ashes or some similar material; leaves are good to use if the covering is about twelve inches thick. The bulbs must be buried in some place where they are not liable to become frozen, as the object is to remove them, a few at a time, to the greenhouse to keep up a succession of flowers.

The bulbs are buried in the manner described to start the roots in advance of leaves, without which good flowers cannot be grown.

A temperature of 55 degrees is sufficient for the pur-pose of forcing this flower. If it is desired, three bulbs may be placed in one pot, and when they come into flower the surface of pot may be covered with moss and the plants removed to the drawing room where they are sure to be appreciated. A neat stake should be inserted in each pot for the purpose of supporting the flower spike as it grows ; without this support it is liable to fall over and become broken.

The hyacinth is also grown in water, and for this purpose vases are especially constructed. Fill the vase with water until it just touches the base of the bulb, then stand the vase in a dark place until the roots have grown about an inch, when the bulbs may be brought out and placed for a time in a shady part of the room.

The hyacinth may also be successfully grown in pots filled with sand instead of soil. September is the best month in which to purchase a supply of bulbs, and the middle of October is the best time to plant them. - H. W. Smith, La.