With the coming of the long winter months, our interest gradually recedes in outdoor vegetation; and the falling petals of flowers warn us to prepare them homes within our walls, where their loveliness may be a joy or solace. Accordingly we take up our favorites, selecting those which are free winter-bloomers, and are tender, - like heliotropes, begonias, salvias, and other natives of the tropics, - to keep on the piazza, or some sheltered spot, till they have become accustomed to the change.

The best compost for house-plants is made from garden or leaf mould, decomposed manure, and river-sand thoroughly mixed (the greater quantity being of the first-named) and very finely powdered. If the pot is too large, the plant will run to leaf, and not flower so well. It is better, to take one that seems a little small, even, as the branches must be cut back nearly one-half their length. Many florists do not now follow the old method of putting in broken earthenware to secure drainage, but fill in the earth firmly about the pruned stem, and water very sparingly, with the pots in the shade until they have put out new growth and new roots. They are to be kept as long as possible in a cool place, since most of them are more injured by heat than by moderate cold.

But it is much better to have begun our preparation for winter as early as June, by taking cuttings, or fresh young plants, potting, and burying them so that the pot is even with the surface of the ground. They can then be taken up in the fall without retarding their growth. They are removed to the sitting-room, and placed on the south or east side, in the sunshine; and a little ingenuity will drape your windows with nature's own growths. On brackets at each side are ivies, which creep around and above the panes; on others may sit drooping begonias, the sedums, oxalis (either red, white, or yellow), the smilax, or any graceful growers. On the stand beneath, either of wire or wood, you may have a succession of blossoms, beginning with the chrysanthemum in December, continuing through the bulbs, hyacinths, calla-lily, and narcissus, and ending with all you can find room to store. Here is a list of some of the hardier, such as can bear an average temperature of fifty degrees,-pelargoniums, jessamines, roses, azalias, abutilons, primulas, verbenas, daphnes, hoyas, camellias, oleanders, geraniums, and stevias. If the room is very warm and dry, the various families of the cacti will flourish : if warm and with more moisture, the following will be successful bloomers, - heliotropes, tuberoses, bouvardias, fuchsias, and, of foliage-plants, the coleus, Poinsettia, and caladium. In very cold nights, unless the windows are double, these plants may need the protection of a paper thrown over them to prevent getting chilled.

If there is a bay-window in the sitting-room, that is the very place for a rustic stand, or even an oblong wooden box, with a painted or tiled front, and lining of zinc, perforated at the bottom. Very handsome ones are now made of terracotta and iron. In the centre nothing is prettier than two or three varieties of begonia, the dracena, maranta, rose-geranium, petunia, echeveria, and a few ferns; some, though, requiring a high temperature to flourish well. Over the edge, the ivy, moneywort, tradescantia, smilax, and nasturtium will make a graceful trailing fringe. Then, with a shelf of some hard, unpainted wood, like black walnut, running about the bottom of the window to furnish support for flowerpots, a bit of summer may be imprisoned to cheer with ever-varying beauty the sombre days of winter.

Our amateur will do well to beware of watering her flowers too frequently, or of watering them in the saucers, which are merely to save the floor or carpet beneath, but should never contain standing water. In the open air the surface becomes dry, and is then refreshed by showers : so should the soil in our pots. But when they are watered, it should be thoroughly done. A little ammonia or a diluted fertilizer twice a week will be very acceptable to their roots.

Cuttings from almost all perennial plants may be started in a dish of water, or, better still, in a shallow dish filled with wet sand. Those from hardy plants may be simply inserted in the earth, close beside the parent stem.

Bulbs are very suitable for house-cultivation, as they re-. quire little room. The hyacinth can be grown in earth, or in dark-colored glass in water high enough to just touch them, which are to be first kept in a cool, dark room, then brought to the window-garden by the middle of November, if they are desired for Christmas blossoms. The calla-lily, which has been resting on its side, dry and apparently dead, all summer, if raised in September, and plentifully nourished with warm water, will pour upon the air a subtle fragrance from a stainless calyx, - a royal princess among her party-colored sisters. There are no other bulbs worth the trouble of coaxing here. Crocuses, tulips, narcissus, and the snowdrops had better be set in beds, six or eight inches apart, ana half as many deep, in the open ground, early in October, though they may be used in the house if desired. The tuberose, from its overpowering fragrance, is unwholesome indoors.

Wardian-cases, ferneries, and jardinieres are almost too delicate for young amateurs, without more explicit directions. Roses, too, may be made to bloom ; but they require a good deal of experience. Hanging-baskets, made from pottery or terra-cotta, must have drainage, and are pretty additions to the window with any small blooming plants and delicate vines.

The diseases of indoor vegetation are mostly caused by parasites, which are sometimes very troublesome. They may be washed in weak tobacco-tea, or carefully sponged with a solution of whale-oil soap.