266 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND aARDElS" GUIDE. 



in tlie spring, and have a tvro-light frame also. Could I not turn out 

 my ordinary plants in May or June, and have a change in the green- 

 house by giving less air and more moisture — something like a stove ? 

 If this be practicable, will you kindly assist me with a little list of 

 suitable things for the summer. My house is only very small (eleven 

 feet by eight), so the list must correspond. A few details of manage- 

 ment, if you could spare the room, might perhaps be of use to others 

 as well as myself. 



It often happens that a greenhouse may be used as a stove, or at 

 least intermediate house, during summer ; and indeed we have grown 

 so many stove plants in greenhouses that we would never hesitate to 

 go into stove subjects after clearing out the house in May. But it is 

 not the sort of thing to recommend to amateurs, because of the many 

 risks that attend it — stove plants being subject to thrip, mildew, and 

 all sorts of plagues, if not well treated ; and a little too much water, 

 with too little heat, might during a time of dull weather make a 

 wreck of the whole affair. But with a cucumber-bed and a two-light 

 frame, a grand assortment of subjects might be got up for summer 

 decoration : say, to begin with, balsams and ornamental gourds ; a 

 few of each will fill this little house, and make it a delightful scene. 

 They would need to be sown in March, and placed on a hot-bed ; be 

 pricked out and grown on in frames over dung-heat till the 

 middle of May, and then be taken into the house. The following 

 would be suitable in style for this house : Abroba viridiftora, Cucur- 

 bita digitata, and C. grossularia. Others of the smallest-habited 

 varieties could be added but there would not be room for many. 



Another style of decoration would be a small collection of zonale 

 geraniums— say two dozen in all, and the most suitable are Herman 

 Stenger, Eugenie Mezard, Amelina Grisau, Madame Yaucher, Mdlle, 

 Martha Vincent, Beaute du Suresue, Eose Eendatler, Lucien 

 Tisserand, Monsieur Gralland, Amy Hogg, Titian, Richard Headley, 

 Mrs. {Spencer, Dr. M'Donnell, Cybister, Black Dwarf, Pink Pearl, 

 Mrs. Pollock, Sunset, Flower of Spring, Cloth of Gold, Annie, Alma, 

 Daybreak, Oriana. Unless " Old Subscriber" practises bedding on a 

 large scale, there would be as great a change from the colours seen 

 out of doors as could be obtained by much searching. 



Still this may not suit his taste, and here is another selection : 

 Sedum Sieboldi, to be potted in rich but very gritty porous soil, in 

 not less than an eight-inch pot, and suspended 'from the roof on a level 

 with the eye. Gazania splendens, treated in the same way. The 

 large white-flowered ivy-leaf geranium, the same. Thunbergia 

 aurantiaca, the same. On the stage the following, tastefully grouped 

 for eflect : Tritonia crocata, requiring to be potted in peat in autumn, 

 and kept in a frame till wanted. Bambusa Fortunei variegata ; must 

 be grown in poor sandy soil, and may be wintered in a frame. Isolepsis 

 gracilis, nearly hardy ; grow in peat, and give abundance of water all 

 summer ; keep in a shady place. Lilium lancifolium, auratum, and 

 cordifohum ; pot in sandy peat in autumn, and keep in frame safe 

 from frost till wanted. Linum trigynum ; grow in light fuchsia 

 compost ; it will flower in June, and be acceptable ; it is nearly hardy. 

 Plumbago Larpentas may be kept to any size by pinching back and 



