3G2 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



nate enough to have their " Sunday in." Perhaps it is a keen day in 

 March or April, there is a bright sun and a shrivelling wind, with a 

 host of vagabondish-looking clouds of unequal dimensions scudding 

 across the sky at uncertain intervals, bringing with them " rattlin' 

 shoors " of hail or sleet. Young Horty is about at his wits' end ; he 

 is aware that if he allows his fires to get low, and a more than usual 

 long interval of cloud intervenes, his houses will be down to zero, and 

 his master probably at the boiling point ; or, on the other hand, that if 

 his pipes get hot, and the " sun comes out," that he will be in a worse 

 fix ; so he has to trust to his wits and good-luck, and wish for " shut- 

 ting-up time." Upon the whole, his position is not an enviable one, 

 and a young man in charge of an extensive range of forcing-houses 

 requires a good share of intelligence and decision, qualities rather 

 uncommon, and valued accordingly ; for a good man relieves his mas- 

 ter of much responsibility, and may save him many a long journey from 

 a remote corner of the demesne. We have come to think that soil 

 and watering, &c., though important matters, are of secondary im- 

 portance compared to the everyday results that hinge upon the atten- 

 tion of those in charge of the firing and ventilation. That nervous 

 energy, so to speak, which fits a person for such a position, is excep- 

 tional, and it is difficult to get the half-experienced to realise thoroughly 

 his responsibility. There is the too-nervous man, who, realising fully 

 the consequences of a bleached Pine-leaf or scorched Vines, is almost 

 continually opening and shutting his ventilators, or going or coming 

 between his houses and his work, the latter getting very little of his 

 attention. Then there is the easy man : no matter how great the emer- 

 gency, neither the sun nor the wind hath power over him ; he moves 



as if 



** Tuning his footsteps to a march ; " 



which shows he is in the wrong place. The medium is the best. In 

 the matter of airing — to use the common expression — strict attention 

 to the thermometer is the best safeguard, under ordinary circumstances ; 

 but we often wish a little discretion was used, for there are occasions 

 on which the thermometer should not be relied upon wholly — as, for 

 instance, when the sun shines out suddenly after a dull interval, the 

 inmates of a hothouse feel its effects at once, as a person feels it upon 

 his face, but the thermometer will not indicate the change of temper- 

 ature for some time. "We have known a batch of Pines nearly ruined 

 for want of a little exercise of common -sense at such a juncture. 

 Under such circumstances, air should be admitted freely at once, if 

 shading is not at command, and the temperature regulated afterwards. 

 It has often occurred to us that undue scrupulousness exists about 

 admitting front air. It is a common idea that, as heat always ascends, 



