STOVE PLANTS. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 7 
structed so as to afford an abundance of 
light, and so placed as to be in no way 
under the influence of buildings, trees, or 
walls that will either obstruct or absorb it. 
This is a matter of vital importance, 
which cannot be too forcibly impressed 
upon all who essay the cultivation of these 
plants. With this view, the stove should 
always, where practicable, be span-roofed. 
In a lean-to, hip-roofed, or even, half-span, 
the back wall always absorbs so much 
light as to seriously interfere with the 
short-jointed, robust growth essential to 
success. The dimensions of the stove will 
of course be determined by individual 
requirements. A very useful size for the 
class of plants under notice is 18 feet in 
width, by 45 or 50 feet in length; if 
narrower than this, it does not admit of 
the best and most economical arrangement, 
and if wider it necessitates the elevation 
being greater than consistent with an easy 
maintenance of the required temperature 
in severe weather. The depth of brick- 
work of the sides and ends should be 
similar to that advised for greenhouses, 
but there should be movable shutters for 
the admission of air in the side-walls. The 
upright side-lights ought to be fixed, as 
the opening of them entails the admission 
of air in direct contact with the plants, than 
which nothing can be more objectionable 
or more calculated to check the young 
tender growth. There should be provision 
for sufficient roof ventilation, opening in 
the same way as the greenhouse. In the 
matter of internal arrangement the side 
stages should be similar in width, material 
and construction, the paths the same ; but 
in place of a centre stage there should be 
a brick-built pit, 3 feet in depth, to be 
kept filled with tan. In a house of the 
above width and elevation, for the hottest 
section of plants, there should be five 
rows, three flows and two returns, of 4 
inch pipes running round the house under 
the side stages ; these will not be too many. 
We do not advise any piping under the 
tan-bed, being convinced that there is 
nothing gained by it. For the cooler 
stove, or intermediate house, three rows 
similarly placed will be enough. If the 
side stages are made of open bars of wood- 
work, the excessive heat arising from the 
close proximity to the pipes will affect 
the plants. The distance these stages are 
from the glass adapts them as stands 
for not only the smallest plants, but for 
moderate-sized specimens. The largest- 
growing subjects will, of course, occupy 
the centre of the house in such an arrange- 
ment as that under consideration. In 
some cases, to make the most of the space, 
a shelf may be hung from the roof over 
each path ; but with these there is this 
inseparable disadvantage, that the light is 
intercepted from the other plants to a 
serious extent ; consequently this counter- 
balances the gain, and the shelves are 
better absent. Of course, such an arrange- 
ment as this implies that the whole of the 
plants are grown in pots or tubs. 
At the present day the planting out of 
stove plants in preference to pot culture is 
sometimes advised. This may do where a 
considerable portion of a house is devoted 
to the cultivation of some particular 
species or variety, as with those who grow 
certain things in quantity for market; but, 
even where such is the case, it does away 
with the possibility of removing any 
portion for retarding or accelerating the 
blooming as may be found desirable. The 
system has also another and serious disad- 
vantage, that it prevents the plants being 
moved, to be dipped or washed by syring- 
ing, for the destruction of insects. Neither 
is there anything gained by planting out 
in this way, as the plants, if well-managed, 
can be grown quite as well and as quickly 
in pots. In a house of large dimensions 
planting out may be resorted to with good 
effect, so far as appearance goes; but the 
inevitable consequences are that a few of 
the strongest growers overhang and seri- 
ously injure the others, and when any 
plant is out-growing its neighbours there is 
no means of remedying the evil without 
taking up and replanting, which in many 
cases, when the specimens have become 
large, means nothing less than their de- 
struction. The position which the gardeners 
of this kingdom hold, so far in advance of 
those of any other country in the cultivation 
of plants, is due to the great superiority 
they have attained in the individual culture 
of each and all of the immense number of 
species and varieties that they grow, and 
not to the appearance produced by a 
crowded arrangement for mere effect, 
whereby the health and general character 
of nine-tenths of the things grown are 
completely destroyed. In large structures 
an arrangement equal in appearance to 
planting out may easily be effected by 
growing the plants in pots or tubs, and 
plunging them in a bed prepared for the 
purpose. In this way they have the look 
of being planted out, with none of the 
objectionable consequences following from 
that system; there is also the great 
advantage attached to the plunging, that 
the whole arrangement of the house can at 
any time be altered by a different distri- 
bution of the occupants, and thus the 
monotony of one position is done away with. 
