6 Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
it would appear unnecessary to mention 
it; yet from the frequent injury done 
in this way it becomes necessary to point 
it out. 
PROPAGATING.—The cuttings of green- 
house plants can be struck without the aid 
of bottom heat, provided that the tempera- 
ture of the structure available can be kept 
at the required heat ; but there are some 
plants that root more readily with the aid 
of bottom heat. 
STOVE PLANTS. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
Amone the immense number of plants 
cultivated under glass at the present day, 
many of the stove species stand unrivalled 
for the profusion of their gorgeous flowers, 
and long-continued habit of blooming ; 
they are alike unequalled for the decora- 
tion of heated glass structures as for afford- 
ing a continuous supply of flowers for 
cutting. The hot as well as the somewhat 
cooler regions of the Eastern hemisphere, 
South America, and adjacent islands, 
have furnished us with a wealth of plants 
producing flowers, of almost every form 
and hue, wherewith to decorate the warm 
stove and intermediate house. In addi- 
tion to these the majority of the most 
beautiful fine-leaved plants we possess 
come from warm countries. Along with 
the properties already mentioned, most 
stove plants possess the merit of being 
much easier to grow than the generality of 
greenhouse subjects as to their require- 
ments in both soil and water. Many kinds 
of stove plants, although they may do 
somewhat better in peat, can be grown in 
turfy loam ; and in respect to water they 
are not nearly so impatient as are green- 
house plants of receiving a little more 
than they require, or having it given them 
before they need it. For these reasons, 
many succeed in the cultivation of stove 
plants who fail with the more difficult to 
manage hard-wooded habitants of the 
greenhouse. Another thing in their favour 
is that, when the strong growing, large 
kinds have reached a size that would re- 
quire more room than it may be deemed 
desirable to give them, the heads of the 
plants may be freely cut back, and the 
roots correspondingly reduced, shaking a 
great portion of the old soil away and 
replacing it with new. This may, even 
with many hard-wooded sorts, be re-, 
peated as often as found necessary, and 
thus the need for such very large pots 
as would otherwise be requisite is done 
away with. 
STOVE PLANTS. 
All plants that require a temperature 
continuously higher than the occupants 
of a greenhouse, come under the denomina- 
tion of stove plants. Yet, indigenous as 
they are to many different parts of the 
world—some intensely hot, others more 
temperate, consequent upon latitude or 
more or less elevated position—they evi- 
dently under cultivation require a con- 
siderable difference in the temperature 
they are grown in. MHence, where an 
extensive collection exists, it is better to 
have at command the means to keep such 
as require it warmer than others that will 
do with less heat and succeed in a tempera- 
ture of an intermediate character betwixt 
the hot stove and the greenhouse. Where 
some arrangement of this sort is not avail- 
able, there must necessarily be a compro- 
mise in the treatment they receive, some 
being kept hotter than they need, whilst 
others are too cool. But a good deal may 
be effected by placing those that want the 
most heat at the warmest end of the house, 
next the boiler, and putting such as require 
less heat at the coolest end. Ina house of 
say thirty-five or forty feet long, there will 
usually be a difference in temperature of 
half a dozen degrees between the hottest 
and the coolest end. To still further 
meet the wants of the plants in this matter, 
the greater portion of the air given can be 
admitted at the coolest end of the house. 
Posi1t1on, Form, AND CONSTRUCTION OF 
Hovse.—In the cultivation of flowering 
stove plants, one of themost essential matters 
is a house so constructed and situated as to 
afford the greatest possible amount of light. 
Without this it is vain to expect anything 
above mediocrity in the results. This will 
be seen when it is considered how com- 
paratively limited is the amount of cold 
external air that can be given, especially 
during the early part of the growing 
season, consequent upon its causing too 
great a reduction in the temperature, but 
still more by its producing too dry a con- 
dition of the atmosphere consistent with 
the absolute requirements of the plants. 
Their growth, as is well understood by all 
who have had even limited experience in 
the cultivation of stove subjects, is very 
rapid. From this and the preceding cause, 
unless they are grown in a house that will 
afford them a maximum of light, the wood 
and leaves are so soft and deficient in 
substance as to render them incapable of 
producing flowers in their wonted quantity, 
size, or colour, light being the great com- 
pensating element that in a measure makes 
up for the limited quantity of air which 
plant life under such conditions necessarily 
receives. Hence, the stove should be con- 
