Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



STOVE PLANTS. 



it would ajjpear 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 temj^era- 

 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 Ee marks. 



Among the immense number of plants 

 cultivated under glass at the jtresent 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 haljitants of the 

 greenhouse. Another thing in their favoiir 

 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 ^jots 

 as would otherwise be requisite is done 

 away with. 



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. Hence, 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. In a 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. 



Position, Form, and Construction of 

 House. — In the cultivation of flowering 

 stove plants, one of the most essential matters 

 is a house so constructed and situated as to 

 afford the gieatest possible amount of light. 

 Without tiiis 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- 

 ditif)n of the atmosphere consistent with 

 the absolute requirements of the jilants. ' 

 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- 



