ON TAKING IN GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 253 



appear, they should be removed to their winter quarters ; where, if 

 the greenhouse is built on a proper principle, they can still have the 

 benefit of th - free air, and at the same time be in a situation to be 

 protected, when necessity requires. 



Impressed with this idea, I think they should at all events, be 

 removed in the earlier part of September. Therefore, about a fort- 

 night before that time, they should be regularly examined, and any 

 roots that may have extended themselves through the holes at the 

 bottom of the pots, cleanly cut away,* with a knife or some such 

 instrument : this tends to stop the too luxuriant growth, and being 

 executed at a proper period, before their final removal, they have 

 time to recover themselves from the partial check they may have 

 received by it; which would come doubly severe, if deferred until the 

 time of removing them into the house ; the transition from the cool 

 bottom on which they stood, to the dry boards of the greenhouse 

 stage, being so materially different. 



It will be also requisite to have the flues examined as to their 

 cleanliness, and tried with a smothering fire, lest there should re- 

 main any cracks to admit the smoke into the greenhouse. The 

 wall should likewise be fresh whitened, at least every second year ; 

 and any repairs that may be necessary to the stages, or glass-work, 

 previously rectified. 



Things being thus prepared, and the time fixed on to remove the 

 plants, the large heavy enes, such as orange trees, &c. should be 

 carried to the places where they are to stand at once, as it will be 

 very inconvenient to remove them after the house becomes crowded with 

 other plants. The smaller kinds must be regularly placed in front 

 of them, with a gradual descent from the back, down to the lowest in 

 front, placing any curious, or handsome plants in flower, in the most 

 prominent and conspicuous situations. Thev must not be set too close 

 when first put in, as it would occasion most of their tender leaves to 

 turn yellow, and fall off ; neither should they, if the house happens 

 to have been built on a close construction, be by any means taken in 

 when their leaves are wet. 



In large collections, could the different genera be kept together, it 

 would I think have a much better effect ; in particular the more 

 numerous ones, such as heaths, Proteas, geraniums, &c. and indeed 



* The cutting of tie extraneous roots away at this season, is not likely to be of 

 such serious consequence to the plants, as if done when shifting, as the ball of 

 root is preserved undisturbed within the pot, yet in some of the more luxuriant 

 species that may have been plunged in the borders, it will be preferable to break 

 tin- pot rather than destroy the routs, and <A' course the plant put into a larger 

 one immediately. 



