PLANTS IK DWELLING ROOMS. llo 



passing away ; legal enactments or restrictions in conducting private 

 business are mostly injurious — never beneficial ; they are hostile too, 

 and generally retard improvement, and are in most cases worse than 

 useless. We cannot, however, but perceive how extensively gardening 

 was at this time pursued, when disappointments in its products was con- 

 sidered worthy of such protection. Tliis charter was confirmed in the 

 fourteenth year of the same reign. The second royal botanist of whom 

 we find any mention, was appointed by this monarch, in the person of 

 Matthias de Lobel, who was under the patronage of Lord Zoucii ; his 

 garden, the expense of which was borne by his lordship, was at Hackney. 

 King Charles I. was very fond of it, he conferred the title of royal 

 herbalist on Parkinson. Orangeries were much attended to by the 

 nobility; the Queen, it is said, had one at Wimbledon, where there 

 were forty-two trees, each valued at 10/. The gardens and green- 

 houses at Fulham Palace were greatly extended by Bishop Compton ; 

 this prelate appears to have been an indefatigable collector, possessing 

 withal a correct and scientific taste, and he was said to possess a greater 

 variety of plants tlian could be found in any other part of England. 

 In the time of William III. and Mary his queen (1689-1702), the 

 Dutch style was introduced into England. Dr. Tillotson, in her 

 funeral sermon, mentions her fondness for the pursuit. She delighted 

 in exotics, and allowed Dr. Plunkenet 200/. per annum for his assist- 

 ance in collecting, &c. 



PLANTS IN DWELLING ROOMS. 



BY SOPHIA CLARKE. 



To treat on the proper management of plants in houses is a subject 

 attended with considerable difficulty, every genus requiring some 

 variation both in soil, water, and general treatment. If the room 

 where the plants are intended to be placed is dark and close, but few 

 will thrive in it ; if, on the contrary, it is light and airy, with the 

 windows in a suitable aspect to receive the sun, plants will do nearly 

 as well as in a greenhouse ; but if they are observed to suffer, the 

 effects may generally be traced to one of the four following causes : 

 want of proper light and air, injudicious watering, filthiness collected 

 on the leaves, or being potted in unsuitable soil. 



Plants should always be placed as near the light as they can con- 

 veniently stand, and receive as much air as can be admitted when the 

 weather will allow ; indeed those persons who have no other conve- 

 niency than the house to keep them in will find that they derive 

 immense advantage from being, during fine weather in spring and 

 autumn, turned out of doors in the evening and taken in again in the 

 morning, the night dews contributing greatly to their health and vigour. 



Injudicious watering does more injury to plants in rooms than many 

 persons imagine. To prevent the soil ever having a dry appearance 

 is an object of importance in the estimation of many, they therefore 

 water to such an excess that the mould becomes sodden, and the roots 

 consequently perish. Others, to avoid this evil, run into the opposite 

 extreme, and scarcely give sufficient to sustain the life of the plant. 



