118 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 



Cinerarias, from their gaiety and early blooming habit, ought 

 not to be omitted, and for the winter, Chinese primroses afford 

 some variety and are very beautiful. So also some heaths 

 may be selected for the sake of their bloom in the winter 

 months, and because they will stand among the other plants 

 we have mentioned. The acacias are an interesting tribe, 

 nearly all yellow or straw-coloured flowers, but for the most 

 part very abundant blooms, and as hardy as anything we 

 have mentioned. Chorozema varium and others make a 

 variety of foliage as well as flowers, and are adapted for green- 

 house culture. There are many other plants that would take 

 people's fancy, but a house well filled with these would be 

 highly gratifying, whether there were a few of the best kinds, 

 or a more general collection of each. 



The greenhouse may be built cheaper than any other ; the 

 glass need not be more than six inches by four all over the 

 house ; it wants no puttied laps, no particularly expensive 

 wood- work, and the brick-work quite plain ; the top-lights 

 may slide down, the front-lights swing with hinges from the 

 top, and opening outwards, to be propped out by common 

 fastenings, or they may be made to shde, in which case, how- 

 ever, the front can but be half opened at any time, because 

 one window or sash must be placed behind another. In the 

 former plan the whole range can be propped out, and if it 

 were at all desirable, they could be made to push out square 

 with the top, to admit the whole space of air. The front table 

 or shelf should be generally used for small choice plants that 

 require most attention, because they can be easily got at, and 

 best seen ; the stage beliind will hold all the larger ones, the 

 more gaudy being the most distant ; a camelHa, for instance, 

 could be seen from the most remote corner. 



The greenhouse, however, besides holding all such plants 

 as we have mentioned, would forward hyacinths considerably, 

 and produce the flowers of all bulbs a month or six weeks 

 earlier than the open ground, and perhaps nothing would 

 contribute more to the beauty of a greenhouse cultivation 

 than a few well-chosen hyacinths, narcissuses, &c., to inter- 

 sperse among the other plants. The greenhouse, in large 

 establishments, is employed to assist in supplying the conser- 

 vatory ; so that as soon as camellias, or azaleas, or any other 

 plants, are found enough in bloom to be interesting, they are 

 removed to the conservatory, and their places filled by such 



