168 PEACTICAL GARDENING. 



on everytliing that will not absorb, whence it always keeps 

 the atmosphere saturated, a state of things perfectly dangerous 

 to human beings, and highly detrimental to plants. One of 

 our constant cares has been to give plenty of room. We 

 do not, perhaps, put one half as many plants into a given 

 space as the majority of growers, but we are not plagued with 

 damp. 



Another point worthy of great attention, is to keep all 

 plant houses very clean ; and leaves and htter of any kind are 

 bad ; they engender vermin, and canker, and mildew ; they 

 exhale noxious gases, and send poison through the air. This 

 is bad enough out of doors, but, confined, it is beyond measure 

 mischievous. The floors of pits and houses should be paved 

 or slated ; for, when the superabundant water from the pots 

 soaks into the common earth, which is the bottom of too many 

 houses, pits, frames, and other constructions, it is constantly 

 filling the confined air with all the moisture it can hold. "We 

 are quite aware that all this may seem more cautious than 

 necessary, because all the summer time it works no mischief; 

 but it is because the place is open to the common atmosphere 

 and if there were a flood at the bottom it would go off without 

 damage ; but look at the difference when doors and windows 

 are shut to keep out frost and cold winds : — let us now only 

 talk of the effects. 



Air and Ventilation. — How many people can look 

 around their crowded houses and find, on examination, plant 

 after plant mildewing in some parts, and losing their beauty 

 as specimens ! The only antidote to damp is air and plenty 

 of it, with all the light we can get. There should be as much 

 room between every two plants as would allow of another 

 being placed there ; then the air can get at them all ; there is 

 only one half the damp created, and that will not saturate 

 the surrounding atmosphere. Perhaps some may think we 

 are depriving them of half the advantages of a greenhouse by 

 requiring them to grow half their plants ; and they may also 

 say they have grown them as thick as they could stick them, 

 and yet not suffered This may be true ; some winters are so 

 open that the houses have not to be closed four-and-twenty 

 hours together ; but a different result would be seen if they 

 were closed for a week or ten days at a time, as in many 

 winters they are compelled to be. We have seen whole pits 

 of bedding plants, well struck, very strong, and in the best 



