GARDENS UNDER GLASS. 351 



should be turned out in the bed or border, or the pot itself 

 plunged, because frost cannot so well go dowTi after roots as 

 it can get through the sides of a pot ; next, the greatest pos- 

 sible care must be taken that the Tvindows and doors shut 

 close and admit no draught; third, that the windoTvs and 

 doors be always shut at sunset in winter time, so that the 

 heat which has been absorbed all day shall be shut in all 

 night ; fourthly, that whenever the sun is warm, even in the 

 depth of the winter, all the air that can be given should be 

 given. It is impossible, indeed, to give a common greenhouse 

 too much air in mild weather. If there are many top and 

 bottom windows, open half of each, so that there is a thorough 

 good air admitted. In dry weather especially, the house 

 should be as open as possible, for the sake of drying it. There 

 are many plants that will succeed better under glass than in 

 the open air, although they are hardy enough to stand ex- 

 posure — the daphnes, rhododendrons, azaleas (Indian and 

 American), andromedas, camellias, many heaths, acacia, 

 arbutus procera, deutzda scabra, all the liliums, most of the 

 early bulbs ; but suppose it to be planted out exactly the 

 same as a bit of fancy garden out of doors, the plants under 

 glass will be forwarder a good deal, so that tliis would create 

 two distinct seasons if they were plant for plant alike. The 

 hard- wooded Botany Bay plants will often stand a few degrees 

 of frost, but under any circumstances, all the spring bulbs 

 would be in bloom in February, instead of later; and we 

 might walk out of the drawing-room into the garden, under 

 glass, without the least difficulty, and see but the thickness 

 of the glass between us and the most cheerless frost and 

 snow, with the flowers blooming at our feet. The principal 

 attention required is to the soil wdth which the beds and 

 borders are filled, and the manner in which the drainage 

 is carried out. There ought to be a clear run of water 

 established, or rather the means of forming one — two or three 

 ordinary drains, with drain pipes at the bottom, and stones 

 or bushes to cover them six inches ; and these pipes should 

 communicate with an outlet capable of draining away any 

 moisture that may filter into these pipes from the beds and 

 paths, so that however freely you may water the plants or 

 saturate the beds they will be free of stagnant water. The 

 soil should be loam from rotted turves one half, and good 

 chopped peat earth the other half. That this may be weU 



