88 INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. 



plants are arranged ; and this is the principal object which 

 demands our attention. In single-roofed houses, the stage gen 

 erally rises towards the back wall ; but in span-roofed houses, 

 which are surrounded by a path, the stage or platform rises 

 from both sides, and meets in the middle of the house. 



It is a principle with some people to place the stage on the 

 same angle as the roof, i. e., each shelf rising at an equal dis- 

 tance from the plane of the rafters. This, however, is a bad 

 rule, and, in cases where the roof is very steep, Avill make a 

 wretched receptacle for green-house plants. No general rules 

 can be laid down for the erection of the stage, as this will very 

 much depend upon the form and size of the house. We might 

 add, however, that the angle of the stage ought never to exceed 

 the angle of the roof, but, if practicable, should be rather flatter 

 than otherwise, to admit of larger plants being placed on the 

 upper shelves, which serve to give the house a larger and more 

 effective appearance from the inside view. 



Green-houses intended for the growth of a promiscuous col- 

 lection of plants, some of which may reach a considerable 

 height, should have but few shelves on the platform, say three 

 or four rises are quite sufficient, leaving the upper shelves, at 

 least, twice the width of the others. This applies, also, to sin- 

 gle-roofed houses. Many commit an error in making their 

 stages not only too steep, but the shelves too narrow and too 

 high, individually. The shelves of a green-house for displaying 

 plants ought not to be less than one foot in width, this width 

 increasing towards the top shelf, and not more than eight or 

 nine inches in height from each other. 



Houses appropriated to the growth of small plants, as nurse- 

 rymen's stock-houses, propagating, etc., may be staged much 

 closer than this. These remarks chiefly apply to the green- 

 houses of private individuals, and houses for the exhibition and 

 arrangement of a general collection of plants. 



3. Conservatories, orangeries, and houses for the growth 

 of the palm family, have pits, or more properly beds, in which 

 plants are planted out. These beds are sometimes level with 

 the floor, and sometimes raised above it, being enclosed by a 



