December.'] HOT-HOUSE AIR PLANTS. 197 



OF PLACING BULBS, &c., IN THE HOT-HOUSE. 



If any Hyacinths or other Dutch roots are wanted to 

 flower early, a few of them may be put in the hot-house 

 near the front glass, which will greatly tend to forward 

 their time of flowering. By having some brought in 

 every two weeks, a continued succession of bloom will be 

 kept up. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



If there is a tan-bed in the house, and it was renewed in 

 September, the pots should now be half plunged therein. 

 The violent heat will partly be over, and the plants are not 

 so liable to suffer at root in this as last month. It will 

 in part prevent the plants from being affected by sudden 

 changes of temperature. Be attentive in keeping all in- 

 sects completely under. This is the period that these are 

 most neglected, but by attending to the modes of their 

 destruction, as already given, no species of them will either 

 be hurtful or unsightly. Syringe the plants about twice a 

 week, and always remember that decayed leaves or litter 

 of any description, do not beautify healthy plants, neither 

 do they form a part of a well kept hot-house. 



ORCHIDEOUS EPIPHYTES OR AIR PLANTS. 



Before we close the hot-house subject, it may be interest- 

 ing to some of our readers to know the nature and cha- 

 racter of a few of the most desirable of those tropical para- 

 sites, that have within these few years caused so much 

 excitement in Europe. In several instances, houses up- 

 ward of two hundred feet long have been erected for their 

 exclusive culture, and unless they do thus have an apart- 

 ment adapted to their nature, no success will attend their 

 cultivation. They grow only in a very humid atmosphere, 

 kept at a temperature of from 70 to 100, and also in a 

 partially shaded situation : it is only under such treatment 

 that we have had any prosperity in blooming these pecu- 



