192 GREEN-HOUSE. 



GREEN-HOUSE. 



JANUARY. 



THIS compartment requires particular attention, in order 

 to preserve the plants in good health, and carry them 

 through this precarious season of the year. A little air 

 must be admitted at all convenient times. An hour or two 

 at mid-day will be of the utmost importance in drying up 

 damp and clearing off stagnated air, which is a harbour for 

 every corruption. The top sashes being let down or turned 

 a few inches, in mild days, (that is, when there are not 

 high and cutting winds), from ten or eleven o'clock to two 

 or three, according to the intensity of the frost, will re- 

 novate the interior air of the house and harden the plants. 

 When the weather will permit, let the front sashes be 

 opened about one inch or more. An assiduous, expe- 

 rienced hand will never omit an opportunity. 



With regard to fire heat, the temperature must be regu- 

 lated to suit the nature of the plants in a general sense ; so 

 let the mercury, or spirits of wine, of Fahrenheit's thermo- 

 meter, be from 35 to 50 ; if it begins to fall, give a little 

 fire heat. No doubt we have seen the thermometer much 

 lower in the green-house than the above, even as low as 

 24, without any immediate injury; but it was in an exten- 

 sive collection, where the most hardy of the plants were 

 selected into one house. Many boast how little fire they 

 give their green-house, and how cold it is kept, not ob- 

 serving the miserable state of their plants inexperience 

 causing them to think that the least fire heat will make 

 them grow, and would rather look on naked stems than 

 healthy plants. The above temperature will not, in exot- 

 ics, cause premature vegetation, but will cause the plants 

 to retain the foliage requisite to vegetative nature. A high 

 temperature is not necessary for the generality of green- 

 house plants ; on the contrary, it might very much injure 

 them. 



