22 HALF-HARDY PLANTS AND GREENHOUSES [CH. 



platform of some sort will make a ladder unnecessary, 

 and the brush may be tied to a handle 3 or 4 feet 

 in length. It will be sufficient to muff the south roof 

 and the ends of the greenhouse, and the stuff should not 

 be applied thick, rather after the manner and substance 

 of the tiffany itself. 



The uses of a greenhouse are as various as the 

 seasons of the year. 



It may be a mere winter shelter for bedding plants, 

 or a resort for the healthy growing of specimens to be 

 promoted to the sitting-room or the porch, as they are 

 required ; or it may be the ultimate destination of those 

 soft-wooded things which are raised in the hot-bed and 

 cold frame, and only brought into the greenhouse when 

 it is no longer safe to keep them outside. For all these 

 objects it is of the greatest importance that a low, 

 equable temperature be maintained, with good ventilation, 

 and without draughts not too dry, and yet not damp. 

 In late spring and summer, floor and stages should be 

 judiciously syringed in the evening. In winter and early 

 spring carefully moisten in the early part of the day, 

 except in frosty weather, and then under such conditions 

 the plants will not suffer much when transferred to less 

 favourable positions. 



There is no reason, however, why the greenhouse 

 should not be so arranged as to be gay with flowering 

 plants all the year round. 



Cacti are grown without much difficulty. Perhaps 



