GRE 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



GRE 



645 



there should be tressels, which may be moved in and out, 

 upon which rows of planks should be fixed, so as to place 

 the pots or tubs of plants in regular rows one above another, 

 whereby the heads of the plants may be so situated as not 

 to interfere with each other. The lowest row of plants, or 

 forwardest towards the windows, should be placed about four 

 feet from them, that there may be a convenient breadth left 

 next the glasses to walk in front ; and the rows of plants 

 should rise gradually from the first, in such a manner that 

 the heads of the second row should be entirely advanced 

 above the first, the stems only being hid; and at the back 

 of the house there should be allowed a space of at least five 

 feet, for the conveniency of watering the plants, and to 

 admit a current of air round them, that the damps arising 

 from their perspiration may be the more readily dissipated; 

 which, by being pent in too closely, often occasions a mouldi- 

 ness upon the tender shoots and leaves, and when the house 

 is closely shut up, this rancid and stagnating vapour is often 

 very destructive, and on this account the plants should never 

 be crowded together, nor should succulent plants be placed 

 among them. The plants are put into the Greenhouse in 

 October, or as soon as the morning and evening frosts come 

 on : in this situation they remain till the end of May or the 

 middle of June, according to the season ; when they are re- 

 moved to the place where they are to stand through the 

 summer. When first brought out, they should be placed in 

 some sheltered sunny place, for a fortnight, till they are 

 inured to the open air ; then set them in any open exposure, 

 where they are to remain for the summer; supplying them 

 plentifully with water in hot dry weather, all the woody or 

 shrubby kinds in particular. Before the plants are removed 

 out of the Greenhouse, it is necessary to shift at least all the 

 small plants ; that is, to take them out of their pots, to cut off 

 part of their roots round the ball of earth, and to put them 

 again into the same pot, if the plant be in an unhealthy state; 

 or, if healthy, into one a size larger, shortening the irregular 

 side-branches as they may require, and tying them up neatly. 

 The mould into which the plants are to be shifted, is of con- 

 siderable importance ; the best is to be obtained from com- 

 mons where sheep and cattle pasture, particularly in low 

 places, where the finest grass grows in the deepest soil. A 

 foot of the top soil with the turf may be taken off; and if it 

 be a sandy or hazel loam, it will do alone; but if it be a 

 strong loam, some sand and black peaty or moorish soil 

 should be added. Such soils, laid in a heap for at least six 

 of the winter months, and frequently turned over, will suit 

 most greenhouse plants. Aloes, Mesembryanthemums, Ixias, 

 and such liliaceous plants in general as are inhabitants of 

 exotic houses and glass-cases, require a soil which is a degree 

 lighter, and which will not retain the water, but let it pass 

 readily ; and a little coal-ashes at the bottom of each pot 

 may be very useful for this purpose. The great number of 

 Ericas or Heaths, and other beautiful plants from the Cape 

 of Good Hope, from America, and Botany Bay, delight and 

 flourish in that sort of earth which comes nearest to their 

 native soil. Thus the heaths like a black peat or moorish 

 soil, and the others that which is made a degree stronger 

 with loam. Conservatory. Greenhouse and Conservatory 

 have been generally considered as synonymous terms for a 

 house of a certain construction, destined to the preservation 

 of exotic plants throughout the winter. Their essential dif- 

 ference is this : In the Greenhouse, the trees and plants are 

 either in tubs or pots, and are placed on stands or stages 

 through the winter, till they are removed into some sheltered 

 situation abroad for the summer. In the Conservatory, the 

 ground plan is laid out in beds and borders, made up of the 

 VOL. i. 54. 



best compositions of soils that can be procured, three or four 

 feet in depth. In these the trees and plants, taken out of 

 their tubs or pots, are reguhuly planted in the same manner 

 as hardy plants in the open air. Instead of taking out the 

 plants in summer, as in the Greenhouse, the whole of the 

 glass roof is taken off, and the plants are thus exposed to 

 the open air ; and at the approach of autumn frosts the lights 

 are again put on, and remain so till the Mayor June follow- 

 ing. It is evident that the building here called a Conser- 

 vatory may also be used as a Greenhouse, at the discretion 

 of the owner, by introducing stages instead of beds, and in 

 that case the glass roof may be fixed. In Mr. Miller's plan, 

 the Greenhouse or Conservatory is placed exactly fronting 

 the south, one of the wings or stoves facing the south-east, 

 and the other the south-west ; so that from the time of the 

 sun's first appearance upon any part of the building, until it 

 goes off at night, it is constantly reflected from one part to 

 the other, and the cold winds are also kept off from the 

 front of the centre building. In the area many of the more 

 tender exotic plants may be placed in the summer season ; 

 and in the spring, before the plants can be set out, the beds 

 and borders of this area may be full of Anemonies, Ranun- 

 culuses, early Tulips, &c. which will be past flowering, and 

 the roots fit to take out of the ground, by the time the plants 

 are taken out. In the centre of this area, may be a small 

 basin of water, which will be very convenient for watering 

 the plants, not only on account of its nearness, but because 

 the water will be softened and warmed by the reflection 

 from the glasses. The wing facing the south-east should 

 always be preferred for the warmest, or bark-stove, because 

 the sun, at its first appearance in the morning, shines directly 

 upon the glasses, and, warming the air of the house, gives 

 new life to the plants, after the long nights of the winter 

 season. In these buildings, if there are not sheds running 

 behind them their whole length, the walls should not be less 

 than three bricks thick, and if they are even more it will be 

 better; because where the walls are thin and exposed to the 

 open air, the cold will penetrate, and when the fires are 

 made the heat will come out through the walls, so that it will 

 require a larger quantity of fuel to maintain a proper tempera- 

 ture of warmth in the house, and in general the closer and 

 better these houses are built, the less fuel will be required to 

 warm them ; so that the first expense in building them pro- 

 perly and substantially will be the cheapest. Besides 



these buildings, it will be proper to have deep Hot-bed 

 Frames, such as are commonly used to raise large annuals 

 in the spring, into which may be set pots of such plants as 

 come from Carolina, Virginia, &c. whilst the plants are too 

 small to bear the open air ; as also many other sorts from 

 Spain, and other southern countries of Europe, which re- 

 quire only to be screened from the violence of frosts, and 

 should have as much free air as possible in mild weather. 

 This cannot be better effected than by one of these frames, 

 where the glasses may be taken off every day when the wea- 

 ther will permit, and put on every night; and in hard frosts 

 the glasses may be covered with mats, straw, pease-haulm, or 

 similar materials, to preserve the roots of the plants from the 

 frost. If these pits be sunk a foot or more below the surface 

 of the ground, it will be better, provided the ground be dry. 

 The sides of the frame should be built with brick, and a 

 curb of wood laid round on the top of the wall, into which 

 the gutters whereon the glasses slide may be laid. The back 

 wall may be four feet high, and two bricks and a half thick ; 

 the front one a foot and a half; the width of the inside of 

 the frame, about six feet; and the length in proportion to 

 the number of plants to be contained in it. 

 8 B 



