AND CONSEEVATORT. 



219 



that are but ill adapted for the conservatory, and therefore 

 the selection is not a matter of taste solely. AVe object to 

 bedding plants, because they belong propea-ly to other scenes, 

 but first-class specimens are admissible while in their prime. 

 None of the ftist-growing and free-flowering of soft-wooded 

 plants that are most esteemed as bedders are adapted for per- 

 manent occupation of the conservatory ; for, irrespective of 

 their unfitness in habit and associations, they will not thrive 

 in such a structure. The fuchsia is not strictly a bedding 

 plant, for it loves not the dry soil and the burning sun as the 

 geranium does, and thrives in the subdued light and constantly 

 humid atmosphere of the conservatory. How fortunate ! for 

 the free-growing fuchsias make superb pillar plants under 

 glass, and harmonise with whatever other subjects have an 

 equality of claim to shelter with them. Turning in another 

 direction, it may be said that plants of the heath tribe are as 

 unfit for permanent residence in the conservatory as gera- 

 niums and calceolarias are. They need more light, more air, 

 less warmth, less humidity, than the more proper inmates of 

 the house, and, therefore, if employed at all, should be as 

 moveable furniture, brought in when perfect, and removed 

 when the flowers begin to fade. 



lEICESTEE VASE BY HUNT AND PICKEEING. 



