ON TYPICAL COLD GREENHOUSES 9 



chiefly for the winter protection of flowering shrubs and bulbs, 

 and for the purpose of giving interest and enjoyment, together 

 with a certain amount of exercise, to those who are debarred 

 from taking an active share in the more vigorous pursuits of 

 healthy outdoor English life. 



It stands to reason, to begin with, that the construction, as 

 well as the planting, of such a winter garden requires both 

 judgment and good taste, and will give ample scope for the 

 exercise of a thorough knowledge of suitable subjects. Here, 

 too, is a case in point, where a cold greenhouse may reason- 

 ably be fitted with a single or even double flow-and-return pipe, 

 as required by the size of the building, in connection with the 

 main boiler, but so furnished with valves as to shut off all heat, 

 except when absolutely needful to keep out frost or to put the 

 air in circulation to prevent stagnant damp. It is not hard to 

 picture a grand glass-garden of this kind, large enough to give 

 a permanent home to the flowering Acacias, Himalayan Rhodo- 

 dendrons, Boronias, Correas, and the like, which, though 

 tender, live and flower profusely out of doors in sheltered 

 positions in the favoured climate for example, of the Isles of 

 Scilly. It may be taken for granted that all shrubs and plants 

 and their name is legion that will live happily in the open 

 air in our southernmost counties are fit subjects to thrive well 

 under the shelter of glass, assisted, in the hardest weather only, 

 by just so much artificial heat as will suffice to prevent the ther- 

 mometer falling below 35. Any of us who have had experi- 

 ence of the difference in well-doing between plants grown in 

 pots and those which receive the more generous treatment of 

 the greenhouse border will readily understand the advantages 

 offered on this point by the glass-garden. Such a house should 

 be under the charge of an exceptionally intelligent gardener, 

 well instructed and interested in the cultivation of hardy 

 and half-hardy plants, who will take a pride in making use of 

 the heating apparatus as sparingly as possible. The idea, 



