THE STAGING 15 



Orchid houses was sealed by concrete or hard tiles, and 

 the moisture-holding lower stage was necessary to give a 

 reasonable amount of evaporating surface. More recently 

 it has occurred to many of us that a moisture-giving surface 

 might be obtained from the natural earth, if the earth was 

 left either in its natural state or was given a coating of coke- 

 breeze or similar porous material, and trellises used for 

 the paths. In a similar way provision had to be made 

 for the second object of the close stage, namely, the 

 checking of the direct upward heat from the hot-water 

 pipes. This has been done very effectively in some 

 gardens by arranging a much less elaborate and costly 

 means than the full, close staging generally in use. An 

 iron frame is placed midway between the hot-water pipes 

 and the staging on which the plants rest ; a shelf of 

 corrugated iron, slate, or tiles, extends from the back to 

 about half the width of the side staging, its inner edge 

 being about midway in the space beneath the staging, 

 and an inch or so of space is left between the back 

 of the shelf and the wall of the house to allow some 

 of the heat from the pipes to pass that way, the greater 

 part being diverted towards the middle of the house by 

 the intervention of the shelf which is covered with turf or 

 some other moisture-holding material. This is kept con- 

 tinually moist by frequent syringings during the warm 

 season, when plenty of moisture in the air is required. 



In arranging new houses having the natural earth for 

 a floor, this plan is less expensive and altogether preferable 

 to the formal, close staging of full width, which, however, 

 should still be retained in adapting ordinary plant-houses 

 already provided with a tiled or cemented base, unless it 



