PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 



219 



of these, some place where the conditions of temperature, air, light 

 and construction are similar ; and (2) the summer season, when they 

 are taken out into the open air and set in variously exposed situations 

 in order that they may mature, grow, and bloom. 



WINTER CULTIVATION. In October the shrubs are removed to 

 warm corners. The shedding of the leaf in some plants gets rid of 

 one difficulty in their cultivation, that of their preservation during 

 the winter, as the summer-leafing kinds are so easy to store away 

 if the frost be kept out. Half-hardy evergreen shrubs require to be 

 kept in a well-lighted house, but shrubs, which, like Fuchsias and 

 Pomegranates, shed their leaves in autumn, can during winter be 

 conveniently kept in any dark place, such as a cellar or warm shed, 



Orangery, Holm Lacey, Hereford. 



and in their case watering will scarcely be required. As a general 

 rule, for orangery shrubs, the temperature may be such as will exclude 

 frost ; some kinds, however, will be found to withstand a hard frost 

 like the Oleander. Although the summer-leafing shrubs scarcely 

 need water at all during the winter, it is needed for evergreen shrubs. 

 Yet even here we shall have to make a distinction. For instance, the 

 Orange-tree requires more water than the Myrtle, and the Myrtle 

 more than the Proteads. In the majority of orangeries the plants are 

 watered every two or three weeks during winter, and daily after the 

 month of April, and those who cultivate Orange-trees are able to tell 

 us that want of water, which is always prejudicial to this tree, may 

 even result in a complete loss of leaf. There are two plans for 



