334 Bottom Heat. [Dec, 



BOTTOM HEAT. 



One of the most important points to which modern gardeners 

 have had their attention turned, is that of Bottom Heat. It is to 

 a great extent the cause of their eminent success in some branch- 

 es of horticulture; and the time is coming when it will be looked 

 upon as the foundation of all practice whatsoever. As matters 

 now stand, the subject is only considered specially in a few cases, 

 such as Pine apples, Melons and Cucumbers, and in the operations 

 of seed sowing and cutting striking. But it really concerns eve- 

 ry plant that is known ; more perhaps than even top heat. Those 

 for which it is so caretully studied are only extreme cases; but 

 they point the way to general rules. We may be sure that if one 

 plant is so constituted that its roots require to lie in a medium of 

 a particular temperature, all other plants will also have some 

 temperature which suits their roots better than any other. This 

 is acknowledged to be so with their branches and leaves; and is 

 certainly quite as true as respects their roots. 



We might be certain that this opinion is well founded, even in 

 the absence of direct proof, because we know that the aim of cul- 

 tivation is to imitate as exactly as possible in all respects, the 

 conditions under which plants naturally grow. If in its natural 

 state, where it arrives at the greatest perfection of which it is 

 susceptible, a plant is continually exposed to a certain tempera- 

 ture of the earth, to another of the air, to a particular amount of 

 light, of humidity of atmospheric piessure, it cannot be doubted 

 that the first business of the gardener is to imitate those peculiari- 

 ties by all the means at his command; having done that he may 

 proceed to stall feed his plants till they resemble the bullocks at 

 the Smithfield Club; but to cram them till he has secured their 

 perfect health, is like overfeeding a savage debarred from his 

 natural exercise and occupations. 



A very interesting proof of the advantage of attending to this 

 subject is to be found in Mr. Purdey's Garden at Bayswater. A 

 vinery has been filled with wood and fruit in little more than two 

 years, by merely warming the border in which the Vines grow. 

 It is said that the latter made shoots 37 feet long, strong, short- 

 jointed, and well-ripened, in the first year. The Grapes which we 

 have seen, are excellent, and were ripe in the beginning of Au- 

 gust; so that they must have been forced in good time. We ful- 

 ly anticipate bunches from this house which shall equal the lar- 

 gest of Syria. Mr. Purdey has obtained this result by applying 

 artificial heat to his Vine-border, so as to ensure its having a suit- 

 able temperature at the season of growth. In general, Vines are 

 treated as a man would 1 e, if exposed to a steam bath with his 



