92 FLOWER-GARDE XING. 



of plants embraces those wMcli are collected from various 

 climates, and thrive best in a temperature and soil similar to 

 that in which nature first produced them. Hence, those who 

 propagate exotic plants, must provide suitable composts, and 

 also separate departments, where the different degrees of heat 

 may be kept up, according to their nature and description. 

 Some of these are raised from seed sown in the spring, others 

 by layers, suckers, and offsets detached from the old plants, and 

 many by slips or cuttings, planted at different seasons of the 

 year, according to their various natures and state of the plants. 

 Many kinds require the aid of glass coverings and bottom heat, 

 created by fresh horse-dung, tan, etc. 



Were I to attempt to give directions for the propagation of 

 all the varieties of useful and ornamental exotic plants culti- 

 vated in various parts of our country, it would require several 

 volumes. The catalogue of green-house plants alone, kept by 

 the enterprising proprietor of the Linnsean Botanic Garden, at 

 Flushing, occupies fifty pages of close matter. It would there- 

 fore be impossible to do justice to the subject, without dividing 

 upwards of two thousand species of plants into classes, and 

 treating of them under distinct heads. I shall, therefore, not 

 attempt, in this edition, to write largely on the subject. 



In order to render this work useful to those who may wish 

 to avail themselves of the pleasure of nursing some of those 

 beauties of nature in dwelling or green-houses during the most 

 chilling days of our severe winters, and to afford amusement 

 to the ladies at a season when our gardens are deprived of their 

 loveliest charms, I shall notice some essential points connected 

 with the management of green-house plants in as explicit a 

 manner as possible, and subjoin a brief catalogue of such species 

 as are most generally cultivated, of which there are innumerable 

 varieties; descriptions of which, with all the varied features 

 of the floral kingdom, may be found in the voluminous works of 

 Loudon, Sweet, Chandler, and other English writers. 



Those generally denominated green-house plants, and which 

 are kept in rooms, should be placed where they can have the 



