BOOK II. 



HOT-HOUSE, OR BARK-STOVE PLANTS. 



921 



666S. 



SECT. V. Herbaceous Dry -stove Plants. 

 HERBACEOUS DRY-STOVE PLANTS. 



CHAP. XIV. 



Hot-house, or Bark-stove Plants. 



6669. Bark-stove plants are such as require the highest degree of heat, which has ge- 

 nerally been given by the aid of a bed of bark or other fermenting substance, in which 

 the pots containing the plants are plunged. Sometimes, as before observed (6184.), steam 

 or flues are applied under a vault covered with earth or sand as a substitute for bark ; and 

 more recently the pots have not been plunged in any material nor bottom heat applied, 

 but a greater atmospherical heat communicated, and the atmosphere about the pots kept 

 moist by watering, &c. We shall arrange the most ornamental species which flower freely 

 under woody, climbing, bulbous, perennial, annual, aquatic, reedy plants ; and add some 

 remarks on palms, air plants, and ferns, which, though they seldom flower in this coun- 

 try, or for the greater part have flowers of little show, yet are grand or interesting speci- 

 mens of vegetable beings. 



670. 



SECT. I. Woody Bark-stove Plants. 

 WOODY BARK-STOVE PLANTS. 



6671. Propagation. All the known modes are occasionally adopted, but those by seeds 

 and cuttings are the most general. Few stove plants ripen their seeds in this country, 

 and such as are obtained are therefore generally procured from abroad. 



6672. Tropical seeds in general, Cushing observes, are very liable to lose their powers of vegetation 

 by reason of the transition from warm to cold climates, combined with the length of time which com- 

 monly intervenes between their gathering and arrival with us, especially if they have been exposed to 

 damps ; on that account they should be sown as soon as they arrive, at least a part of each parcel. Much 

 depends on the state of the seeds when received. East and West India seeds generally arrive with the 

 regular fleets, as indeed do those from the Cape of Good Hope, and all the South Sea islands, for the 

 most part by the Eastern and China ships ; so that one may in general be prepared against their arrival. 

 As early spring is undoubtedly the best time for sowing, a few weeks' delay may in some instances be ad- 

 visable. If received late in October or November, wait until January, or perhaps February, unless it 

 evidently appears that they will not keep out of the earth so long a time in a vegetative state ; such as can 

 be sown before August have a good chance to acquire sufficient strength of growth to carry them through 

 the winter months, so adverse to the general efforts of young vegetable life. 



6673. The pots being well drained should be filled with the compost suitable to the species of plant of 

 which the seed intended to be sown has been produced (see the table) ; let it be pressed down to about a 

 third or half an inch below the edge of the rim, according to the size of the seeds ; if they arc small or 

 light sorts, it will be necessary to press it pretty tight, and to add a little of the very h'ne-sifted mould on 

 which to deposit the seed, previously smoothing it with a bit of thin flat wood, bent so as to lie on it level. 

 Being thus prepared, let the seed be sown regularly on the surface, and cover it from about an eighth to a 

 quarter of an inch, according to the size of the seed as before, with the same sort of fine mould. But if 

 the seed is of the largest sorts, as, for instance, the nut or stone kind, no more is necessary than to press 

 them into the earth with the finger, and to cover somewhat thicker than is recommcnded'for the others. 

 Tn either case, the covering should be pressed moderately on the seed with the hand; which is indeed a 

 most necessary caution in sowing seeds of any description whatever. In order to cniure the vegetation 



