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the plants, in both houses, to greater ad- 

 vantage. 



Heating. As these plants require, 

 during the seasons of growth, a larger 

 amount of moisture than most other 

 plants, the plan to effect this is to heat 

 the houses with hot water pipes, laid in 

 tanks. The water in these taut ; should 

 be deep enough to cover the pip s about 

 an inch with water. The tar'>s need 

 not be more than ten inches wi; e, inside 

 measure. The diameter of tue pipes 

 should be three inches and a half. At 

 some convenient place there ought to be 

 a tap to let off the water out of the tanks. 

 This ought to be done frequently, in order 

 to obtain a sweet moisture. If the water 

 be allowed to remain in the tanks for a 

 length of time it becomes foul, and then, 

 when lasted, sends forth a disagreeable 

 smell, v lich is very unhealthy both to 

 plants and persons. In winter, when 

 the plants are, or ought to be, mostly at 

 rest, they require a drier atmosphere. 

 In order to induce this, the tanks ought 

 to be emptied during the winter months, 

 from the middle of October to the middle 

 of February. Should the plants appear 

 to shrivel too much, the pipes may be 

 occasionally syringed early in the morn- 

 ings of fine days. The number of pipes 

 and tanks required depends, of course, 

 upon the size of the houses. The large 

 house at Messrs. Henderson's, of Pine- 

 Apple Place, has four tanks in it; the 

 width of the house is eighteen feet. 

 Two of those tanks are open, that is, 

 have no cover, and are placed tinder a 

 platform formed with large, thick slates, 

 spaces being left between each to allow 

 the moisture to ascend amongst the 

 plants. The other tanks have covers to 

 them, with holes to let out the moisture. 

 These 1. "'es have brass lids to them, so 

 that the ^.->isture can be confined as cir- 

 cumstances require. Now, this answers 

 the purpose well during the months of 

 spring; but we have too much moisture 

 during winter, so that the plants grow 

 more than they flower. Supposing, then, 

 a house eighteen feet wide requires four 

 tanks, a house fourteen feet will require 

 three ; nine feet, two ; and less than that, 

 only one. The return-pipes may run 

 under the tanks to the boiler, or, if the ; 

 tanks are placed so near the floor that 

 the return-pipes cannot be placed under, 

 they may be arranged to run on one side. 

 The best kind of boiler we know is one 



formed of several round pipes, connected 

 at each end by a square one. From this 

 square pipe the hot water rises into the 

 tanks, and the return-pipes bring the 

 water back to it to be reheated. Mr. 

 Taylor, the hothouse builder at Kensal 

 New Town, is in the habit of putting up 

 these boilers, and they answer admirably. 



Shelves. In any convenient part of 

 the house where a shelf can be put so 

 near the glass as to allow plants in pots 

 to be placed upon it, it is desirable to 

 have them. We have always found small 

 plants in pots, that have made a good 

 start, do well in such a situation. The 

 plants, however, should not be too near 

 the glass. The extremity of the leaves 

 should be at least nine inches from it. 

 The shelves, also, should not be placed 

 where the water that overflows or runs 

 through the pots will drop upon any plants . 



Stages. The arrangement of these will 

 depend upon the width of the house. If 

 the house is wide enough to allow a walk 

 all round it, and a walk in the centre, 

 there will be two stages. The centre 

 walk should be elevated as high as pos- 

 sible, to allow head-room for the manager 

 and visitors to walk comfortably. This ele- 

 vated walk is of considerable use, affording 

 a good opportunity to watch the progress 

 and state of the plants, and to observe 

 when they require watering, repotting, 

 and cleaning from insects. An example 

 of this arrangement may be seen in the 

 orchid-house at Kew. 



Shelves of the Stage. Every shelf 

 ought to be a shallow cistern to hold 

 water. Blue slate is the best material to 

 form each shelf on the stage. The up- 

 right slate forming the sides of each 

 ought to be elevated at least two inches, 

 and made water-tight. These cistern- 

 shelves may either be filled with small, 

 pebbly gravel, all the sand or other bind- 

 ing material being washed out of it, to 

 prevent its setting hard, or they may be 

 left empty, and shallow pots turned up- 

 side down, just high enough to allow the 

 plants to stand clear of the water ; for it 

 is intended that these cistern-shelves 

 should be, during summer, kept full of 

 water. These shelves of the stage must 

 be as near the glass as the size of the 

 plant will allow. Several advantages to 

 the health of the orchids accrue from this 

 arrangement. The most important is a 

 constant supply of moisture to the air, at 

 a time when the heat of summer renders 



