one 



{ 050 



ORC 



removed into the cooler or Mexican i 

 house,'nnd that removal or change of \ 

 temperature will harden their psnedo- j 

 bulbs, and concentrate the sap, causing j 

 them thereby to become more healthy, j 

 robust, and free to flower. Should any 

 of the South American species require 

 a little more heat, they could be con- 

 veniently removed into the Indian 

 house to make their growth. The 

 cooler house will also be useful to 

 place any of the Indian species in when 

 in flower, which change will consider- 

 ably prolong their season of blooming. 

 The two houses may join each other, 

 divided by a partition either of brick or 

 glass. We should prefer glass, as being 

 neater and showing off the plants in 

 both houses to greater advantage. 



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 tanks 

 should be deep enough to cover the 

 pipes about an inch with water. The 

 tanks need not be more than ten inches 

 wide, inside measure. The diameter 

 of the pipes should be three inches-and- 

 a-half. At some convenient place there 

 ought to be a tap to let off the water j 

 out of the tanks. This ought to be ' 

 done frequently, in order to obtain a j 

 sweet moisture. If the water be allowed 

 to remain in the tanks for a length of 

 time it becomes foul, and then when 

 heated sends forth a disagreeable smell, 

 which 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 mornings of fine days. 

 The number of pipes and tanks re- 

 quired depends, of course, upon the 

 size ff 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 arc placed under a platform 

 formed with large thick slates, spaces 

 i being left between each to alloAv tho 

 j moisture to ascend amongst the plants. 

 The other tanks have covers to them, 

 j with holes to let out the moisture. 

 | These holes have brass lids to them, 

 j so that the moisture can be confined 

 as circumstances 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 four- 

 teen 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 Ken- 

 sail New Town, is in the habit of put- 

 ting 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 desir- 

 able 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 ex- 

 tremity 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 possible, to allow 

 head room for the manager and visitors 

 to walk comfortably. This elevated 

 walk is of considerable use, affording 



