306 



HORTICULTURE. 



Flower 

 Garden. 



Sreen- 



housc. 



humble plants, likewise well adapted to the framed 

 border, where they make a very beautiful appearance. 



In many gardens, where fine bulbous plants are 

 much attended to, as at the Botanic Garden at Liver- 

 pool, all the borders immediately in front of the various 

 hot-houses are covered with moveable frames. In these 

 framed borders, it may be added, many alpine plants 

 may likewise be preserved during winter ; for such 

 plants being accujftomed, in their native place of 

 growth, to the protection of a thick covering of snow 

 during that severe season, are impatient of intense cold. 



Green-house. 



531. The proper situation for the Green-house has 

 been already pointed out (55.) as being somewhere 

 in the flower garden. Its aspect ought of course to be 

 towards the south. In fixing on the plan and eleva- 

 tion of a green-house, there is great scope for fancy and 

 taste ; for, the indulgence of these is quite consistent 

 with the production of a house which shall afford shel- 

 ter during winter to plants which require little more 

 than to be saved from the effects of frost. It is scarce- 

 ly ever wished that the temperature should exceed 45 

 Fahrenheit ; and when the weather is such that air 

 can be given, it is enough if the thermometer indicate 

 from 38 to 42. To every part of the house, however, 

 light ought to be freely admitted, else some of the 

 plants will necessarily become drawn up and distorted : 

 a great part of the front of the roof should therefore 

 be of glass. Nicol observes, that a green-house may 

 have two straight sides, but should have circular ends ; 

 he is better pleased, however, with an octagon whose 

 sides are not equal, but which has two opposite longer 

 sides, forming as it were an " angular oval." In some 

 gardens the green-house forms a complete circle ; in 

 others it is of an oval shape : in these cases, and indeed 

 in general, it is now constructed of glazed frames on 

 every side. The roof is not made nearly so lofty as for- 

 merly; indeed, it seldom exceeds in height ten or 

 twelve feet from the paved walk. The furnace and 

 stock-hole are of course as much concealed as possible ; 

 and if the house be circular or octagonal, the smoke is 

 carried by a flue under ground to some distance, and 

 then discharged by a small chimney, hid by shrubbery. 

 The interior is fitted up with stages and shelves for 

 holding the plants. These are arranged according to 

 their sizes, the shape of the leaves, and the general tint 

 of colour : the smaller plants are chiefly placed in front, 

 and those that are likely to flower during winter have 

 conspicuous stations allotted to them : the taller plants 

 occupy principally the back shelves : in this way a 

 symmetrical mass of varied foliage is presented to the 

 eye, interrupted only by projecting clusters of various- 

 ly coloured blossoms. Several of the sashes, or per- 

 haps each alternate sash, should be made moveable for 

 the admission of air ; and ventilators are also proper, 

 for promoting a circulation, when the state of the wea- 

 ther prevents the admitting of air by the roof. Very 

 little water is given to the plants during winter ; and 

 they are cleared of dust rather by means of a bellows 

 than by the application of the syringe. 



The roots of green-house plants are generally exa- 

 mined twice in the year, by turning the plants gently 

 out of the pots. Many kinds only need repotting once 

 in the year ; and this operation is commonly perform- 

 'ed in August : but others require it twice in the year, 

 and the other period is usually March. It is not al- 



ways necessary that the plants should be shifted into 

 larger pots ; on the contrary, it is often better to re- 

 trench the matted roots, and keep to pots of the same 

 size. It is always proper that some small gravel or 

 shivers of broken flower-pots be put in the bottom of 

 the pots, to drain off moisture. And here a very com- 

 mon error in the manufacture of that earthen- ware ar- 

 ticle may be pointed out : the hole in the bottom is 

 frequently made so as to have a small unintended rim 

 on the inside, which necessarily retains a portion of 

 water ; whereas the sides of the hole ought to have a 

 slope from the interior, so as to allow every particle of 

 water to escape. 



532. In the course of this treatise, the different sizes Flower - 

 of flower-pots have more than once been mentioned in pou. 

 the tecnichal style employed by gardeners, such as 



" eights," " sixteens," &c., or " No. 1," " No. 3," &c. 

 These terms it may be proper here to explain. The 

 meaning of them will be rendered obvious by a tabu- 

 lar view ; but it may first be observed, that potters 

 usually make seven sizes, also called numbers, of pots ; 

 that the pots of each particular size are sold in what 

 are called casts ; and that the number of pots in a cast 

 increases proportionally as the size of the pots de- 

 creases. Of No. 1., which is the largest kind of pot in 

 common use, there are eight in the cast, and a pot of 

 this class is called either a " No. 1." or an " eight." 



No. 1. first size, has 8 in the cast, called Eights. 



2. second size, 12 Twelves. 



3. third size, 16' Sixteens. 



4. fourth size, 24 Twenty-fours. 



5. fifth size, 32 Thirty-two's. 



6. sixth size, 48 Forty-eights. 



7. seventh size, 60 Sixties. 



Pots larger than eights, or of extra size, such as 4 in 

 the cast, are often made, for the accommodation of 

 large plants ; and, on the other hand, pots of a smaller 

 size than sixties are sometimes manufactured, particu- 

 larly for holding small seedling plants, or very young 

 Cape heaths. These very small pots are among gar- 

 deners called thumbs. 



533. Plants suited to the green-house are extremely 

 numerous, and constantly on the increase : the selection 

 of them must depend on the taste of the owner, and 

 the size of the house. To give any enumeration seems 

 unnecessary : it may be sufficient to refer to those excel- 

 lent lists, the Epitome of Hortus Kewensis, and the 

 Cambridge Catalogue ; in these the plants suited to the 

 green-house are marked G ; and their duration or cha- 

 racter are indicated by the marks usually employed by 

 botanists and gardeners ; for annual; $ for biennial ; 

 if. for perennial ; and Tj signifying that the plant is 

 shrubby or arboreous. In the first mentioned catalogue, 

 the plants which require a black heath mould, or peat 

 soil, have an asterisk * prefixed to them. In the Bo- 

 tanical Magazine, edited by Sims, (formerly mentioned 

 18.), all new and curious green-house plants are fi- 

 gured and described as they come into notice. 



534. To keep up the show of plants actually in flower 

 in the green-house, especially in the early spring months, 

 a usual and very proper expedient is to plant a number 

 of the common ornamental bulbous plants, in pots, in 

 the month of October ; to forward these in the stove, 

 and to place them, as the flowers appear, upon the 

 shelves of the green-house. For this purpose some of 

 the many varieties of hyacinth, with single and double 

 jonquil, white and yellow polyanthus-narcissus, Per- 



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