692 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



the}^ get \l — a need, I am sorry to say, amateurs are very apt to forget — 

 for plants require their food as regularly as we do ours, and, like ourselves, 

 if they do not receive a sufficiency, or get too much given them, their 

 health suffers accordingly. These gardeners also contract to take away 

 all plants as soon as they are out of flower or otherwise become unsightly'', 

 and replace them by others, so that a constant supply of fresh and healthy 

 plants is kept up during the whole season This is a verj desirable cus- 

 tom, and one that I think could be well and profitably introduced into New 

 York and other large cities of America, as the knowledge that we could 

 always procure gardeners accustomed to the care and management of 

 plants in cities would be a great inducement to the moi-e general building 

 of conservatories attached to our dwellings. For how many persons there 

 are fond of flowers in their rooms, but have not the leisure or the necessary 

 knowledge to attend to them themselves. But, under any circumstances, 

 every one having a conservaotry for the first time, it would be very profit- 

 \able to them to employ a regular gardener to attend to it at the commence- 

 ment, and, by a little observation, they would soon perceive how little care 

 plants actually do require to keep them in a healthy and thriving condition 

 when that care is rightly applied. In most large cities in Europe they 

 have what they call winter gardens, which is nothing more than a conserv- 

 atory on a large scale. These, in some instances, are very elaborately laid 

 out, with winding walks so arranged that at almost every turn you are 

 meeting with new beauties; here, perhaps, in a secluded nook, you find a 

 grotto, overgrown with Mosses and Ferns, with water oozing out from 

 among the rocks, and giving to it all the appearance of one of those beauti- 

 ful, quiet places we aije constantly meeting with in our rambles in the 

 country. Or, we go a little farther, and before us is an elegant fountain, 

 overflowing into a miniature stream, with beautifully colored fish sporting 

 gracefully about; or, hark! what are those joyous sounds we hear as we 

 suddenly come to an aviary of sweet singing birds, which seem to show 

 by their glad and cheerful voices that, to them, there is no vi'iuter there. 

 These conservatories are generally planted with Camellia Japonicas, which 

 are always covered with their beautiful blossoms during the winter months, 

 and whatever other plants or flowers are in season or can be forced into 

 flower are here brought together to add to the general beauty, and so all 

 combine to make these winter gardens a very Paradise in themselves. 

 But, if we have no public winter garden here in New York, we are not at 

 least deprived of the pleasure of having plants and flowers in our rooms, 

 and, in some favored places, of even having conservatories full of such 

 charming beauties as these before us. 



We have here this evening many varieties of plants which you perceive 

 can be made to blossom at this season of the year. The first and most 

 prominent among these, on account of its many good qualities, is the Ca- 

 mellia Japonica, one of the most desirable winter plants we possess, 

 whether we regard it for the beauty of its blossoms or the lively freshness 

 of its foliage; for even when not in flower it is one of the most useful plants 

 for the conservatory on account of its rich evergreen leaves, which form 

 such a handsome background to other flowers; and besides it has another 



