M i Intosh , s Green-house, Hot-house, and Stove. 27 



" Such is our view of the subject. Plants, to be well cultivated, ought to be 

 divided into groups, in a somewhat similar manner to that sketched out in the 

 following pages. The cultivator who shall direct his attention to one, two, 

 or more of these divisions, according to his taste and circumstances, will be 

 much more amply repaid than if he were to congregate plants of discordant 

 habits and of different climates into one habitation, merely for what he may 

 choose to call variety, or a rich collection of species. The mania for accumu- 

 lating species, instead of forming judicious selections of good flowering plants, 

 has produced very baneful effects in the English gardens ; not only by excluding 

 old and good plants, merely because they had long been denizens amongst us, but 

 by introducing many which have no other merit to recommend them than no- 

 velty. How many of the plants of New Holland are cultivated, scarcely worth 

 the pot in which they grow, otherwise than in a botanical point of view j as may 

 be instanced in the genera Eucalyptus, most of the Hakea, Tetraphylla, and Tso- 

 pogon. We repeat, that if greater attention were paid to the selecting of fine 

 flowering plants, and cultivating individual specimens well, instead of crowding 

 our green-houses with inferior plants to the destruction of each other, they 

 would present a very different appearance to what they usually do. Next to 

 forming selections, instead of attempting collections, we would recommend to 

 cultivators, and to amateur cultivators in particular, to confine their culture and 

 attention to some one of the divisions we have enumerated. In this respect, 

 our Continental neighbours far excel us, and, by confining themselves to the 

 cultivation of certain families, they have become conspicuous in these depart- 

 ments. 



" How far the florist has excelled the general collector in this particular we 

 need hardly state ; by confining himself to his tulip bed, his auricula stages, or 

 his carnation stand, he is enabled to cultivate them in great perfection ; not 

 so the general collector : the florist has the economy of those three families 

 to study, while the general cultivator has probably that of three thousand; 

 and those congregated from the most opposite quarters of the globe, and exist- 

 ing under the greatest diversity of circumstances. We might justify these 

 opinions by referring to the success with which Messrs. Rollisson of Tooting 

 cultivate the ericas, and latterly the Orehideae ; and of Messrs. Chandler of 

 Vauxhall, in the cultivation of camellias, were such proof necessary; but it 

 speaks for itself, and the same reason applies to every pursuit of mankind ; 

 where undivided attention is given to any of our pursuits, an approximation 

 to perfection in that pursuit may be expected. The divisions or groups into 

 which we should like to see all green-house exotics arranged, would be some- 

 thing like the following: — 



" The Heathery. The Orangery. 



The Geranium-house. The Conservatory. 



The Camellia-house. The Plant Veranda. 



The Bulb-house. Protecting Tent. 



The Succulent-house. Cold Pit. 



The Mixed Green-house. The Stove." 



Mr. M'lntosh has not added the aquarium ; because, most ex- 

 otic aquatics being untropical, he defers the subject till he comes 

 to treat of plant stoves. 



Hot-house architecture is next treated of, chiefly by a long 

 communication from Mr. Thompson, the author of a pamphlet 

 reviewed in our preceding volume (p. 486.). " All horticultural 

 erections," Mr. M'Intosh is of opinion, " should be of wood, in 

 preference to metallic matter ; not only because of its greater 

 economy and fitness for the purpose, but also on account of du- 

 rability and elegance of effect." 



