132 GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION AND HEATING. 
lenty of heating power, so that a comfortable temperature 
may be maintained even in severe weather, when this house 
is frequently most resorted to, without trouble, or having to 
push the fire much ; (4) free ventilation, both at the top and 
bottom, coolness in summer being quite as desirable as 
warmth in winter ; and (5) abundance of light, consistent of 
course with the necessary amount of ornamentation. Firm, 
clean, and dry pathways, formed of either suitable paving 
tiles, concrete, or the iron gratings employed to cover the 
pipes, where these are placed in trenches, are also of great 
importance, and if not sunk in pits as above, the pipes 
should be kept out of sight as much as possible. 
Small ‘‘ladder” or flat stages should be placed here 
and there, to accommodate pot plants, such as hyacinths, 
tulips, pelargoniums, begonias, and others, but this must 
not be overdone in large and tastefully arranged houses. 
The chief dependence should be placed on large permanent 
specimen plants, such as palms, large’ ferns, camellias, 
oranges, fuchsias, etc., either planted out in borders, or grown 
in large pots, tubs, or boxes, and on carefully arranged 
groups of plants in pots, large and small, standing on the floor, 
and altered or re-arranged from time to time, as required. 
All permanent beds and borders must be well-drained, 
and composed of the freshest and best materials, of which 
fresh loam from an old meadow, peat, leaf-mould, nearly 
fresh but well-dried manure, and coarse sand or grit, form 
the principal components. Such borders need not exceed 
from 2ft. to 3ft. in depth. Dead walls should have a trellis 
‘fixed a few inches from them, to which climbing plants 
may be trained, or better still, be carefully wired—and 
plenty of pillars, as well as tie-rods, etc., in the roof are 
