O STOVE PLANTS. 



Where a tank or hot-water pipes are used, cocoa-nut fibre 

 refuse will be found a very clean and lasting material. Those 

 plants which require this treatment must be removed from 

 the growing house when in bloom, and, if in summer, may- 

 be brought into the stove or conservatory. The lantern- 

 roofed house may be objected to by some, on account of the 

 additional expense of construction : if so, we must refer them 

 to the ordinary span-roofed house, with sliding sashes, such 

 as is shown in the woodcut at page 6. We must, how- 

 ever, add, in reference to this matter, that when valuable 

 plants are being provided for, it is true economy to have the 

 best accommodation provided at first, even though it may 

 lead to a few pounds of additional expenditure. 



HEATING. 



jlLANT stoves should be kept at a temperature 

 ranging from 68° to 80° during summer, and 

 from 60° to 70° during winter. Where the col- 

 lection of plants is varied and extensive, it is well to have 

 an intermediate house — that is, a house somewhat cooler 

 than the one first indicated, but warmer than the ordinary 

 greenhouse. 



Premising that as yet nothing has been discovered to 

 supersede, or even to equal, a good hot-water apparatus for 

 heating plant houses, we hold that the first and most 

 important point to decide upon is the character of the 

 boiler. Hot-water boilers are now made of shapes and 

 patterns without end, and as most cultivators have some 

 predilection in this matter, we leave them to make their 

 own selection. There are, however, many things to be 

 thought of before deciding this question. If the locality is- 



