PLANT STOVES. 5 



experience has been secured, with a result which is quite' 

 astonishing, so successfully is the cultivation of the immense 

 number of species of plants which occupy our stoves and 

 greenhouses carried on — ^results which certainly could not 

 have been arrived at without co-operation of thought, brought 

 about in the way we have just mentioned. A very great 

 stimulus has also been given to the cultivation of plants 

 by the liberal awards offered at the various horticultural 

 exhibitions ; and the vast improvement in the style of growth 

 •which has thus been brought about, and the numerous newly- 

 introduced plants which are exhibited, show that no ordinary 

 amount of skill and perseverance has been brought to bear 

 upon the subject. 



PLANT STOVES. 



|HERE are many forms of hothouse which may 

 be employed successfully for the growth of Stove 

 Plants, such as span-roofs, half-spans, and lean-to 

 houses, but for the growth of specimen plants the span- 

 roofed house is undoubtedly the best, as it affords the 

 plants more Hght and air, at the same time that it may be 

 made to form an ornament in a garden where no other 

 style of house could be tolerated. Half span-roofed houses 

 are very useful for growing small pltots, for furnishing the 

 side tables in the specimen house ; and the lean-to has its. 

 special advantages, for the back wall will accommodate 

 many plants, which, if trained against it, will display their 

 beauties to greater advantage. In such houses, moreover^ 

 we may produce abundance of blooms for cutting, which 

 will spare the choicer specimens from being mutilated or 

 disfigured ; and without some such structure, facilities of 

 this kind could not be enjoyed. 



