INTRODUCTION. 3 



Almost every portion of the earth is clothed with vege- 

 tatioB, each particular plant being adapted to the peculiar 

 circumstances and conditions in which it is placed. Thus, 

 the peat bog, the mountain, and the valley have each a dis- 

 tinct vegetation ; the chalk, the gravel, the clay, and the 

 swamp have each their own peculiar plants. As we ascend 

 mountains, we find the temperature gradually becoming 

 lower, and vegetation decreasing in stature, until the region 

 of perpetual snow where no vegetation exists is reached. 

 We do not intend, however, to enter in these pages upon the 

 geographical distribution of plants, nor to investigate the 

 means by which various genera have been placed in the 

 positions they occupy, except so far as to point out, that as 

 different genera and species in a wild state are subject to 

 different conditions of atmosphere, both as regards moisture 

 and temperature, as well as to varieties of soil, as to the 

 physical and chemical qualities of the materials of which 

 it is composed, it is only reasonable to insist that those who 

 attempt the cultivation of plants, should have some know- 

 ledge of these matters, sufficient to enable them to imitate 

 nature, so far as the artificial conditions with which they 

 may have to deal will allow. 



The first division of this work is devoted to Stove Plants, 

 that is to say, plants requiring a considerable degree of 

 artificial heat in our climate ; they are plants whose home 

 is in the tropics — in the regions of palms, tree ferns, 

 gigaiitic bamboos, and monster trees whose magnitude 

 would amaze us in this country, the branches of these 

 arboreal giants being in many instances laden with epiphytal 

 orchids, bromehads, aroids, and ferns, as well as with 

 parasitical plants, such as Loranthus, which, like our own 

 mistletoe (Viscum album), derive their nourishment from the 

 sap of their supporter. These parasites decorate the trees 



B 2 



