82 . MV GARDEN. 



contact with them. In my fern-house the distribution of heat is very 

 peculiar ; a great increase of heating surface is placed in one end of 

 the house : otherwise, as a general rule, the pipes are placed in the 

 ront of the lean-to houses, but in very large houses they require to 

 be distributed in several positions. 



Our appliances for warming far exceed those in use at the time 

 when Evelyn wrote, who says : " If the season prove exceeding 

 piercing, which you may know by the freezing of a moistened cloth 

 set in your greenhouse, kindle some charcoal." 



During the past year, as a matter of experiment, paraffin oil 

 lamps have been employed to give warmth to keep out the frost. The 

 plan can be made to answer, but whenever this mode is adopted 

 it is desirable to place them under a zinc trough filled with 

 water, that moisture may be supplied to the air. 



I have always feared an accident on a cold night, when I 

 might lose all my plants ; I therefore applied to Messrs. Field 

 of Lambeth to make me a number of large candles with two 

 wicks (fig. loo), to keep for any emergency. It is possible 

 that they may not be wanted for years, nevertheless no one 

 ought to be without some means of keeping out frost, should 

 Fig. too. any sudden failure of his hot-water apparatus occur. Messrs. 

 Field have also sent me some large flat night-lights, designed to 

 last for twelve hours, -and I do not doubt that one or two are 

 sufficient to keep the frost from a two- or three-light frame during 

 the coldest night. 



The Spectator observes that a kitchen garden is a more pleasant 

 sight than the finest orangery or artificial greenhouse ; but this does 

 not accord .with the ideas of the poet, who writes that 



" Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too. 

 Unconscious of a less propitious clime. 

 There blooms exotic beauty, warm and snug, 

 While the winds whistle, and the snows descend." 



COWPER. 



