The Orchid-house 



them, as hard water is actively mischievous, for it 

 contains gases which they love. 



The tanks should be sunk in the floor, but if 

 they stand upon it they may be made ornamental. 

 I have faced mine with the deep-red brick termed 

 " terra cotta," which is very porous. The brickwork 

 is not close, as in a wall, but chequer-wise, leaving 

 interstices or pockets. In these I set Adiantum. 

 A pipe runs from the main — along the ground, 

 invisible — and climbs the facing. At the top it 

 divides, passing all round. The encircling portion 

 is stabbed with little holes. Whenever the hose is 

 not in use, I hitch on the connection of this pipe, 

 and make it just dribble over the brickwork. All 

 day, saving a few minutes, and all night the water 

 trickles imperceptibly. In that constant drip the 

 Adiantums grow and multiply que cest mic merveille ! 

 Long since they have clothed every inch of the 

 surface with a mantle of tenderest green. 



Another great advantage of this arrangement is 

 that the bricks, always soaked through, give off 

 more and more moisture as the heat rises. 



To keep up the temperature in the cool house is 

 a very easy and inexpensive matter ; our trouble is 

 to keep it down. Experiments by Mr. Smee and 

 others show that most Odontoglots — the cool varie- 

 ties, naturally — will bear several degrees of frost 



33 D 



