294 FLOWER GARDEN. 
particularly..the Chinese Plaintain, Musa Cavendishii, 
which is of comparatively humble growth, and .often: yields 
its fruit when. not, exceeding six feet in height... In short, 
there is no end.of those numerous tribes, “the potent sons 
of moisture and of heat,” with which the teeming regions 
of the equator are filled; and no suite of stoves in this 
country, however extensive, can ‘come up to:-the ‘wishes of 
the botanist. The management of this department of flori- 
culture is laborious andi trying to the. constitution of the 
operative gardener. .A strong heat. both in the bark-bed 
and in the atmosphere of the house must be maintained.; 
the air must, be kept charged with vapor, and the plants 
require frequentishifting and repotting. For more detailed 
information as to the management of particular: stove 
plants, we may-again refer to Cushing, who, in his Ezotic 
Gardener, has treated this subject with a skill and:fulness 
that have not been surpassed by any of his successors. ' 
To the precautions recommended for protecting plants 
placed under glass during the American winter, it is neces- 
sary to add that much greater care is requisite in guarding 
against the effects of extreme cold and sudden variations 
on the western than on the eastern side of the Atlantic, 
The thermometer in! the green-house should never: be 
allowed to descend: below. forty degrees in the absence of 
the sun; and even at that temperature: plants will in very 
clear cold weather, often part with so much of their warmth 
through-radiation as to be nipped by frost. But, in clos- 
ing out, the cold external air, the vital importance of venti- 
lation to plants must not be forgotten, and fresh air should 
be cautiously admitted on all occasions. When the tem- 
perature is high, plants require more watering than when 
the thermometer is low. In very cold spells, much moist- 
ure invites frost.. Whenever the weather is sufficiently 
