520 EVEN STOVE PLANTS 



in Bengal. He cannot possibly do artificially all that is 

 requisite to enable plants to bear such extremes. But that is 

 no reason why he should not approach the operations of 

 Nature as near as the different circumstances wiU permit, and 

 why he should not so treat his plants as will enable them to 

 bear a degree of cold to which, when mismanaged, he dare not 

 expose them. 



That greenhouses ought not to be heated at night more than 

 is suf&cient to exclude frost is certain; that, if properly pre- 

 pared, plants win bear frost is also indisputable, as indeed is 

 proved by the Camellias^ Chinese Azaleas, and similar plants 

 which are kept in cold frames through our hardest winters, and 

 where they thrive far better than in greenhouses. 



With stove plants it is different : experiments are needed to 

 determine how much cold they will bear at night. There seems 

 to be no doubt that the colder they can be safely kept the better 

 for the plants. We must not forget that Mr. Barnes fruited 

 admirable Pines in the open air, and that where Cymbidium 

 canaliculatum was found by Sir Thomas Mitchell in full 

 flower, the thermometer fell at night to 33° and 84°, It is 

 probable that a minimum night temperature of 40° or 45° wiU 

 be found sufficient, as Mr. Beaton long since asserted ; especi- 

 ally if the soil can be maintained at 60° or 65°. 



Mr Henry Bailey, of Nuneham, a most experienced and intelligent 

 practical gardener, has expressed his feai that a low night temperature 

 ■win not agree with stove plants, and mentions the following experiment 

 tried by himself. His employer haying no stove for plants, he has been 

 in the habit of growing a few kinds every year by removing them from 

 one stnioture to another, as dictated by convenience. One year some fine 

 specimens were thus obtained of Euphorbia jacqniniflora and punicea, 

 Stephanotis floribunda, Clerodendron splendens and others, which having 

 completed their growth by the end of September, were removed into a late 

 Vinery varying in nocturnal temperature from 35° to 43°. In this place 

 they received scarcely any water ; their treatment in all other respects 

 being subservient to the preservation of the Grapes, for which slight 

 fires were lighted every morning, and ventilation given on all possible 

 occasions to dispel damp. All went on apparently well, till a house 

 being about to be started for forcing flowers, the plants were removed 

 into it, with a night heat of from 45° to 50°, allowing it to rise 10° 

 more with sun heat. The Clerodendron splendens, which maintained 



