18 OENAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS. 



the present time proved fruitless. The best material we 

 can recommend is canvas, which on one side must be 

 made fast to a strong roller, and on the other must be 

 nailed to a lath fixed lengthwise near the top of the 

 sashes. In mounting the blinds, care must be taken 

 that they are quite equal in breadth throughout, or the 

 roller will not run regular. A narrow covering should 

 be fixed along the ridge of the house, under which the 

 blind may rest when not in use, in order to protect it 

 from wet. The blinds and rollers may be taken down 

 during the winter, as little or no shade will be required 

 during that period ; and if they are looked to after damp 

 weather, and in winter thoroughly dried and stored away 

 in a dry shed, they will last for several years. Some 

 cultivators, however, like to use them as a protection in 

 winter on frosty nights, as recommended in our "Orchid 

 Manual ; " and when this is done they must be rolled up 

 at daybreak, so that no light may be excluded from the 

 plants during the short winter days. Blinds for the sides 

 can be made of canvas or tiffany; we use and prefer 

 the latter. The strips should have rings sewed to them 

 on both edges, to fasten on hooks, fixed in the house 

 at corresponding distances; This fixing is necessary to 

 prevent the wind blowing the blind on one side, and 

 thus exposing any part of the interior to the sun's in- 

 fluence in an unguarded moment. 



