THE STAGING 15 
Orchid houses was sealed by concrete or hard tiles, and 
the moisture-holding lower stage was necessary to give a 
reasonable amount of evaporating surface. More recently 
it has occurred to many of us that a moisture-giving surface 
might be obtained from the natural earth, if the earth was 
left either in its natural state or was given a coating of coke- 
breeze or similar porous material, and trellises used for | 
the paths. In a similar way provision had to be made 
for the second object of the close stage, namely, the 
checking of the direct upward heat from the hot-water 
pipes. This has been done very effectively in some 
gardens by arranging a much less elaborate and costly 
means than the full, close staging generally in use. An 
iron frame is placed midway between the hot-water pipes 
and the staging on which the plants rest; a shelf of 
corrugated iron, slate, or tiles, extends from the back to 
about half the width of the side staging, its inner edge 
being about midway in the space beneath the staging, 
and an inch or so of space is left between the back 
of the shelf and the wall of the house to allow some 
of the heat from the pipes to pass that way, the greater 
part being diverted towards the middle of the house by 
the intervention of the shelf which is covered with turf or 
some other moisture-holding material. This is kept con- 
tinually moist by frequent syringings during the warm 
season, when plenty of moisture in the air is required. 
In arranging new houses having the natural earth for 
a floor, this plan is less expensive and altogether preferable 
to the formal, close staging of full width, which, however, 
should still be retained in adapting ordinary plant-houses 
already provided with a tiled or cemented base, unless it 
