294 REFORM IN THE CONSERVATORY. 



vegetation. Whether the natural system of arrangement be 

 adopted or not, every attempt should be made to soften the 

 lines of the building and to shroud the spot with graceful 

 verdure. The use of hanging baskets with creeping plants 

 cannot be too much recommended where this end is to be 

 attained, while climbing or twining plants with a pendulous 

 rather than an erect habit in the branchlets, flowering-spray, 

 or leaves should always be preferred. A claim too de- 

 serves to be made in favour of singular and curious plants — 

 subjects like the Elephant's-foot plant for example. The 

 Monstera with the perforated leaves, figured in the chapter 

 on Subtropical Gardening, one of the most curious as well 

 as one of the handsomest of fine-leaved plants, thrives 

 tolerably well in the conservatory in summer; indeed I 

 have known it grown well where it had to pass all the 

 winter in a cool house. 



In large places where stove plants are grown, much im- 

 provement might be effected by introducing some of them 

 into the conservatory during the summer months. Stoves 

 are so warm during that period that they are seldom visited, 

 and/rarely enjoyable, and it could hardly be otherwise than 

 a gain to see some of their best ornaments in the cooler 

 and shaded conservatory during three or four of the warmer 

 months. Considering the number of exotics that have been 

 placed in the open garden at Battersea during the past few 

 years, there is little heed to say that the temperature of a 

 conservatory will be enjoyed by many stove plants during 

 summer. The host of handsomely marked Caladiums, and 

 other fine-foliaged plants that are now in cultivation, should 

 not be kept at all times in a steamy house, but when at 

 their best exposed where people may see and enjoy them. 

 Take, for examplej that noble plant the variegated Pine- 

 apple — a subject never seen in our conservatories. Usually 

 treated as a stove plant, and growing best in a warm tem- 

 perature, it may, when fully grown, be employed in the con- 

 servatory, and will therein attract the attention of everybody 

 who sees it. That it will not suffer there, is evident from 

 the fact of its having been employed in the open air in 

 summer in the gardens at Cliveden, and with telling effect. 



