202 



THE MIXED GREENHOUSE. 



constructions. The following description and accompanying diagram 

 will pretty well elucidate a plant structure, combining the style of the 

 conservatory with that of the greenhouse : such a one exists in the garden 

 of the late Sir Robert Preston, of Valleyfield, in Perthshire ; the chief 

 advantages of which are, that the plants are placed upon stages of an 

 angular form, and are placed so as to intersect each other, yet allo^^-ing 

 sufficient space for a person to walk betw een them, either to \iew or to 

 w^ater the plants. By this mode of arrangement it will be seen, that a 

 greater surface is exposed to the light and air than in the usual form of 

 stages and mode of arrangement, and as the house fronts the south, there 

 is no part of these stages that does not enjoy its proper share of the sun 

 and air. 



GENERAL TREATMENT OF MISCELLANEOUS GREENHOUSE PLANTS 

 WHILE YOUNG. 



Of the plants that form the majority of those genera enumerated at 

 the beginning of this article, many of theni seed freely, and may be in 

 that way readily propagated : others strike by cuttings, by the means 

 most generally in use, and a few are propagated by other means, which 

 will be noticed under their respective heads. 



To propagate greenhouse exotics upon a large scale requu'cs a house 

 to be set apart for the express purpose, and nursemnen have in general 

 such a house. The great utility of such an arrangement is to have an 

 atmosphere created for the purpose, in which the greatest uniformity of 

 temperature and humidity can be attained. Propagation upon a more 

 limited scale may be successfully carried on in a close frame or pit, and 

 upon the smallest scale of all by placing one or more hand-glasses in a 

 convenient part of the greenhouse, under which the pots in which the 

 cuttings are planted should be placed. 



PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. 



We have already remarked, when treating of bulbous plants, that seeds 

 ripened before Midsummer may be sown immediately, and will, in most 

 cases, produce plants strong enough to stand the succeeding winter ; but 

 such as ripen after that period had better be reserved till spring, and 

 sown in February or March. 



