INTRODUCTION. 



3 



never prosper ; others in sucli a situation, relatively 

 to the house, that if they prosper they can never be 

 enjoyed ; and not a few think they have done every- 

 thing when they have completed the construction, 

 stocked it with plants, and committed it to the future 

 care of a house servant or mere out-door labourer. 



But a green-house, if it is to be worth anything, 

 must not be trifled with in this manner. It is entirely 

 a work of art : the plants inclosed are in the most 

 artificial situation in which they can be placed, and 

 require constant and unremitting attention to coun- 

 teract the tendency of that artificial state to destroy 

 them. It is a common notion that a plant in a pot is 

 in a safer state than a plant in the open ground ; but 

 this is a most erroneous notion, and directly the re- 

 verse of the fact. Placing plants in pots is often 

 more convenient for the cultivator; but it always 

 checks and counteracts the natural habits of the 

 plant : it checks the extension of the roots, and, by 

 consequence, of the shoots ; and it subjects these 

 roots to be alternately deluged by water, and dried 

 up for want of it, — and all this under the best ma- 

 nagement. Under a careless gardener, if the pots 

 are not properly drained, and this drainage kept in 

 repair, the soil will be kept soaked in water till the 

 roots are rotted ; or by neglecting to shift the plants 

 to pots of a larger size at proper seasons, the roots 

 will get matted, so as to derive no benefit from the 

 soil, preclude the water from entering, and thus first 

 stint and then kill the plant. But plants in a green- 



B2 



