158 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 



sometimes in groups by themselves in the flower- 

 garden. Large orange-trees, myrtles, and free-flow- 

 ering geraniums, produce a charming effect in this 

 way, and may still be so treated ; but the practice 

 w^ould be ruinous to the more tender plants ; and 

 even geraniums, and other rapid-growing spongy 

 plants, never recover, during the whole succeeding 

 winter, the check of taking them out of the ground. 

 In fact, when geraniums are so treated, it should be 

 with a view of never returning them to the green- 

 house ; but either of letting them remain till they 

 are killed by frost, or of taking them up when first 

 touched by cold, cutting off their tops, and preserving 

 the roots in sand in a dry cellar during winter, for 

 re-planting in spring. In this way some horticultu- 

 rists have treated many of the hardier pelargoniums 

 annually, and thus obtained a great accession of beauty 

 to their borders and parterres. 



Large orange-trees, sunk in the ground, so as to 

 conceal their boxes, and then the boxes and general 

 surface covered with turf, have a charming appear- 

 ance. Those in the flower-garden at Nuneham are 

 so treated annually, and confirm our observation. 

 In some other places, where the orange-trees are 

 planted in the soil, the entire superstructure is re- 

 moved during summer, and the ground turfed over. 

 This also is charming, and occurring unexpectedly in 

 a fine pleasure-ground or flower-garden, reminds the 

 travelled spectator of the orange groves of Genoa 

 and Naples. 



