212 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 



Sect. VII. Of the Management of the Conser- 



vatory. 



The treatment of plants in a conservatory differs 

 in nothing essential from that of plants in a green- 

 house : the former being fixed in the soil, in order 

 to give them the advantage of the natural weather, 

 the superstructure must be moved from them, or at 

 least its sashes taken away ; while the latter being 

 portable may be moved from the house. 



All the directions as to routine culture for the dif- 

 ferent seasons, are alike applicable to the conserva- 

 tory. The same temperature is required, the same 

 light, the same circulation of air, and the same liberal 

 supply of water to plants in a growing state, and 

 scanty watering to those which are at r^st or dormant. 

 Weeds and insects are to be removed, and all dead, 

 decayed, withered or damped leaves picked off as 

 soon as they appear. The plants must be neatly 

 pruned, thinned, and trained to handsome shapes by 

 the aid of sticks and threads, and, where the branches 

 are very strong, by copper wires attached to fixed 

 points in the structure, or strong sticks inserted in the 

 soil. Climbers are- generally more numerous in a 

 conservatory than in a green-house, and they must be 

 particularly attended to so as to make them hang in 

 graceful festoons, and yet so thinned and pruned as to 

 keep them in a flowering state. It is a common idea 

 that only fruit trees require pruning ; but the fact is, 



