THE GREEN-HOUSE. ig5 



The green-house is destined for the trees and 

 shrubs of Asia Minor, Greece, Florida and other 

 countries of the northern hemisphere, resembling 

 the south of Spain in temperature, and for those 

 which inhabit regions as cold as France, as Van- 

 dieman's Land and New Zealand, but which not- 

 withstanding would perish in our climate. This 

 phenomenon, the cause of which has been already 

 hinted at, is easily explained. Much has been 

 said of the possibility of accustoming vegetables 

 of warm countries to a colder climate ; but this 

 resource is confined by nature within very nar- 

 row limits : a tree that would be destroyed by 

 6° of cold in its native country, will never sup- 

 port io° with us. The orange-tree, olive and 

 fig-tree, have been cultivated for ages in France, 

 yet they cannot resist a severe winter, and in 

 1820 almost all the orange-trees and olives pe- 

 rished in Provence. 



The trees which at first yield to our climate, 

 which we may hope at length to cultivate with 

 success, are those which bloom in the winter. 

 The eucalyptuses, the banksias, and the casuarinas 

 of Yandieman's Land, fructify in January, Fe- 

 bruary, March and April, the summer and autumn 

 of that latitude, and on the opposite side of the 

 equator they vegetate at the same period and 

 perish by the frost ; but in the green-house fer- 



i5. 



