288 On the Management of a Stove for Tropical Plants. 



which the pots were placed, and the state of the plants evi- 

 dently proved the advantage of the change of system. As 

 my stove was considerably enlarged last summer, by unit- 

 ing to it one of my green houses, which has extended its 

 length to forty-five feet, the pit reaches only half way ; there- 

 fore my large plants are this present winter standing on the 

 ground, without any heat whatever beneath them, either 

 from tan or flues, and they are in perfect health. I think I 

 can now, therefore, with certainty, pronounce that plunging 

 is not only unnecessary, but really worse than useless, to 

 plants, except where the roots have been injured and require 

 to be drawn. If we reflect for a moment that in tropical 

 countries, the stem, branches, and leaves receive a greater 

 degree of heat from the atmosphere than the roots can pos- 

 sibly do, it appears extraordinary that a system of manage- 

 ment so directly opposite to nature, should have ever been 

 adopted, or that it should have been so long practised. If a 

 quantity of earth was to be raised from the root of any tropi- 

 cal shrub, growing in its native situation, there is no doubt 

 its heat would be below the temperature of the air; therefore 

 the roots of the plants in a stove ought not, at any rate, to 

 receive more warmth than their other parts. 



Those plants which stand over the pit will require more 

 water upon this new plan, than if they were plunged ; the dis- 

 cretion and prudence with which this is applied is very impor- 

 tant to the health of the plants. The water which drains from 

 the pots on to theheatexl sand and the stones beneath, with an 

 occasional supply poured into the pit, will raise a steam, that 

 acts like dew, and evidently tends to the free and healthy growth 

 of the plants, and also prevents that dry heat, which is most 



