THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



even annuals, wlien brought into our warmer climafe, some- 

 what analogous to plants which are natives of the plains be- 

 coming Viviparous when found growing in situations much 

 more elevated. On the approach of the autumnal rains, they 

 should be well cleaned and removed into their winter quarters, 

 but not yet plunged in the coal-ashes, the intention of which 

 is the preservation of the pots from expansion by frost, as well 

 as the preservation of the plants. 



For the first few weeks they should be exposed constantly 

 to tlie air by removing the lights entirely, and only keeping 

 them on during llie time of rain ; but in winter, however, they 

 need not have much air, provided they be kept free from damp 

 and frost. Alpine plants, although natives of regions of great 

 altitude, many of them growing within the limits of perpetual 

 snow, are often found destroyed by the frost of an English 

 winter ; and this proves the necessity of covering them not 

 only with glass lights, but in severe weather with mats, in 

 imitation of the natural covering of snow, by which they are 

 protected and kept warm. 



INTany plants are almost annually imported from different 

 parts of the globe, which are seldom kept alive above a season 

 or two even by the best cultivators. Of these, the families of 

 Sarracerifa, OpJrnjs, Habeiinria, CoraUorrhiza, Orchis^ and 

 several others, furnish examples. Plants of these families require 

 a peculiar mode of culture, with which cultivators are not yet 

 sufficiently acquainted. The most successful cultivators grow 

 them chiefly in decayed vegetable matter and moss, and depend 

 upon keeping them in a close moist atmosphere, considerably 

 shaded. These, however splendid and curious in their mode 

 of flowering, are not often met with in our flower gardens, 

 which arises from a want of knowledp^e of their proper 

 culture. 



In cultivation, the majority of these plants require the con- 

 stant protection of a frame and glass, and to be kept moist 

 by frequent waterings. The pots in which they are planted 

 should be large, and packed round with moist moss, or 

 plunged into decayed leaves or woody matter very much de- 

 cayed, so that the roots may never be exposed to the changes 

 of wet and dry ; and the pots used for them should be such 



