Jan.'] GREEN-HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. lOOS 



killed at this season by too much of it than by the want of it. 

 Some plants require none for many weeks at this season, and, 

 as examples, those denominated succulent, with few excep- 

 tions, may be given ; most of them will exist without any water 

 from November till March, and even a much longer period. 

 Bulbous-rooted plants require, during their inactive state, to 

 be kept dry, as well as many others, which can alone be de- 

 termined by the good sense of the cultivator. 



The mould on the surface of the pots should not be allowed 

 to become at all damp ; and if they rather appear to be mo- 

 derately dry, till their season of growing again return, they will 

 be much better than if kept even so damp, as at other seasons 

 they would require to be. As all plants take up and digest a 

 portion sufficient for their sustenance of the food which is 

 supplied them by the hand of the cultivator, whether it con- 

 sists of liquids or sohds, and no more; it therefore clearly 

 appears, that supplying them during their inactive state with 

 any stimulus, of which to them water is the chief, must be both 

 erroneous and injurious. However detrimental a too liberal sup- 

 ply of water may be to plants at this season, it does not follow 

 but that some exceptions are to be made, but this, like many 

 other circumstances in horticulture, can only be obtained by 

 observation and practice ; as a rule, however, we may say, 

 that all robust plants, and such as are old, will require more 

 than those that are delicate and young. Coriaceous, or 

 leathery-leaved plants, digest this element more rapidly than 

 such as have a delicate foliage; of these, Pittisporum, Ca- 

 7nellia, and some others, may serve for examples. In water- 

 ing all plants at this season, care should be taken to spiH 

 very little on the floors or borders of the houses, and as small 

 a quantity on the foliage as possible, as it only tends to gene- 

 rate damp ; a circumstance to be carefully avoided, and which, 

 if not guarded against, will be attended with the worst of con- 

 sequences. There are, however, also exceptions to this rule, 

 and these may be given as applying to plants kept in rooms, 

 and all such as are kept in green-houses and conservatories in 

 London, and other large cities, where, from the density of the 

 atmosphere, and its being almost always charged with noxious 

 gases, accompanied with smoke and soot, forms on the surface 



