THE STOVE. 



5 



so apt to etiolate, or become drawn up slender, as those in 

 the green-house or conservatory. 



As there are many of the tropical plants in general cultiva- 

 tion that are climbers, and amongst them some of exceedingly 

 great beauty, it is necessary that they be accommodated with 

 proper means of supporting themselves. The most usual 

 means are training them up the rafters, and some houses are fur- 

 nished with wire trellises, as is the case with the house w^e have 

 adopted for our plate. These trellises may be so arranged as 

 to add considerably to the beauty of the house, when properly 

 covered with plants, and so disposed as to form arches over 

 the footpaths, and, occasionally, from one of the pillars which 

 may support the roof of the house to another. However, too 

 much scope should not be given to climbing-plants, however 

 beautiful they may be, for, if carried to an extreme, it would 

 occasion too much shade for the plants which occupy the middle 

 of the house. The bed on which the plants are intended to 

 stand, should be surrounded by a neat parapet wall, only a 

 few inches higher than the surface on which the plants are to 

 stand, serving to divide the bed from the walk or footpath, 

 which should, as has been already observed, be made to sur- 

 round the whole. If the house be to be heated by smoke-flues, 

 they should be placed between the footpath and the walls of 

 the house, so that any scorching heat may be prevented, as 

 much as possible, from coming in too close contact with the 

 foliage ; a circumstance which often happens, and cannot be 

 too securely guarded against. The house, of which our draw- 

 ing is a representation, has two fires, which for its size are 

 found sufficient. One of the flues enters at one end, and 

 having passed along the front and ends, discharges its smoke 

 in the back wall at the end farthest from the furnace. The 

 other flue enters at the other end of the house, and makes 

 three returns along the back wall, and discharges its smoke 

 at the end farthest from its furnace. Spaces are left about a 

 foot high between each flue, and they are all separated from 

 the back wall by a vacuity of two inches, so as to present as 

 much surface as possible for the escape of the heat. Upon the 

 top of the third back flue, succulent plants are placed, and over 

 the front one is placed a neat trellis, on which such plants are 



