296 



PALMS. 



pretty_, and in many cases beautifully marked plants so 

 common of late in our stoves_, a charming feature may be 

 added to the conservatory. As tbe plants would only 

 remain in this case during their period of flowering, and 

 the '^'^foliaged plants^^ perhaps a few weeks longer, the 

 position of the case as to light matters little. Against the 

 back or some other wall of the house is of course the best 

 position; and if there be an arched recess, or anything in 

 that way, it would be the very place in which to put the 

 case. The best example of this that I am acquainted with 

 is heated with a few small pipes from the kitchen, which 

 is nearly under it ; the little apparatus being distinct from 

 that required for heating the conservatory in cold weather. 

 Of course it could be readily heated in that way, but it is 

 found more convenient and economical to heat it distinctly. 

 To heat a little boiler sufficiently to keep any desired tem- 

 ]3erature in such a case would be of very easy accomplish- 

 ment, and to do it with gas would be very convenient 

 mdeed to many persons. The boilers attached to some of 

 the propagating houses in the Jardin Fleuriste at Passy are 

 thus heated most effectually, and the propagator informed 

 me that he could regulate the temperature to a degree with 

 this mode of heating. To make the wall and the shelves 

 in this case of a rustic character is a good and tastefal plan; 

 they should be studded with Moss, which if kept moist will 

 give off the vapour so congenial to stove plants, and par- 

 ticularly Orchids and Ferns, and the windows or folding-doors 

 should be fitted with large glass, kept clear at all times. It 

 would be easy to induce the common Lycopodium and other 

 stove mosses to crowd over the back wall, or even to grow 

 on turves placed along the front shelves ; and if the rustic- 

 work were well done, to stud every spot not used as a 

 standing -place for a plant with seedling-ferns, trailing 

 plants^ &c. 



Palms. 



In conversing one day with M.Barillet, the superintendent 

 of the parks and gardens of Paris, he informed me that he 

 was more surprised at the marked absence of Palms in 



