254 
ECONOMY IN FLORICULTURE. 
In regard to the appearance of a stage made more perpendicular than the j 
generality of such things are, there could be no possible objection ; for, though j 
the plants would be brought nearer to the eye, and the power of surveying them 
all at a glance would be thus diminished, there would be a better opportunity for 
examining them individually ; and, by arranging them alternately with each other, 
and not opposite in the rows, they would be rendered sufficiently dense to prevent 
the eye from looking through them, and being too much fixed on the ground, or 
on the supports beneath the stage. 
But there is yet a further mode in which room may be gained in plant-houses ; 
viz. by the employment of suspended shelves. During summer, as we have often 
before said, little necessity exists for filling every inch of space in greenhouses, 
as frames and the open air afi*ord such a ready means of disposing of all the more 
hardy species. In winter, however, the case is far otherwise. All available room 
is then valuable ; since, when fire-heat is necessarily applied, it will of course be 
most economical to bring the greatest possible number of plants within one house, 
to be heated by the same apparatus. Not that, even then, we would ever seem to 
advocate crowding the specimens ; for this would destroy one of the principles of 
economy which we began by establishing. Still, much may be done through the 
assistance of extra shelves. 
To notice, first, the space over the walks of houses, there is here a most unob- 
jectionable provision for accommodating an additional number of plants, by having 
a moveable shelf fixed so closely to the glass, that small plants shall just have room 
to stand on it without touching the roof. Such a shelf might be made the full 
breadth of the walk, and would hold a great many small plants, such as those 
which had been raised during the previous summer from cuttings, beside seedlings, 
and the smaller specimens. It might be constructed so as to have a light and 
neat aspect, and to be removeable at pleasure, so that, if desirable, it might be 
entirely taken away in spring. To drain off the v/ater, the shelf should be pro- 
vided with small strips of wood along its edges, in the first place stopping this 
and any other junction effectually with putty and paint ; and then a couple of 
small grooves should be made near each edge, on the upper side of the shelf, with 
occasional apertures, at convenient places, to let the water run through. This is 
preferable to having an irregular drip from various parts of the shelf, and should 
never be neglected. 
It becomes a matter of serious question whether shelves can be introduced to 
any other of the upper parts of plant-houses, inasmuch as, where they would cause 
a drip of water to fall from the plants they support, upon other plants beneath 
them, they would be decidedly mischievous ; and still more prejudicial would they 
be, did they serve materially to exclude the sun's rays from acting on the plants 
beneath them. Yet, with reference to the first of these considerations, the simple 
plan to which we have alluded for carrying off the water only in particular places, 
might be made to bear so thoroughly, as to do away with any objections on that 
