201 
THE ADVANTAGES OF GROWING GREENHOUSE PLANTS 
IN FRAMES. 
No one accustomed to visit collections of plants, either in the neighbourhood of 
London or of any large provincial towns, can have omitted to note the remarkable 
superiority of appearance which the same species assume in different places. The 
regular attendants on horticultural exhibitions must likewise have remarked that, 
with reference to ornamental plants of certain classes, the prizes for well-cultivated 
specimens are nearly always shared among a limited number of exhibitors. This 
has, without doubt, created considerable jealousy in the minds of some unsuccessful 
competitors ; w^ho are apt, generally without good foundation, to impugn the impar- 
tiality of the judges. 
For the honour of the science, and the promotion, not only of good feeling, but 
of a better system of treating plants, we intend showing, as the result of personal 
investigation, the manner in which the excellence above mentioned is usually attained. 
We also hope by this means to supplant that discreditable spirit of envy which is 
now extant, establishing in its place a generous emulation and rivalry, more worthy 
of the members of our fraternity, and especially adapted to further their common 
wishes and interests. 
The only purposes to which greenhouses, constructed according to the present 
prevailing mode, should be devoted, are those of displaying plants during the period 
at which their flowers are opening or expanded, and preserving them in the winter 
season. If we could convince every cultivator of this incontrovertible truth, what 
a perfect paragon of concentrated beauty might such a structure become ! The 
flowers which unfold themselves in each month of the year would thus be brought 
together, unmingled with anything to detract from their loveliness ; and when the 
winter denies all floral charms, there would still be the admirably formed and 
healthy specimens to gaze upon, which, in the opinion of the floricultural devotee, 
are only surpassed in interest by the addition of the blossoms themselves. 
Greenhouse plants, and a number of tender annuals, which, although belonging 
to intra-tropical countries, constitute some of the principal ornaments of our conser- 
vatories in the summer, are too seldom grown with such success as to appear to 
advantage from any and every point of view. Deficiency of air and light is 
doubtless the cause of this inferiority. In the greenhouse, notwithstanding all the 
cultivator s efforts to place the plants so as to leave a proper space between each, 
this is confessedly impracticable, without transferring a large proportion of them to 
the open air. For such as happen to be removed to the latter situation, necessity 
enjoins that they should be crowded together as closely as possible, in order to 
screen each other from the powerful rays of the sun, as well as from its evaporating 
action upon the soil in which they are potted. 
VOL. VI. NO. LXIX. D D 
