114 
ON THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS. 
in order to cover the roof, so as to render a less degree of shading necessary. 
During the summer season, the plants grew and flowered in the most luxuriant and 
vigorous manner, and we were for some time at a loss to account for their astonish- 
ing and unusual exuberance ; but it soon occurred to us, that the orchidaceous 
house had constantly been shaded, and we have not the slightest hesitation in 
pronouncing this to be the only reason for the extraordinary luxuriance of the 
plants here alluded to. And yet, with a perfect knowledge of the facts 
above stated relative to the natural habits of stove-climbing plants, gardeners 
and others will persist in keeping them as near as possible to the glass, so 
that they may receive as much solar light as possible. Our readers, we 
are sure, will unhesitatingly agree with us in condemning such a practice, 
as a strange inconsistency, and a palpable absurdity, and we trust we shall 
prove it to be too gross and palpable to be persevered in any longer. Every 
person who cultivates orchidaceous plants, admits that shading is absolutely 
necessary to their existence ; but, with the plants now under consideration, which 
are found in precisely similar situations, not only is shading deemed unnecessary, 
but they are actually employed for the purpose of shading others, as if they were 
themselves unworthy of any regard; when, in fact, they are among the most 
beautiful and interesting objects known in our collections of stove plants. If it 
be asked how such plants are to be cultivated, if they are not trained to the 
rafters of the stove, we reserve our reply to a subsequent part of this article, and 
proceed to state that " climbers " are not the only inhabitants of our stoves which 
require to be sheltered or protected from the fierce and powerful rays of the sum- 
mer sun. No ; the great majority of those plants to which we assign a place in 
the stove, are found in similar situations to those we have already mentioned, and 
consequently require the same degree of light or shade. Sensible of the import- 
ance of these facts, we recommend every cultivator of stove plants, who wishes 
to bring them to a state of perfection, to collect and arrange all those species of the 
description and habits now under consideration into one house, and to shade that 
house during the glare of the day in the summer months, with some light and thin 
kind of canvass, similar to that which is now generally used for shading orchida- 
ceous plants. By the adoption of this plan, we are convinced that much greater 
success may be ensured in the cultivation of these plants, than has hitherto been 
attained, and the difficulties attendant on the cultivation of climbing plants hitherto 
experienced, would at once be surmounted and obviated, as they might still be 
trained to the rafters or roof of the house, and likewise to the orchidaceous house ; in 
either of which situations, under such a system of treatment, they would be found to 
improve in size, interest, and beauty, to a most surprising extent. There is, however, 
a portion of the objects comprised in the term " stove plants," which we have yet to 
notice, and which now claim a brief consideration; for though the majority of them 
are of the description and habits above detailed, there are some which are of a 
totally different nature, and owing to the deficiency of solar light experienced by 
