249 
GREENHOUSE CLIMBING PLANTS AS SUMMER ORNA- 
MENTS TO THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
— » — 
One of the most striking peculiarities of the system of floriculture now almost 
universally pursued, is what may not improperly be termed its retrogressive 
tendency. In this consists the chief evidence of the advancement of the science ; 
and from it may be gathered the principal confirmation of the fact, that the culti- 
vators of the present age have, through philosophy and experience, — those grand 
coadjutors in the promotion of every improvement, — attained such an exalted 
pre-eminence of success over their brethren of a former period. 
Not to be supposed guilty of either mysticism or paradox, we will hasten to 
depict, in more explicit language, the character of this change. Throughout the 
decline of the last, and even during a considerable portion of the present century, 
so comparatively scarce were exotic plants, so little (speaking relatively to the 
present time) was known respecting their habitudes or the climates of their native 
countries, and such extreme caution was exercised in their management, that there 
were few species but were subjected to a higher temperature than they naturally 
required. The necessary consequences were, that a greater expense was occasioned, 
the plants were never healthy, but became gradually more tender, and the exten- 
sion of this delightful recreation was, with regard to the less wealthy and enthu- 
siastic, effectually checked. 
To the massy, high, and dark erections in which plants were originally 
confined, may be traced by far the greater part of the evils above enumerated ; this, 
indeed, being the main defect of the old system. Kept in such structures, plants 
could not be otherwise than strongly susceptible of injury from cold, and this 
susceptibility would be perpetually on the increase. Hence, the greenhouses were 
necessarily maintained at a much higher rate of temperature than now : while, a 
plant that was primarily grown as a greenhouse species, was frequently elevated, 
through one or two slight intermediate gradations, to a place in the stove. 
With the introduction of a new method of erecting plant-houses, in which the 
chief objects kept in view are lowness and light, a complete alteration in the mode 
of culture was effected. The results, compared with those of the ancient system, 
have been totally reversed. Instead of a plant becoming more tender under our 
improved artificial treatment, it annually advances in the acquirement of a degree 
of hardihood ; its progress being proportionately rapid to its increased exposure. 
This is what we have designated the retrogressive course of plant-culture ; since, 
beneath its auspicious influence, plants with which we are familiar have been 
removed from the stove, and^ by slow stages, brought to decorate the open flower- 
border in the summer. 
VOL. VI. NO. LXXI. K K 
