THE FLORAL AVORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
269 
oize of tlie structure. In this there are two extremes, and the amateur 
generally prefers large and lofty houses, while the commercial cultiva- 
tor is much less pretentious in this matter. To grow plants well, you 
must keep them near the glass, which is impossible in lofty structures. 
These remarks, it must be understood, are not applicable to conserva- 
tories or show-houses; I simply mean houses \'or plant- growing, mot for 
showing. That there is urgent need for improvement in the i'orms 
of plant and fruit houses in the present day, I have only to point 
out the many very valuable additions to our lists of beautiful and 
costly plants during the last twenty years — plants that really require 
all the light and the most suitable appliances that it is possible we 
can give them in this cloudy climate. It is impossible to brimj 
many of them to any degree of perfection in dark lofty houses. It 
is therefore a subject for serious consideration, because to grow in a 
satisfactory manner a well-assorted collection of the fine-foliage 
plants which are now so much prized is impossible when the plants 
are some six to ten feet from the glass, as very few of them will 
bring out their colours well if more than two or three feet from it. 
The rule varies, of course, according to the size and nature of the 
plants. For the present purpose it is sufficient to establish the 
understanding that there is little colour produced where there is a 
defect of light. 
Take, for example, the fine-foliage plants which are so univer- 
sally grown. The best of them require a high degree of temperature, 
which must be maintained in this country by artificial means for the 
greater part of the year, and a moment’s consideration will show 
that it is adding considerably to the cost of cultivating them if we 
have a much larger space of air to heat than the plants actually 
require. It may be taken for granted that, if there are five or six 
hundred cubic feet of air to heat over and above the space they 
actually occupy, there is an absolute waste of fuel, to say nothing ot 
the evil tendencies of so much space above them, which tends to 
weaken the light. This is not all. If the plants are to be shown 
off to advantage, and the individual beauties of each to be seen with 
ease and comfort, they must not stand up eight or ten feet away 
from the walk which is supposed to enable the visitor to see them. 
And again, lofty houses have a tendency to make the plants look 
dwarf and poor. These are not all the arguments I could advance 
in favour of moderate-sized houses as compared w’ith large ones ; 
but enough has been said to show in the most unmistakable manner 
that my arguments are not valueless. I therefore hope they may 
prove of service ; for depend upon it we should hear less of the 
attacks of insects, and drawn and weakly plants, if the stove-plants 
generally in this country were more bountifully supplied with light, 
for in many instances the degree of light is not equal to the tem- 
perature, and the consequence is that in many cases the organs of 
the plants are weak and imperfectly matured. 
The state of things thus briefly touched upon must remain while 
the lean-to structures for plants are iu use. My idea of a house 
for stove and greenhouse plants would lead me to choose a neat 
and substantial span-roof, fourteen feet wide inside measure, with a 
September. 
