296 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GDIDE. 
THE AMATEUR’S PLANT STOVE. 
BT WILLIAJI COLE, 
Head Gardener, Ealing Park, Middlesex. 
|0 have a continuous supply of flowers throughout the 
winter season, a plant stove is imperatively necessary, 
and the want of this is one of the worst of the many 
difficulties with which the amateur has to contend. 
There are a certain number of plants which bloom 
naturally with no more warmth than that afforded in the winter by 
the greenhouse, but they are comparatively few ; the flowers lack 
that brilliancy of colour so much appreciated during November and 
the two following months. There are in the greenhouse, it is true, 
the camellias, winter flowering heaths, and a few other things ; but 
few amateurs have a sufficient stock of the former, or are skilful 
enough to grow the heaths very successfully. With the aid of a 
stove a large number of extremely showy subjects, which really 
require but little skill to manage them properly, may be grown. My 
object, however, in writing this is not so much for the purpose of 
showing the necessity of a stove in a garden, where flowers are 
always in request, as it is to point out the way by which the diffi- 
culty, where there is no properly constructed stove, may be over- 
come. 
In a very large number of gardens are to be found small houses 
which, during the summer season, are devoted to cucumbers and 
melons. These houses make capital stoves during the winter season 
for the accommodation of plants of comparatively dwarf growth. 
They are so small in size that a very little fuel will serve to maintain 
a temperature of 60°, which will be sufficient for all purposes, and 
in severe weather they can be covered with mats or canvas to keep 
in the heat. I should propose that the house be cleared out early 
in September, and then undergo a thorough cleansing, and a fire 
started. A house of this kind will be of immense service. It wiU 
atford just the accommodation required by Coleus, Alternantheras, 
and other tender bedders, during the winter, and for a large number 
of winter flowering plants, such as Bouvardias, Epiphyllums, 
Salvias, and Gesneras, which require a higher temperature than that 
of an ordinary greenhouse ; nothing better could well be desired. 
In several gardens I have seen these small houses turned to wonder- 
fully good account, and a very nice lot of stove plants kept together. 
It is simply a question of cost in providing the fuel for the mainte- 
nance of the temperature, and tffis at the present moment is a 
serious consideration. 
Just to show the great usefulness of a house of this kind, I wiU 
proceed to point out a few of the most valuable plants that may 
be most successfully grown in it. 
Efipliyllum truncatum, of which there is a considerable number 
of really splendid varieties, usuaUy produces its showy flowers about 
C hristmas, and is one of the best winter subjects. It is hardy enough 
