298 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
ball of soil reduced, and then repotted in pots of a similar or larger 
size. During the summer they do exceedingly well in company with 
cucumbers or melons, or M’ith greenhouse plants, provided they have 
a warm corner. 
The Gesnera, and several of its allies, are amongst the finest of 
winter- fiowering plants, and by starting the roots, with tlie assis- 
tance of bottom heat provided by the cucumber bed, and then 
allowing them to bear the cucumbers company until the end of 
June, they will make bonny little specimens. Early in July they 
can be placed in a vinery, or even in the greenhouse, and allowed to 
remain there until the house is ready for their reception in the 
autumn. They will then commence to bloom superbly, and the 
richly coloured flowers and foliage will have a most attractive 
appearance. If nicely grown, the plants will be most useful for 
dinner-table decoration ; indeed, for the latter purpose few plants 
can surpass them. 
Euphorbia jacquincsflora, another bright and effective subject, 
can also be made to bloom superbly by the rough-and-ready 
mode already alluded to in speaking of the gesneras. The tempe- 
rature of the house during the early part of the spring will suffice 
to start it into a vigorous growth, and the warmth necessary for the 
cucumbers during the earlier stages will suffice to keep them in a 
progressive state. After the middle of July they can be removed to 
the open air and placed at the foot of a south wall. In this situation 
they will enjoy every facility for the thorough maturation of the 
wood, and in all probability will bloom most profusely the following 
winter. Many cultivators are afraid to put them out of doors, but 
they will do much better in a warm situation in the open air than in 
a cool house. 
Several orchids will also do well in a house of this kind, provided 
they can be allowed to remain in the house with the cucumbers 
until Midsummer. Eendrohium nohile, D. clirysanthum, Cypri- 
pedium harbatum, C. insipne, Calanthe vestita, C. Veitchii, Lalia 
anceps, Oncidium flexuasim, 0. sphaeelatum, Phaius grandifolius, are 
remarkable for their attractive appearance when in bloom, and adap- 
tability to rough-and-ready management. 
There is a considerable number of other things which do weU, 
managed in a similar manner to those alluded to above ; but it 
would occupy too much space to speak of them in detail, and the 
foregoing remarks wdll suffice to indicate the utility of the house and 
the class of plants which may be grown with its aid. It will of 
course be also useful as a forcing house ; for rcses, flowering shrubs, 
bulbs, herbaceous plants in the way of dielytras and spirmas, can be 
pushed on in it, and all the bother and expense of a hotbed will be 
avoided. 
