THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
341 
•up a short time before the sun shines upon the house, the apparatus 
will be at its greatest heat just as the temperature will be influenced 
by the sun, and unless air is admitted will soon rise to sixty or seventy 
degrees. This is especially the case during January and March. 
These remarks do not of course apply when the fires are attended 
early in the morning. It may also be well to add that in no case is 
it desirable to leave the fires for a very long period, and in severe 
weather they should receive attention as late as twelve o’clock, and 
again at five or six in the morning. Much of course will depend 
upon the weather and the character of the house, and the manner in 
which it is lieated, but there is no means by which the inmates can 
be kept safely in frosty weather, without frequently attending to the 
fires ; and unless the amateur is prepared to bestow this attention, it 
will be far better to devote his whole attention to plants requiring no 
artificial heat. 
Artificial heat is occasionally necessary to dry up superfluous 
moisture, and for maintaining a pure atmosphere in dull weather by 
promoting a circulation of air. In applying fire-heat for either of 
these purposes, advantage should be taken of a day when the venti- 
lators may be opened freely, for the application of artificial heat with 
closed ventilators, excepting in cases of frost, will do more harm than 
good. In foggy weather the house should be kept close, for the 
admission of the fog into the house cannot possibly do any good. 
As a rule, the fire for drying up moisture should be lighted rather 
early in the day, and be made to burn steadily until about two o’clock 
in the afternoon, when it may be allowed to go out. 
WINTERING TENDER PLANTS WITHOUT FIRE-HEAT. 
BT GEOEGE SMITH. 
HE difficulties of wintering successfully a stock of bedding 
plants in a cold pit are by no means light, yet with care 
and good management so much can be done in this 
direction that a few suggestions relative to the manage- 
ment of these structures during the winter will probably 
be of considerable service just now. 
With regard to the construction of cold pits, it will suffice to say 
that they should be about six feet in width, two feet in depth in the 
front, and three feet at the back, and not less than twenty feet in 
length. A pit or frame of these dimensions will be found most 
useful ; but if the stock of plants is large the length can of course 
be increased, the only limit being the space at disposal and the question 
of expense. At the same time it may be said that a pit of a smaller 
size than the one here mentioned will be of little real service, as the 
number of plants it will be capable of holding will be very small. 
The walls may be made of turf sods, bricks or boards, according as 
the proprietor of the garden may determine. Brick walls are of 
■course preferable as they have a neater appearance and are more 
November. 
