THE GREEN-HOUSE, HOT-HOUSE, AND STOVE. 
517 
body requires to know something about the 
matter, and even London houses are being 
fitted up in all directions with conservatories, 
or some other garden-house, the work comes 
forth as fresh and novel among a new race of 
readers, as if it had never previously existed. 
The author of the " Kitchen Garden " and 
" Flower Garden " was not half so fortunate 
in those works as he has been in the " Green- 
house, Hot-house, and Stove," for in this latter 
work he is at home, whereas in the former he 
drew largely on other people's resources, and 
was not always happy in his choice. In the 
"Flower Garden" especially, as we have 
already had occasion to notice, he tumbled 
over writings long since banished by practical 
men. But as regards these two volumes we 
have " said our say," and so we will have 
done with them. The possessor of the smallest 
green-house or conservatory will find in the 
work before us a fund of information and en- 
tertainment, for the author has truly begun at 
the beginning. A large space is devoted to 
the buildings, and the different modes of heat- 
ing them, and then comes a very complete 
treatise on the most beautiful of all tribes, the 
Heaths. In this, however, there is nothing 
very dissimilar to M'Nab's, which seems to be 
the foundation of all good Heath culture. 
There is a passage, however, that we cannot 
quite understand ; speaking of M'Nab, he 
says :— 
" There is one branch of culture in which 
we differ from the talented writer above 
quoted; he recommends a partial degree of 
shade during the hottest days of the summer. 
In this particular the Messrs. Loddige agree 
with us, as do most of the continental cultiva- 
tors. This, however, may be less important in 
the latitude of Edinburgh than in that of 
London, and is certainly much less so there 
than in most parts of France, or the south of 
Germany, and for that reason it may not be 
noticed in the excellent directions laid down 
by Mr. M'Nab. Messrs. Loddige follow the 
continental fashion of shading by means of 
long slender branches of bireh or other deci- 
duous trees, which are laid over the roof of 
the house, breaking the full force of the sun's 
rays, while, at the same time, the air is not 
much obstructed. Our practice is to shade 
by spreading netting over the roof, and latterly 
by having a fine thin canvass awning, mounted 
on rollers, on the top of the house, which is 
let down or taken up at pleasure." — P. 67. 
Now, for the life of us, we cannot see in 
what point the author differs from M'Nab. 
" He recommends a partial degree of shade 
during the hottest days of the summer." Well, 
■what is Messrs. Loddige's " branches of 
deciduous trees," or the author's "net over the 
roof," but partial degrees of shade ? We 
confess we cannot see the difference we were 
prepared for. We mention this because we 
think it very likely to puzzle others ; and, 
perhaps, because when we criticise people of 
high standing in their profession, we have no 
right to pass over anything. The Gerani urn- 
house comes next in consideration after Heaths. 
This flower is introduced with a few appro- 
priate remarks: — 
" THE GEKANIUM-1IOUSE. 
" The late Mr. Colville was amongst the first 
who saw the propriety and adopted the prac- 
tice of growing the Geraniaceae in a house by 
themselves. Since that time many have fol- 
lowed the example, and, judging from the fine 
specimens brought to the public: plant exhibi- 
tions within these last three years, we are led 
to think that in no department of plant cul- 
ture has such a rapid improvement been 
made as in that of Pelargoniums. To grow 
these numerous and splendid plants to perfec- 
tion, requires a separate house for themselves, 
and whoever has seen those of Hill at Ham- 
mersmith, Cox, of Chiswick, and Gaines, of 
Battersea, as public cultivators, and those of 
Sir John Broughton, or R. Jenkinson, Esq., 
will admit, we think, that they richly deserve 
a house for themselves. The Geraniaceae have 
the following attractions ; namely, they are 
easily kept propagated, and. flowered ; they 
continue nearly the whole season in bloom ; 
present almost infinite variety of colour and 
form, and are much better adapted for stand- 
ing in rooms uninjured than most other plants. 
New varieties are readily originated by cross 
impregnation, and these are readily increased 
by cuttings, the simplest of all modes of re~ 
production. If the majority of Pelargoniums 
are deficient in fragrance, nature has made up 
for that apparent deficiency, by the splendour 
of the blossoms ; and, as it were, to equalize 
her gifts, certain kinds w T hose flowers are less 
showy, nay, even of a dingy hue, have a 
delightful perfume ; some during the evening 
and night, and others when rubbed against, or 
when the wind lashes the leaves and branches 
against each other. 
"Few genera of plants exhibit more fully the 
industry of the cultivator, or demonstrate more 
clearly the control he exercises in producing 
varieties, than in the case of the Geranium or 
Pelargonium. Hundreds of varieties, which 
are to be met with in the collection of florists, 
are the fruits of his ingenuity ; for, however 
strange it may appear, it is a positive fact that 
not above a dozen true species are to be recog- 
nised amongst them. It is, therefore, now 
only in the strictly botanical collections that 
true species are to be seen, they having given 
place to sub-species, originated by hybridizing. 
With the exception of three or four species, 
