; 
SKETCH OF A CONSEHVATOBTT FOB TROriCAL PLANTS. 
mmt, 
ON THE PICTURESQUE IN HOTHOUSES. 
By H. N. HUMPHREY, Esq. 
TIE usual internal arrangements of a hothouse — or stove, as such a structure 
is more commonly called — are such as to render a visit to its hotanieal 
treasures anything but a luxury ; on the contrary, in an artistic point of 
view, it is too often utterly unworthy of notice. The most rare and beautiful 
plants arc usually put away as closely as they can be packed, with only room suf- 
ficient, as it were, to pass round them for the vulgar purpose of counting or number- 
ing them, like so much common merchandise : this is surely not treating a collection 
of the most exquisite creations of nature with due respect. The expense of erecting 
a structure of sufficient size to exhibit a large selection from the flora of the 
fei^- tropics, so as to give adequate space for the full display of the habit and character 
of each individual plant, is not an argument against the position just assumed, 
inasmuch as it would surely be more consistent with the highest principles of 
C taste that the collection should be small, but spaciously, elegantly, and conveniently 
exhibited, rather than that it should be large, and stowed away like merchandise in a 
•-- V warehouse. Where the plants are cultivated for sale, it is of course necessary that they 
should be grown in as small space as possible ; even where a collection is made for the 
purposes of scientific study only, it may be equally necessary to abandon all idea of picturesque 
arrangement) in deference to convenience of reference, or the introduction of a greater number of 
genera. But where a structure for their growth is considered in the light of an elegant, luxurious, 
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