THE NATURAL CONDITIONS OF PLANTS. 51 
others. All these flowered well, hut the atmo- 
sphere was too moist, and there was too little sun 
for them to ripen seed, with the exception of the 
Mimulus, the Oxalis, and the Cardamine, which 
latter grew with great luxuriance, and furnished 
throughout the year a most grateful addition to 
the food of a tame Canary-bird. The Rhapis 
flabelliformis and Phoenix dactylifera bore the 
cold during three winters in this house, when I 
was obliged to remove them in consequence of 
their size. A double white Camellia flowered 
well for three successive springs, but was killed 
by the severity of the following winter. In a 
cold house like this, but with an eastern or 
western aspect, so as to admit more solar light, 
I believe that Camellias would thrive luxuriantly 
and be far less likely to suffer from the winter’s 
cold. The influence of light in enabling plants 
to withstand cold is far too little attended to, and 
in most cases where it is necessary to protect 
delicate plants in winter, light should be admitted, 
if possible. 
I shall next mention The Alpine Case: — Azalea 
procumhens, Andromeda tetragona and hypnoides , 
Primula minima, P. Helvetica, Soldanell amontana, 
S. Alpina, Eriophorum Alpinum, and a few others, 
were the contents of my first Alpine case. As 
I thought there would not be sufficient light at 
D 2 
