140 
ON NATURE. 
changeableness of our climate, and the frequent, though often unnecessary, ap¬ 
plication of fire-heat, to guard against the gudden attacks of frost, a considera¬ 
ble degree of excitement is induced, and before the season has arrived at which 
they can be safely exposed to the open air, they are all, or nearly all, in a state 
of vigorous growth. Without regard to this circumstance, they are at once re¬ 
moved to their summer quarters, when, although the frosty nights may have gone 
by for the season, the temperature during the night is often so low that a com¬ 
plete check is given to their growth, from which they seldom recover till towards 
the approach of autumn; when, after having regained their energy, and become, 
as it were, inured to their new climate, they once more make an effort to grow. 
From the gross habit which they have, however, now acquired, together with the 
lateness of the season, the shoots are seldom well matured, and the plants are, 
therefore, in the worst possible condition to resist the efforts of frost, mildew, 
damp, and other causes by which greenhouse plants are liable to be injured. 
But, when plants are retained under glass during the summer, both the first and 
second growth are ripened sufficiently early in the autumn, and, unless very im¬ 
proper excitement be applied, they will remain in a state of comparative rest till 
the following spring, when their flowers will be both more perfect, and much 
more abundant than such as may have stood out the preceding summer. 
Greenhouse plants, however, should not be kept crowded together in the house 
the whole of the summer, in the way we generally find them in winter. Dupli¬ 
cates and all the coarser and hardier kinds may very properly be removed out of 
doors; and these would, in most cases, be sufficiently numerous to afford room 
enough for those that are left, to stand without touching each other. During 
the summer, the whole of the moveable sashes in the roof and front of the green¬ 
house, ought, except during long-continued rain or thunderstorms, to be kept 
open both day and night, to admit as much air as possible ; and the plants 
should occasionally be syringed over head with water, which may be done at any 
hour of the day, without regard to the shining of the sun. When the roots of 
plants thus exposed to the sun can be preserved in a tolerably cool and moist 
state, their tops will not only bear the sun, but his full influence is indispensable 
to their health and vigour, and the full developement of their flowers. 
Orange trees, camellias, and indeed all plants with coriaceous or thick fleshy 
leaves, are from a variety of causes liable to have their foliage injured by the 
sun; but this injury would seldom accrue to them were they retained in the 
house both summer and winter, and kept as cool as possible during the latter 
season. Consistently with the above considerations and provisions, fire-heat 
need never be applied till the thermometer in the house has indicated three or 
four degrees of frost. 
These remarks are particularly applicable to evergreen plants with heath-like 
foliage, but more especially to the several genera composing the two-splendid 
Natural Orders Ericeas and Epacrideae, which perhaps contain a greater number 
of really beautiful plants than are. to be found in the whole of the other orders 
put together. Most of the plants belonging to these two orders are furnished 
with roots of an exceedingly delicate nature, but, from the fine hair-like sub¬ 
stance of which they are composed, no plants are better adapted for growing in 
pots, or are susceptible of a higher degree of perfection by this mode of culture. 
The means, however, which enable the attentive cultivator to produce specimens 
of great elegance and beauty, also operate to cause disappointment where the 
