228 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 8. 
ting in a quiet comer when the bustle of the day is over. 
Glance at the listlessness apparent when general topics 
are simpered over, contrasted with the interest percep¬ 
tible when one definite subject for the time engrosses 
attention. What a bore to all concerned to attend a 
public meeting where the speakers are left to tilings in 
general. Whatever the genius and the intellect congre¬ 
gated, they are confined by a network which they seldom 
can pierce. Arrangement and order can never be trans¬ 
gressed with impunity. Some minds can grasp a sub¬ 
ject, and make it clear to others in a few words. The 
most of us can only undertake to explain what little we 
know bit by bit at a time. Even then the piece-by¬ 
piece system is generally the best in the end. The hum¬ 
blest in means, or mental power, may ultimately accom¬ 
plish almost anything from concentration of thought 
and firmness of resolution. Give to a great genius the 
task of writing a short article on the vegetable kingdom, 
and give to a very ordinary intellect the task of writing 
a similar short article on a broom stick, and ten to one 
but the latter would be the most interesting and in¬ 
structive of the two. 
However numerous the subjects then introduced, I 
must have a text for each. For the heading of this 
article I am indebted to the following questions and 
statement:—“ What should be the summer temperature 
of what you describe as a warm greenhouse ? Should 
fires be used in cold and damp days, when even by 
closing the house the thermometer will not be raised 
much above 00°? Should air be admitted at night, and 
if so, should it be by the top-lights, or at the sides? 
Ours is a small lean-to house, occupied at present with 
such plants as Acacia, Veronica, Lantana, Pimelea, 
Helichrysum, Gloxinia, Achimenes, Cactus, Calceolaria, 
&c., a row of geraniums along the front shelf, with a 
few climbers against the windows at each end.” 
1st. The necessity for giving artificial heat to a green¬ 
house in June. In general cases this will be unnecessary. 
This has been an out-of-the-way season: in the first 
; part of the month we had the general climate of April; 
the ground had never been heated, the atmosphere was 
cold and damp, and bedding things turned out, if they 
did not grow backwards, made no perceptible progress 
onwards for several weeks. For common flowering 
greenhouse plants, the lighting of a fire, unless in ex¬ 
treme cases, so as to give a great quantity of air, would 
be unnecessary. On the other hand, in such weather, 
where it was desirable to get azaleas and camellias after 
flowering to start into growth and set their buds early, 
a fire would have been of importance ; unless, in such a 
season, keeping the house rather close would have been 
amply sufficient, and thus the greenhouse may be easily 
changed, by diminishing the air given, into a hothouse. 
This same closeness, accompanied by a humidity in the 
atmosphere, will be essential for such plants as Acldmenes 
and Gloxinia growing freely. 
2ndly. With such a mixture of plants, how, when, and 
what quantity of air should be given? For your Acacia, 
Pimelea, Veronica, &c., you can scarcely give too much 
air, in a flowering or growing state, from the present time 
to the end of September. Your house for them may be 
open night and day. If just pruned after blooming, you 
may give them the treatment mentioned for azaleas, Ac. 
In fact, when growth is proceeding freely, they will do as 
well out-of-doors as within. Your geraniums must also 
now have air night and day, and it must he given back 
and front. The cooler you can keep them, and if a little 
shaded, the longer will they remain in beauty. As to 
calceolarias, wherever they are, they cannot be kept too 
cool until the middle of October. Splendid specimens 
of the best kinds may be made by giving extra heat in 
winter. From May and onwards they cannot be kept 
too cool, or have too much air, provided it is not breezy 
enough to break them, or scatter the flowers. Soft 
water, kept in the shade, will even be better for them 
than water heated powerfully by the sun. Sickly leaves 
and myriads of insects are the result of our coddling; i 
but your gloxinias and achimenes would look miserable 
under such treatment. When in bloom, they will stand 
more air ; when growing, none should be given at night, 1 
unless the temperature outside is 00°, and even during the 
day the air should be confined to moving the top sashes I 
when the heat rises above 75°, and not by opening the 
sashes near the sides where the plants stand. But 
3rdly. How are we then to manage to attend to the 
interests of each tribe of plants ? In various ways, 
according to your means. First. Make your house the 
recipient of plants that require similar treatment at the 
same time. Thus you decide on a warm greenhouse in 
winter. Well, this will just suit Cinerarias, Bulbs, 
Primulas, and Epacris coming into bloom. It will just 
suit your best stubby plants of geraniums and cal¬ 
ceolarias. The two latter will come into bloom early, 
and the same may be said of your Acacia and Pimelea. 
Your Lantana will just be in its element, and if freely 
pruned last autumn will be a gorgeous object in even a 
rather close house all the summer; it will not get 
drawn like an acacia or a pimelea. When such hard- 
wooded plants are kept in a house all the summer, the 
house must be open and airy. By this time they will 
have been making fresh growth, and may be turned out 
of-doors, first into a shady place, and then right in the 
sun, defending the pots from its rays; or you may 
place them in any sort of cold pit. By such means, 
you may appropriate your house for several months to a 
class of plants that require a moister and closer atmo¬ 
sphere, such as Gloxinias, Achimenes, Torrenias, Thun- 
bergias, Cockscombs, and tender annuals. To do this 
well, you would, in most cases, require the assistance of 
a slight hotbed to start them in April. Your cold pit, 
with a little manceuvering, ean thus be made a cold or 
a hot pit by turns. The beauty of all these things would 
be going when it would be neoessary to bring back 
again your hard-wooded plants. Achimenes will bloom 
under the same circumstances as hard-wooded plants in 
bloom in a house, but they cannot be grown under such 
circumstances. Still less would the close atmosphere 
they require, then suit Geraniums or Calceolarias in 
bloom. Both of the last—and especially the last—would 
thrive better under an airy awning out-of-doors than in 
any house at this season. But— 
Secondly. “ I have no pits, no frames, and no place to 
put my plants out-of-doors.” Then, first, you must limit 
your plants to those that do not require treatment so 
different as a Pimelea and a Gloxinia ; or, secondly, you 
must shut off the end of your house next the furnace, 
in order that you can maintain a close, moist atmosphere 
to set these tender things a-going; and the same place 
would be a capital position for starting hardier plants 
into growth for a week or two after pruning. Never 
mind if the flue or the pipe passes right through the 
house, with a stop-cock the extra heat among the hardier 
plants can be easily counterbalanced by additional air, 
and sprinkling the floor with water. By divisions, we j 
can have as many different circumstances in our pit as | 
there are lights. But, thirdly, you do not wish to divide 
your house, and yet you wish such a variety as you 
indicate. Then your only chance is to classify your 
plants, and give air only or chiefly at one end, keeping 
the other as close as you can. This is what I often do 
myself. Just now, in the end of a house, with many 
hardy things in bloom, there is air on back and front, 
night and day; in the other end are Azaleas and 
Camellias done flowering; the sashes opposite these 
will not be opened for six weeks to come. I have 
grown achimenes and gloxinias in such circumstances 
very fairly without assistance from a hotbed. The 
tubers were kept in dryish earth all the winter; were 
