72 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[May 1. | 
I 
the absorbing and evaporating processes are all at a 
minimum, and, therefore, when the sun does break 
through and shines for a whole clear day, it does not find a 
debilitated drawn plant, with thin watery juices, on which 
to act; and, hence, every leaf stands out erect to salute 
his beams, instead of drooping, as nursed, coddled things, 
from weakness and paralysis. Did we, in our hothouses, 
greenhouses, and inside our windows, take a lesson 
from nature, we should give ourselves less trouble, and 
obtain better success on the whole. But how few ama¬ 
teurs have the courage to do it, even when convinced of 
its propriety. When the sun shone in the beginning of 
the month, everything looked so cheerful, that the 
window was opened a little to give the plants and the 
room a breath of fresh air ; but during the dark, rather 
dismal eight days, such a thing could not be thought of, : 
while the fire in the grate burned brisker than ever, and 
very likely the temperature of the room was higher than 
even in the bright sunny day, when an increase of 
temperature would have been attended with no danger. 
But the bright, sunny weather suddenly comes. Pre¬ 
viously, from the heat of the room, evaporation of juices 
had been taking place through the leaves and stems, 
supplied with fresh watering at the roots, and damping 
the foliage; but the absence of sunlight had caused a 
very slow assimilation of solid matter. When the sun 
shines powerfully, therefore, after these dull days, upon 
the plants, the processes of evaporation, and the assimi¬ 
lation of solid matter by the decomposition of carbonic 
acid, are effected with too much celerity. Plants with 
thick leaves and succulent stems will stand the change 
pretty well, but plants rather tender, with thin leaves, run 
the risk of drooping, and having their foliage scorched 
at the points. Here we find that there may be too 
much of such a good thing as light. The rule of the 
danger of sudden changes comes in as an exception, to 
neutralise any injurious tendency even in these circum¬ 
stances; and, hence, we damp the foliage to lessen the 
evaporation from the interior of the plants, and we shade 
with muslin, or tissue paper, to break the force of the 
sun’s rays, until the plants get used to them. Hence, 
also, the reason why a close atmosphere and shade for a 
time are so beneficial for all potted plants, before the 
balance of reciprocal action between branches and roots 
are restored. In artificial gardening, either against 
walls or under glass, it is of quite as much importance 
to avoid exciting changes, by shading from light, as it is 
to secure from frost. The shading, however, should 
continue no longer than necessary, and it will be the 
less needed, the more our treatment inside is regulated 
by the weather outside. In such circumstances as we 
have referred to, the plants must have full unobstructed ; 
light by degrees. We must treat them as a wise phy¬ 
sician would diet a famished man. He would not at 
once stuff him out with the richest and most concentrated 
food; that he knows would be quite as dangerous as the : 
not having enough, nay, more so, as the effects would 
sooner show themselves. 
But if these remarks hold true, in the case of plants 
in a window in spring, inside of a room, where the heat 
is regulated, not by the wants of the plants, not by the ; 
temperature without, nor the absence or presence of i 
sunshine, but by the sensations of heat and cold of those ! 
who cluster around the blazing ingle; how much worse 
must be the position of those I first referred to, grouped 
in the side-board recesses, and standing on the mantel- ! 
shelf. The sun, it is true, may shine into the room, but 
all they can ever obtain of it, will bo a tantalising feast; ! 
small will be the gleam that ever plays on their blanched 
forms. Need we wonder, at times, that young beginners 
are disappointed, and that something like complaints 
reach us, though professions are strong that practice was 
according to rule. Why, the rule which would apply to | 
sturdy plants in a window, grown near the glass, obtaining ! 
the direct rays of light, with the loss of those merely in 
tercepted by the glass, with air given on all suitable occa¬ 
sions, and their comforts and necessities not forgotten, 
while their owners attended to their own, could never 
apply to such attenuated and exhausted things as were 
clustered around the chimney corner. The best way to 
manage them, unless the possessor has a good stock of 
patience and perseverance, would be to consign them to 
the rubbish heaps. To recruit these, as well as those 
coddled in a close heated twilight atmosphere in a win¬ 
dow, they must be inured to light and air very gradually. 
For instance, there is hardly a person who has flowered 
a hyacinth for the first time on a chimney mantel-piece, 
but who would like to preserve the bulb that had minis¬ 
tered such an amount of pleasure. Well, theu, the first 
thing to be done, is to take it to the window, and inure 
its leaves there to stand the full light, remembering that 
without the perfecting of these leaves in light, you will 
look in vain for flowers from your bulb. This transition 
state passed, you may move it out of doors to a sheltered 
border, and there plant it in a new light soil, burying 
the bulb, so that it will be from two to four inches below 
the surface; and here, in addition to watering, if the soil 
is at all dry, you will require again to shelter with an 
evergreen branch, partly to break the wind, and partly 
to blunt the force of the sun’s rays. By and by the 
branch may be removed, and when the leaves turn 
yellow, your care as to growing for that season is at an 
end. If not too far exhausted, before planting out, (for 
all the time it stood on the chimney piece, it was feeding 
and living chiefly on itself,) it will bloom the next sea¬ 
son in the border. If much exhausted, it will require 
another season, if it does not die altogether, though that 
is not often the case. To get the bulbs to flower well in 
pots or glasses the following season, after doing duty in 
this—the keeping the leaves green and healthy after 
flowering, must be as carefully attended to, as if it were 
a flower stem you were tending. To effect this, and 
enable the bulb to have a sufficient rest, the plant should 
be kept inside the window full in the sun, or placed in a 
pit or frame, for a similar purpose. Indeed, such a re¬ 
ceptacle, however small, is indispensable for a fine ap¬ 
pearance of plants in windows, as plants may be kept 
in such a place before they come to their best, and 
again, when perfecting the wood is necessary, after the 
flower has passed, But whether possessed of such a 
receptacle or not, the advantage of light, and also of 
shade, must be duly attended to in the case of all those 
plants preserved during the winter, and now to be 
shifted, planted, and for future display in window, 
balcony, or garden. The same rules apply to all young 
seedlings, and several of which it is now advisable to 
obtain by sowing, for the outside of the window, and for 
covering the outside of the verandah, such as Nastur¬ 
tiums, Tropeolum Canariense, and Convolvulus-major, 
&c ; all of which, either sown where they are to remain, 
or to be pricked out afterwards, will thrive better than if 
sown inside a month ago. R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC ORCHIDACEiE. 
(Continued from page 37.) 
Lissochilus parviflorus (Small-flowered L.) ; South 
Africa.—Sepals and petals dull white, beautifully striped 
with pale rose. A pretty freely flowering species. -12s. 
L. speciosus (Showy L.); Sierra Leone.—The flowers 
arc large, and bright yellow, with a few streaks of pink 
on the lip. They are produced from the side of the 
large pseudo-bulbs, on stems frequently three feet high, 
and are very ornamental. 3ls. (id. 
L. roseus (Rose-coloured L.); Sierra Leone.—The 
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