130 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 1 , 1858. 
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gardening affairs, tliat mere set rules, founded on the 
practice of some one, and devoid of principle, is not 
the kind of armour that a modern gardener must 
depend on. Apart from tribes, or families, of orna¬ 
mental plants, we must look into the early forcing 
house, the warm pit, the old-fashioned, or, let us say, 
Abercrombian hotbed. Here is something more to be 
noted. Then we may pass on to the cold pit, or 
hibernatory, cold frames, &c. 
But to enter into thorough detail on all these sub¬ 
jects, would occupy a dozen Cottage G-aepenees, and, 
what is, perhaps, as bad, or worse, too much of the 
valuable time of the majority of our readers. I will, 
therefore, take a mere common-sense view of the re¬ 
mainder of the matter, and at once speak of those 
general principles which regulate alike the practice 
of all first-class gardeners. 
Thorough ventilation consists in admitting a complete 
circulation, both by means of the escape of heated, or 
contaminated air, at the highest point, and a conse¬ 
quent influx of fresh air from the lowest level; but 
this has to be performed with a due regard to the wind, 
its violence, and its characters. Lively currents of 
mild winds are, in the main, beneficial, although they 
may slightly agitate the vegetation in the interior; but 
when such are chilling to the human body, they must 
be avoided. In managing this matter, a due regard 
must be paid to the proportion the front air bears to 
that of the back. The greater the egress at the back, or 
apex of houses, the greater will, of course, be the 
demand for fresh air from the front, and vice versa. 
In vineries, peach houses, &c., it is very frequently 
necessary, in summer, to open as wide as possible 
both front and back ventilators, or the inmates become 
scorched ; and on most occasions it is better to starve 
than to burn, if a risk must be run. Nothing looks 
worse, in vineries, than to see singed foliage; it is 
not only a disfigurement to the trees, but a most 
serious injury to their permanent welfare. In what is 
termed ‘‘catching,” or fluctuating weather, the venti¬ 
lation requires much attention, and to be attended to 
several times within half-a-dozen hours : in such cases 
there is frequently neglect;—the parties, perhaps, have 
too many irons in the fire, and some burn. Hail¬ 
storms must be studiously guarded against; these 
sometimes occasion much mischief in a few minutes. 
They generally fall perpendicularly, or, at least, they 
seldom do much harm through the front sashes; on 
such occasions, then, and with alternations of bright 
sunshine—for bright indeed it generally is at such 
periods—the front ventilation must be proportionately 
more liberal, and every attention given. This prac¬ 
tice, however, refers more to summer management 
than to winter: the months of April, May, and June, 
are more concerned than, perhaps, any others. In all 
cases, the chief point is, to know the character of 
climate, and amount of temperature, the plants or 
trees require, and that, too, with regard to their con¬ 
dition and the period. This kind of knowledge is 
not speedily acquired, certainly, and I lament that I 
cannot impart it in a few words. The following may 
be taken as maxims generally correct A very 
copious admission of front air, and little at back or 
the apex, has a tendency to create a great disparity 
between the temperature at back and front, and to 
chill the frontage. Much back air and little front is 
likely to encourage a keen draught. When cutting 
winds, or a very sharp air, therefore, prevail, it is fre¬ 
quently good policy to give no front air unless com¬ 
pelled. But there are no maxims which bear continual 
sway : as conditions change, we must change our 
policy also. 
lii early forcing (such as Vines, &e.) perhaps more 
caution is needed than in most things; particularly 
during the months of January and February, for then 
the sun has little power ; but when the forcing gets into 
March he finds the case much altered, and this is ( 
generally his most trying time. With a bright sun¬ 
shine, and a cutting south-easter, he is sometimes at 
his wits end to keep things right. By the bye, of all 
the winds that blow, perhaps a south-eastern is the 
worst for glazed structures, especially lean-to houses. 
They are every moment robbing the roof of its warmth, 
and the roof borrowing from the interior. As for 
giving air, especially front air, extreme caution is 
frequently requisite, and when absolutely necessary in 
such circumstances, it would be well if we could have 
some finely-pierced apparatus to riddle it into the 
house. We all know how the very early Cucumber 
forcer—in dung-beds—occasionally takes the precau¬ 
tion of nailing a mat, or canvass, over the air-giving 
points, in order to break the fierce action of the air, 
and, as it were, to riddle it through. As for the ordi¬ 
nary greenhouse, that is the easiest to ventilate of most 
structures, and I need not say much on that head. 
Ventilation is frequently had recourse to, as a pre¬ 
ventive of drip, and very necessary too. I have a | 
Camellia house vdiicli is notorious for drip ; the house 
having been glazed some thirty years since, and, con¬ 
sequently, liable to all the flaws and frailties of those 
times. I have Camellias in constant blossom here from 
the early part of November until May, and we rarely 
have one blemished by drip. This is owing to the con¬ 
stant maintenance of air day and night, both at a high 
and a low level; and the constant use of very moderate 
firing, by which the hot-water pipes are always luke¬ 
warm. This induces a lively circulation of air, which 
dissipates the vapours before they can become con¬ 
densed. One excellent adjunct in the prevention of 
drip would be a roof covering to prevent condensation, 
but such are very perishable, and difficult to work 
during the alternations of frost and thaw: indeed we 
have scarcely a proper material for the purpose at 
present known. The prevention of drip, as to blossom¬ 
ing plants in winter and early spring, is a most im¬ 
portant affair ; and, in conjunction with the pains taken 
over ventilation, firing, &c., much discretion should be 
exercised in the application of water, doing so sparingly 
and principally in the morning early. 
There can be no doubt that long confined, and, by 
consequence, stagnant air, is highly prejudicial to vege¬ 
tation in general; especially to those plants with thin 
foliage, and of speedy growth. There is every reason j 
to believe in an analogy between animals and plants in 
this respect. Loul, or stagnant air, long continued, 
casts a kind of skin over the foliage of plants, and 
this, by partially closing their “breathing pores,” of 
course vitiates their juices, or impedes reciprocity 
between the foliage and the root, which is of great im¬ 
portance. And how can we expect plants, or trees, to 
blossom in full vigour, with all their parts perfect, 
without that _ subtile, yet invigorating element—pure 
a ir '■ -J-S to insects, fungi, &c., if you w r ant any for 
special purposes, you will only waste your time by 
hunting hothouses where judicious ventilation is main¬ 
tained, and where, by a cleanly system, all corruption, 
or vitiation, is met half way. The drawing of plants, 
or trees, alias weakening, alias elongation of the joints, 
with some other aliases, is, of course, clearly traceable to 
a want of free circulation, as also to too much closely 
confined damp-producing attenuation, and a scant of the 
colouring deposit in the leaves of plants, called, I 
believe, by our botanists, chlorophyll. Let me here, 
too, warn the uninformed of that affair called ex¬ 
citability, or, a disposition to receive damage on any 
extreme of atmospheric conditions. The longer garden 
structures are kept badly ventilated, the more this 
kind of tenderness increases. The colours of Towers 
