FLOWER GARDENS. 
is necessary that the rays of light should be partly excluded after 
six in the evening,—this means rendering the days as nearly 
equal to the tropical day as possible, for we generally find tropical 
plants succeed better when the days are nearly equal, that is, 
when we have twelve hours day and twelve hours night. .Another 
evil arises when the shading is taken off at night—the air in the 
house becomes very dry : but when the canvass is left on, the 
moisture in the house condenses upon the plants in the form of 
dew, which strengthens them very much, and makes them more 
vigorous, and more able to stand the intense light of the succeed¬ 
ing day. It is pretty well known that most plants are in great 
part composed of carbon, and that is chiefly generated at night, 
or on dull days, but for the most part at night. It will at once 
be seen that, when the day commences at one in the morning, 
and ends at ten at night, they then have but little time to imbibe 
carbon, which is their principal food ; they must, therefore, be 
taking in oxygen, which completely exhausts them, and renders 
them feeble, and unable to perform their functions. As plants, 
for the most part, grow more at night than they do throughout 
the day, it is necessary, therefore, to let the houses go cool 
throughout the night, but not by the foolish system of admitting 
air in the growing-house. In the resting-house that is of no 
consequence, especially in the summer season. 
P. N. Don. 
Tooting Nursery, 
Feb. 17 th, 1841. 
FLOWER GARDENS. 
Laying out flower gardens, that is, fixing the boundaries and 
arranging the beds and borders,—grouping the trees, shrubs, and 
herbaceous plants,—together with tracing the walks and disposing 
the buildings, ornaments, or other features,—requires as much 
taste and judgment as is required in the cultivation of the plants. 
We have all read of the elaborately-designed flower gardens of 
Italy, France, and Holland, during the sixteenth and seven¬ 
teenth centuries. Right lines, right angles, and regular geome¬ 
trical figures, then prevailed; and lest these should not be 
complicated enough, all kinds of fret and scroll work were 
