Am.  Jour.  Pharm  \ 
October,  1905.  ) 
London  Botanic  Gardens, 
455 
house  of  considerable  size  in  England,  and  was  soon  followed  by 
the  far-famed  Palm  House  at  Kew  (Plate  VI).  The  framework  of 
the  smaller  houses  is  usually  of  wood,  as  the  additional  strength 
which  has  been  obtained  by  the  use  of  iron  in  larger  structures  is 
not  needed  for  buildings  of  smaller  dimensions. 
In  each  of  the  London  gardens  there  is  at  least  one  range  of 
plant  houses,  a  "  range"  consisting  of  a  series  of  glass  houses  in  which 
the  temperatures  range  from  65  °  to  75 0  F.  in  the  tropical  house  or 
stove,  to  450  to  500  F.  in  the  cool  house  or  greenhouse.  At  Regent's 
Park  there  is  a  range  of  three  houses  for  economic  plants  solely, 
heated  respectively  to  650  to  yo°  F.  (stove),  6o°  to  65 0  F.  (interme- 
diate house),  and  450  to  500  F.  (greenhouse).  At  Kew  two  houses 
of  a  range,  one  tropical,  the  other  temperate,  are  devoted  to  eco- 
nomic plants,  while  at  Chelsea  the  range  of  three  houses,  backed  by 
a  corridor,  is  used  for  the  majority  of  the  plants  that  require  to  be 
grown  indoors.  In  addition  to  these  there  are  larger  houses  at  Kew 
for  the  accommodation  of  general  collections  of  plants  from  tropical 
and  sub-tropical  countries  and  from  the  antipodes,  such  as  the  Palm 
House  ("  stove  "  heat)  and  the  temperate  house,  which  consists  in 
principle  of  a  range  of  houses.  The  conservatory  at  the  Regent's 
Park  Gardens  corresponds,  in  part,  to  the  temperate  house  at  Kew, 
while  one  of  the  wings  is  partitioned  off  as  a  small  "  Palm  House." 
Houses  for  plants  requiring  special  conditions  are  also  provided,  but 
the  only  ones  that  need  be  referred  to  here  are  those  in  which  suc- 
culent plants,  such  as  the  various  species  of  Aloe,  are  grown.  Plants 
from  arid  regions,  such  as  these,  require  a  dry  atmosphere,  and 
special  houses  are  accordingly  provided  for  them  at  Kew  and  Re- 
gent's Park.  Most  of  the  succulents  at  the  Chelsea  Physic  Garden 
are  grown  in  one  of  the  pits. 
Owing  to  exigencies  of  space,  very  little  systematic  arrangement 
is  attempted  in  the  case  of  plants  grown  under  glass,  the  nearest 
approach  to  this  being  in  the  Palm  House  at  Kew,  where  the 
smaller  plants  on  the  benches  around  the  sides  are  grouped  geo- 
graphically. The  method  of  arranging  the  plants  most  commonly 
adopted  is  such  that  the  larger  plants  are  placed  in  the  center,  in  a 
span-roofed  house  (see  Plate  XII),  or,  it  in  a  lean-to  house,  near  the 
wall,  while  smaller  sA  ecimens  are  grown  in  pots  on  benches  around 
the  sides. 
Turning  now  to  the  functions  by  which  the  gardens  are  charac- 
