the shutters resting on a wheel which in its turn rolls on a rod of iron; the shutters are connected with another rod, which is pushed forward or drawn backward by a ratchet-wheel at one end. There is another glass window ventilator near the top of this wall, which slides by the inside of the wall in opening and shutting. The front side of the roof is pitched at 36°, the back side at 32°; the roof sashes are whole to within 3 feet of the ridge, where in each commences a sash 3 × 2 feet, which is hung in the middle, and connected with a rod, e, which has at each window a ratchetwheel playing into a ratchet on the window; this rod may be turned at one end, and all the windows opened or shut at once, or each window may be disconnected by slipping its own ratchet-wheel along, and then be opened or shut independent of its fellows; dis the supporting post, of which there are five, of cast iron; these posts support and tie the ridge and the two sides of the roof. At 20 feet from one end there is a glass partition, which enables that portion to be shut off from the rest, and heated and cooled at will. The back wall is 74 feet high, and is two bricks thick; it is solid, with the exception of the openings shown in the plan for ventilators, doors, windows, etc. Each wall and the centre posts rest on solid stone masonry, 2 feet deep. The house is heated by two pipes, which make the circuit of the inside under the side plant tables; each pipe comes from the boiler straight, a, and then sends off two branches at right angles, b, bending at the corners, and crossing each other at the front of the house opposite the boiler, where each is depressed so as to return to the boiler below the point of departure. Thus the house is uniformly warmed, each side receiving the water hot at starting, whilst in each the return water is cooled equally before returning to the boiler. A branch pipe crosses the house each side the partition, to make circulation in case we wish to heat one part more than the other. The boiler is in the lean-to shed back of the greenhouse, and is supplied with fresh water from the rain-water cistern, B, and when there is not rain enough to keep the cistern full it is filled by the force, pump in the well. The furnace is partly above and partly below the

a

floor of the shed, and the firehole and the coal are approached by steps. The coal cellar extends outside the building, where there is a coal trap. I is a chamber for a man to sleep in; j, the shelves on which plants are to be potted, and under which pots, crocks, etc., are to be kept. The plants in the greenhouse are variously provided for according to their kinds and necessities. The table, e, in the centre, is for large plants, and those, like Camelias, which do not need the direct light. Under this table is room to lay away bulbs, and Fuchsias which, having blossomed in the summer, will be allowed to remain nearly dormant until growth recommences in spring, and all other dormant plants. On the other shelves other plants will be kept, just as they need more or less direct light and heat. Along the rafters and crossing the glass in various places may be trained Running Roses, Passion-Flowers, etc.

And now for the work! The first of this month thoroughly examine the house, the glass, the paint, the shelves, scrub all the wood-work clean, and thoroughly whitewash all portions exposed to mildew; fumigate with sulphur, to kill red spiders, etc., before the plants are taken in; paint the wood-work wherever water or wear has removed the paint, and make sure that no loose joints will admit rain and cold. Collect at once leaf mould, good loam, and white sand enough for the compost for all your plants; lay in your broken crocks and whole pots. Continue to pick off dead leaves ; prune and repot all the stock plants not bedded in the ground; repot all that have outgrown their quarters, and remove the top mould from the others and add a fresh supply; begin to take up and pot all the cuttings and layers made during the summer. Pot carefully a large quantity of Dwarf and Giant Chrysanthemums, Salvias, Carnations, Gillyflowers, Ten-week Stocks, Tuberoses, Amaranths, and such other plants as may be just coming into bud, to be got ready to exhibit in the conservatory during October and November. Pot Neapolitan Violets, Cyclamen, Pansies, Chinese Primroses, Oxalis. Repot Heliotropes, Cinerarias, and Callas; separate and repot Mignonette and Sweet Alyssum; repot Verbenas for last time. When they are potted, keep them in the shade for a few days, till they are established in the pots, and then put them on the shelves in the

greenhouse, from which they will be removed into the conservatory before the shelves will be wanted for the greenhouse plants proper.

It is very necessary to attend to the large plants not hitherto renewed and refreshed this month, in order that they may make new roots before winter. The cuttings, etc., should be kept in the shade for about a fortnight, being watered moderately. As soon as these plants are disposed of, plant your Ixias, La Perousias, and all tender bulbs in small pots, one or more together, as their size shall dictate; after potting, set them on the upper shelves near the glass; water them but little till they begin to show leaves, as much water will rot them; but after they begin to grow, give water as to other plants.

Get all your tender stock plants into the house before the 15th of the month, and most of the more hardy ones which you propose to show during the season by the 20th, as a single night of severe cold, even without frost, might seriously injure the vigorous color of their foliage.

The growth and success of pot plants depend very much on the compost used and the method of potting, which should be as follows: The earth with which the pots are filled must not be too rich, as this tends to over-stimulate the young plant and change flower-buds into leaves; besides, plants in a greenhouse may be fed like fires in a furnace; if we want an increased development we can easily get it by watering with dilutions of manure; or we can check the growth, if that be our wish, by withholding the usual supply of water. Plants, whether in the outside earth or in pots, derive but a small proportion of their nutriment from the earth in which they stand. Various experiments carefully tried, where all the modifying circumstances were controllable, have shown that however meagre the soil, even if it be pure-washed river sand, any plant selected could be made to thrive or dwindle just in proportion to the amount of simple or enriched water, or of pure or impregnated air, which should be supplied. Were there room in the present treatise to cite the experiments of Bousingault and others, we could prove that the judicious gardener, by studying the constituent parts of the plants he is growing and the constituent parts of the materials which seem most largely to contribute to their

perfect development, can have them as much under his control as the engineer his engine. The experiments made in this matter have pertained to out-of-door culture, and were made with the hope of rendering the farmer more independent of varieties of soils and seasons in getting large crops, and they have shown most conclusively that agriculture need not be a matter of chance, but that farming operations can be conducted with almost the same certainty as manufacturing. If this be true on the large scale of farming, where the temperature, atmosphere, and rain are beyond control, how much more securely can the gardener guide the growth of his plants under a glass roof, where all the uncertain elements of growth can be supplied with graduated exactness.

The earth in which we put plants may be considered in the light of a sponge which shall absorb, retain, and give out the food the plant needs to facilitate its perfect development. The essentials, therefore, are a carbonaceous character, as carbonaceous materials are sponges for the absorption of the nutritious gases; a loose and porous mechanical texture which will allow the water applied to percolate readily to the fibrous roots of the plants, and then to drain away quickly if it be in excess; and a due supply of those minerals usually called salts, such as lime, potash, soda, etc., which in small but distinct amounts are all important to the formation of healthy vegetable tissue.

COMPOST for potting. Make your compost one-third leaf mould, one-third rich loam, one-third river sand; mix these materials well together, and to every bushel or thereabouts (for there is no need of special care), about a shovelful of lime, ashes, or gypsum. Having your material ready, set your pot before you upon the potting shelf; fill it about one-fifth with broken crocks* for drainage, as nothing injures plants more than to allow their roots to be supersaturated. Mildew, blight, a sickly growth, are all consequents of imperfect drainage, and with the single exception of too much

* Oyster shells are as good as, and in the opinion of some cultivators better than, crocks for drainage, as the roots of the plant find in them material for food.

and injudiciously applied heat, nothing oftener destroys plants than standing water. Were we oftener to think of the lesson which nature teaches us in the woods and fields, we should make fewer mistakes in this matter. No tree, shrub, or plant, that is a native of dry uplands, will thrive or even live when transplanted to a swamp; and the native of a swamp will thrive no better if subjected to a corresponding change; yet we must attribute the respective failures of the plants to too much or too little water. Having then the

pot before us with the broken crocks in the bottom (which are the fragments of old and imperfect pots, hammered together till they are reduced to pieces varying from the size of a finger nail to an inch or more square), cover them about an inch deep (varying the depth a little to suit the plant in hand) with your compost; take the plant in the left hand and set it into the pot, being careful not to set it deeper than it stood before, and keeping the crown of the roots (the point where the roots and stem join), just below the top of the pot; with the right hand, pour in the prepared compost on either side, occasionally settling the earth into the roots with the finger or with a stick, and gently shaking the plant that the earth shall be well packed among the small roots. Go on in this way till the pot is full; then take it in both hands and slightly shake the pot, giving it a knock or jostle against the shelf, which will firmly settle all together and leave the plant standing steady and even in the middle of the pot. After this, shower it from the rose of the watering pot sufficiently to moisten the earth throughout. The plant must now be set in the shade and watered in the same way daily for ten days or a fortnight, after which it may take its proper place on the greenhouse shelves. If the plant has been newly taken from the ground, the top should be judiciously pruned so as to balance the mutilation of the roots, and give it a well-proportioned shape. Cut away all the broken roots, and be careful in selecting your pot to get one large enough to contain the main roots without much bending. Remember, however, that we do not depend upon the old roots for the main support of the plant; for that, we look to the multitude of new and fibrous roots, which the treatment just described will cause to spring out from all parts of the old roots, and which will rapidly increase till