The Garden Under Glass

28 THE GARDEN UNDER GLASS cooler and more airy, for tomatoes also. There is, of course, no objection to using such a liouse for cool-house plants if the heat be shut off, but it is not designed for tais, the house I described and illustrated earlier being far and away more suitable. Stove plants such as dracænas, crotons, eucharis, pancratiums, calanthes and gardenias do splendidly in such a house, and where space and means allow I would certainly advise the building of one. A very small boiler is sufficient to maintain the heat, and the fuel need be nothing but cinders from the dwelling-house. In a house of this description it is usual to reduce the space for patli, etc., to the narrowest dimensions while the staging is made fairly wide. It may be added that a house which is kept close and warm needs frequent paint-ingifthewoodistobepreserved; forthealmostcontinuous presence of Condensed moisture is apt to rot the wood. Moreover, more washing of the house and whitewashing of the walls become necessary owing to the growth of green and black slime.