y takes up far too much room=; the middle part of a conservatory
should be left free, so that there is space to walk about; stands for
plants are easily arranged, and give a more natural appearance than fixed
staging, which always looks rather stiff. Being a good deal more liable to
visits from guests than an ordinary greenhouse, the conservatory must be
kept scrupulously clean and neat; the floor, walls, and woodwork must be
washed very often, and the glass kept beautifully bright. Cobwebs must
never be allowed to settle anywhere, and all the shelves must be kept free
of dirt and well painted; curtains should be hung near the entrance to the
drawing-room, so that they may be pulled across the opening at any time,
to hide work of this sort.

=Hanging plants= are great adjuncts where the structure is lofty, and
open-work iron pillars, when draped with some graceful climbing plant, are
a great improvement. Where there is but little fire heat, considerable
care will be needed to choose something which will look well all the year
round. We will suppose that the frost is merely kept out; in the summer,
such a house can be bright with _plumbago_, _pelargoniums_, _salvias_, and
indeed all the regular greenhouse flowering plants, as, except in
hot-houses, no artificial heat is then necessary anywhere. In winter,
there is more difficulty, for all the climbing plants which are in
conspicuous positions must be nearly hardy; of these, the trumpet flower
(_bignonia_), _swainsonia_, passion-flower, _choisya ternata_, myrtle and
camellia, are the best; these are nearly evergreen, and consequently look
ornamental even when out of flower.

=Plants suitable for hanging baskets= are the trailing _tradescantias_,
the white _campanula_, lobelia, pelargonium, and many ferns. For the pot
plants there are hosts of things; _freesias_, _cyclamen_,
marguerite-carnations, _primulas_, Christmas roses, arums, azaleas,
_kalmias_, _spireas_, chrysanthemums, narcissus, roman hyacinths, and so
on. Many late-flowering hardy plants, will, if potted up, continue in
bloom long after the cold has cut them off outside.

=Cactus plants=, too, ordinarily grown in a warm green-house, will even
withstand one or two degrees of frost when kept perfectly dry, dust-dry,
in fact. During winter in England =it is the damp that kills=, not the
cold; bearing that in mind, we shall be able to grow many things that
hitherto have puzzled us. All those delicate iris, half-ha