100 



THE FLOEAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



out all winter safely, but at Greenock it must 

 have greenhouse temperature. 

 Gueenhouse Construction.— C. /. F. — As your 

 •wish is simply to have a house in which to 

 "keep half-hardy plants in winter, and have 

 only a north-east aspect with plenty of light," 

 you may build with perfect safety, provided 

 you heat it with a flue, or a hot-water pipe 

 from a small gas-boiler in an adjoining room or 

 shed, according as the situation is near to or 

 away from the dwelling. You would be sure 

 to stock such a house with geraniums in autumn, 

 and you would be sure to lose them if you 

 trusted only to a hot bottle. A Waltonian case 

 would keep out frost, but except when you 

 were using it for propagating, you would be 

 very likely to neglect to light it when most 

 wanted. A small iurnace and flue would keep 

 all safe at least expense and trouble. You 

 could keep cytisuses, fuchsias, camellias, and 

 plants of the same degree of hardiness, in such 

 a house without a flue by matting up the sides 

 and roof well during frosty weather and keep- 

 ing the house quite dry at the same time. 

 Popular Plants. — /. Kutter. — It is not so easy 

 as you suppose to give the scientific names of 

 popular plants, from merely popular descrip- 

 tions. For instance, " Cytisus, yellow flower- 

 ing, and hawked about the streets at one 

 shilling a pot," may be Cytisus racemosus, or 

 Cytisus Atleeana. The Creeping Jenny is 

 Lysimachia nummularia, also known as Money- 

 wort. Spotted Leopard may or may not mean 

 Doronicum Austriacum. "Scarlet Gem" and 

 " Tosia," are genuine hawkers' terms, which to 

 ns have no meaning. 

 Propagation of Clematis. — C. S. — The best 

 way to propagate Clematis ccerulea, is to select a 

 vigorous shoot and lay it down. Let it spring 

 tip again, and then nick with a sharp knife the 

 back of every joint, and peg each joint into a 

 pot filled with a good potting compost, and 

 plunge each pot to the rim. Every joint will 

 thus make a plant, and every such plant will be 

 better than these from layers made in the 

 ordinary way. 

 Forget-Me-Not. — F. D. Parker. — The best way 

 to bloom this in February would be to take cut- 

 tings now, and grow them into good sized plants 

 in a cool frame. Use very rich soil after they 

 have made good roots, and give plenty of water 

 till the middle of September ; then give them 

 no more than will just keep them green and 

 fresh. In December bring a few into a house, 

 kept at about 50', and in January bring in a 

 few more, and they will bloom on all the points 

 of their new growth. 

 Hothouses for the Million. — ./. ,S'. — The best 

 specimen of the newly-invented hothouses for 

 the million is that put up by Mr. Heremann, 

 at Sydenham, which is now filled with orchard- 

 house trees in the finest possible condition. We 

 shall have an opportunity shortly of reporting 

 upon them. You do not give your address, and 

 it is, therefore, impossible for us to advise you 

 of the best place from which to obtain silver- 

 sand. London gardeners are supplied with the 

 best Reigate sand at the rate of eighteen pence 

 per bushel. 

 Koses Mildewed. — /. P.— The leaves sent are 

 touched with a growth of minute fungus. 

 Nearly all the out-door roses in the kingdom 

 are so just now, through the long continuance 

 of cold wet weather. The first week ot hot sun, 

 which perhaps may come before these lines are 

 printed, wi.l probab y put them to rights. It 

 would be as well, however, to dust them with 

 flowers of sulphur when they are damp with 

 rain or dew. 

 North American Ferns. — It will be seen by an 

 advertisement in this month's issue that our 

 friend, Mr. Chitty, is about to offer by auction 



his very interesting collection of American and 

 British ferns. We call attention to this sale 

 because Mr. Chitty has had facilities for gather- 

 ing together species not generally in cultiva- 

 tion. 

 Catalogues and Books Received. — We have 

 much pleasure in reminding our friends that 

 the first volume of "Recreative Science" is 

 completed. It contains about 200 articles on 

 practical science, and among them are many 

 that embrace out-door subjects akin to horti- 

 culture, such as aquaria, fern-cases, classifica- 

 tion of plants, and the observation of Nature. 

 The work is profusely illustrated, and among 

 the contributors are many of the names most 

 eminent in scientific observation and experi- 

 ment. Considering the beauty of the typo- 

 graphy and the excellence of the woodcuts, it is 

 a cheap drawing-room volume at 7s. 6<7. — 

 " List of Soft -wooded, Bedding, and other 

 Plants, sold by E. G. Henderson and Son, 

 Wellington Nurseries, St. John's Wood, N.W." 

 Not overloaded with novelties, nor scanty in 

 lists of good old varieties. In eighty-two pages 

 of closely-printed matter, the several sections 

 embrace all the good things that are well known, 

 and many good things that will be known. 

 — "New Roses for 1860, grown by C. Noble, 

 Bagshot." A short list of the best, to which 

 are added the most desirable of the old varie- 

 ties, all at reasonable prices. 

 The Climate of Torquay. — In your number 

 for June, 1859 (p. 133), you inserted aletter with 

 the names of the shrubs that had stood out the 

 previous winters in Torquay. It may be in- 

 teresting to some of your readers to know the 

 results of the last w inter, it being very severe. 

 First, my only great loss are two large Acacia 

 armatas, eight feet high ; both were quite 

 killed in December, after being out five years, 

 unsheltered, the largest I know. The Bottle- 

 brush ( Beauf ortia splcndens) , although standing 

 next to the Acacia armatas, was very little 

 damaged, and is now coming into bloom. 

 The Habrothamnus, which was slightly covered 

 with matting, was cut to the ground, but, to 

 my surprise, is now sprouting from the root. 

 The Clianthus (which is nine feet high) was 

 much damaged in the lower branches, and 

 nearly all the bloom destroyed. The Eecremo- 

 carpus scabra stood the winter without shelter ; 

 many of the thick-leaved veronicas w re 

 damaged, and a few killed. The common 

 Begonia, of which I enclose a leaf, not knowing 

 the name, has been in the ground without 

 shelter all the winter. I send leaves of fern, 

 male and female, — what is the name '. I was at 

 Bishopstoke a week or two since, and went over 

 the Dean of Winchester's pleasure grounds, 

 and noticed tha f the Araucaria had been much 

 injured, and, Ithink, dying. The lower branches 

 have been cut off, and those left look very badly. 

 This was the second largest in England, I be- 

 lieve. How is the one at Dropmorer' — A. U.S., 

 Torquay. [The Begonia is discolor, an old but 

 valuable variety, which will flourish under or- 

 dinary window treatment. The fern is Doodia 

 caudata, from New Zealand, a pretty thing re- 

 quiring greenhouse culture.] 

 Various. — A. 8, — The "Town Garden" will 

 supply you with the best information on window 

 plants. — C. 8. — The grass is Cynosurus echi- 

 natus, of no agricultural value. — E. D. — We 

 recommend you to take the " Illustrated 

 Bouquet," the " Floral Magazine," " L'lllus- 

 tration Horticole," " Flore des Serres," the 

 " Bota- ical Magazine," and the "Gardener's 

 Chronicle." Among them all, you may perhaps 

 occasionally find a trifle of information, but 

 none of the editors will prepare their numbers 

 to your dictation, or care very much if " Ensign 

 Smith withdraws his custom." 



