196 



THE FLOKAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



occupy a place near one of the doors, and 

 the smoke-tube be carried through the 

 glass at top of the house. I refrain at 

 present from recom mending any particular 

 stove, as I believe Mr. Hibberd has one 

 under trial for the express purpose of as- 

 certaining its property, and will, doubtless, 

 report, upon it as soon as satisfied thereof, 

 (Should a building of this kind be recpiired 

 for vines, I should recommend the side 

 lights to be reduced to one-half the height, 

 and these to open as here shown for ven- 

 tilation ; the roof lights would then be 

 longer, and a much steeper roof obtained. 



A small aperture or two at the ridge, 

 capable of being closed by a wood slide, 

 would, with the side lights hung as recom- 

 mended, effect a perfect ventilation. The 

 walk would, in such a house, be down the 

 centre, and the vines might be planted in 

 boxes, having large openings in their bot- 

 toms to allow the roots to escape into a 

 border made up inside the house for that 

 purpose. The planting them in boxes 

 would enable them to bear removal at 

 almost any season, 



Whitteell. H, Howeett. 



GOOD WORK WITH BAD TOOLS. 



NOTES ON THE PRESERVATION OF BEDDING PLANTS EAST WINTE K. 



However it is, my stock of bedders has 

 nearly escaped the widely diffused havoc, 

 of which an account is given in the April 

 number. The climate here may be milder 

 than about London, and I suppose it is ; 

 but the frost of last December was severe 

 enough to freeze strongly, for several nights, 

 water in the bed-rooms, and to destroy 

 potatoes kept in a part of the house which 

 was as well defended from the cold as any 

 part unwarmed by a fire. 



The stock consisted of some dozens of 

 verbenas, Mrs. Holford, Purple King, 

 Gleant des Batailles, Defiance, and a fine 

 light pink verbena, name unknown ; Sultan 

 calceolaria, Aurea floribunda, and other 

 yellow ones, Maggiore, etc. ; variegated 

 leaved, hybrid quercifolium, and scarlet 

 geraniums, fuchsias, and a few cinerarias. 



The verbenas, three each in a 48-sized 

 pot, were plunged in coal ashes, at the top 

 and sunniest part of the pit ; the gera- 

 niums next; the cinerarias, fuchsias, 

 and calceolarias being placed in the lower 

 part, and next the front wall, where they 

 were more in the shade, and all likewise 

 plunged. 



The back and sides of the pit were 

 banked up last autumn with a sloping 

 bank of earth (as recommended by Mi-. H. 

 Howlett, at page 209 of the second volume 

 of the Floral World), which of course 

 made it warmer. When the hard frost 

 came, the calico lights (the calico being on 

 the under side) were filled with littering 

 straw to the level of the wooden sides of 

 the lights, thick rice bags opened out were 

 thrown on, with bricks at the sides to keen 

 them down, trusses of straw were placed 

 against the ft-ont W i t i] of thl pit} where no 



earth had been banked against it, and the 

 snow coming on converted the whole into a 

 white hillock, sides and all. When the 

 pit was opened, at the end of the frost, 

 which lasted from a fortnight to three 

 weeks, every thing was right except the 

 variegated geraniums, the points of the 

 shoots of which were damping off, and 

 three or four pots of verbenas, where they 

 were most crowded, or nearest the sides, 

 which were beginning to mildew. 



Twice afterwards, during the winter, 

 the pit Avas thus closely closed up for 

 shorter periods, and with the help of my 

 hospital the winter was got through with 

 the loss, on the average, of one plant and 

 a-half to the dozen each of verbenas and 

 calceolarias, and the most of the variegated 

 geraniums. 



What I call my hospital is two sunny 

 lobby windows, which was shut off from 

 the draught on the staircase by calico 

 stretched across to the height of one's 

 chin, in a line with the inner surfaces of 

 the walls of the house, in such a manner 

 that the upper part could be taken down 

 to get at the plants. Into these windows 

 I put as many pots of verbenas and gera- 

 niums as there was room for without 

 crowding, and they remained there till a 

 thermometer kept in one of the windows 

 fell within a degree of freezing, when, but 

 not before, they were transferred to a room 

 with a fire. This happened twice, I believe, 

 after the long frost in December. (These 

 detads are given that you may be able to 

 make a comparison of climate-) 



Some of all the verbenas, of which the 

 names have been given, etood thera exposed 

 to the above degree of cold without injury 



