1873.] GARDEN GOSSIP. 91 



quickly be pulled to pieces, aud with little troul^le as quickly be put together. 

 Indeed, the whole apparatus may be taken down and put up ready for work 

 again in a couple of hours. To those who require a small apparatus to heat a 

 cucumber-house or greenhouse, &c., and one, moreover, that requires but little 

 attention, and leads to little expense, these stoves will, I believe, be really 

 invaluable. All who have a greenhouse should possess one ; indeed, every 

 gardener who has any quantity of glass would do well to have one by him in case 

 of need, for we never know when a boiler may collapse. From lOO to 150 feet 

 of hot-water piping may be heated for about fourpence per day, the stoves 

 burning from eight to twelve hours without attention. — Edwaed Bennett, 

 Gardener to tlte Marquis of Salisbii?-)/, Hatfield^ Herts. 



GARDEN GOSSIP. 



^j[?j^OR the first time in Europe, we believe, the Bunya-bunya, Araucaria 

 (i|ir^ BidwiUii^ has borne cones in the temperate house at Kew. The tree 



which produced the female cones is one of the two first imported in 1842. 



The cones are borne in clusters near the top, the average size being 8 



inclies long by 4j inches diameter. The tree is 26 feet high, its branches cover a circum- 

 ference of about <J0 feet, and its ti'unk, at 1 foot from tho gi'ound, measures 2 feet 7 inches in 

 circumference. The seeds of Araucaria Bidwillii, like those of A. imbricata, are eaten, and 

 form very important articles of food to the inhabitants of Moreton Bay. 



SThe beautiful Hlppeastrum jJardiman proves to be a very free-flowering 



plant. With Mr. Eitchie, of Hampstead, a bulb has flowered four times in one 

 year, and on two occasions there were two flower stalks blooming at the same time ; 



altogether IG fine flowers were developed from the one bulb, another flower-stalk having since 

 come up. The plant has never been rested, nor yet kept at all dry. Few bulbous plants 

 would give such a retui'n as this, and anyone possessing a small stove may very easily 

 grow it. 



Amongst the newest Cannas, the French nurserymen are offering one 



named Canna M. Celler (Chretien), a variety raised from C. Bihorelli, but said to 

 be dwarfer, and to have green leaves. The flowers are very large, of a rosy 

 brick-red, and grow in large bifid or trifid spikes. This variety is described as being the 

 best of all those cultivated specially for their flowers ; if so it will be an important acquisi- 

 tion both in the subtropical garden, where it will serve to liven up the great masses of 

 Cannas we often see planted, and also in the flower garden, where by its numerous sj)ikes of 

 large showy flowers it will almost rival the Gladiolus. 



'S^HE origin of the Lonibardy Poplar has often been a matter of 



conjecture, the general opinion being that it was a seedling or sport from 

 Populus nigra, a European species, which, when grown in America, is said to pro- 

 duce leaves which are downy when young and ciliated at a later stage ; this North-American 

 form has been considered a distinct species under the name of Populus hudsonica. Professor 

 Koch relates a curious fact as having been observed in the nurseries of MM. Simon Louis, of. 

 Metz, namely, that many of the seedlings of this American variety produce the fastigiate form 

 pecuhar to the Lombardy Poplar, and this, so far, seems to confirm the general belief. 



iHR. Lynch White, whose name is well known to horticulturists as 



that of a successful Hot-Water Aj^paratus Manufacturer^ has recently retired, 

 and is succeeded by his son, who, in conjunction witti Mr, Dunbar and others, 

 carries on the same business under the title of the Thames Bank Iron Company. 



