182 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



of the box were a row of Centavrea aud hri/jfht-hlue Zo&cZ/a, planted 

 alternately ; and at the back, a row of pink (jeranium Christine. The 

 effect of the frame of dark blue-coloured clematis, and then the 

 mixture of the lio;ht-blue, pink, and white, was very light and 

 elegant looking. Tlie same house had a box with an edging of hlue 

 Lobelia, and behind it a row of plants alternately of calceolarias and 

 Iresine. I had a box myself once with Lobelia in front, and behind 

 it plants of Ladij FlymmUh geranium ; the eifect was light and 

 simple, aud the perfume of the geranium, if you passed your hand 

 over it after a shower of rain, or it had been watered, was very 

 sweet. Some boxes are very pretty with plants of variegated Ivy 

 trained up the windows, and some of it left to trail at the ends 

 round the edge, and falling over different kinds of sedums, and the 

 rest of the box tilled with small hardy fer7is, Echeverius, stonecroii, 

 and all kinds of Alpine plants. Through these plants shuuld always 

 be placed little bits of quartz, etc., etc., to give a kind of rock-work 

 look. It helps to keep the plants damp, and it looks much better 

 than letting the earth be seen between them. Whenever ivy is used, 

 strong plants should be put in, as it grows slowly at first. And now_ 

 I hope those of my readers who may be fond of window gardening, 

 will tit up some of those I have mentioned, and I am sure they will 

 not be disappointed with the result. 



ME. HIBBERD'S POTATO TILE. 



|N the issue of the Floral World for March last, a 

 brief restime was given of the lecture delivered before 

 the Society of Arts by Mr. Hibberd, in which he 

 explained his new system of potato culture. Since the 

 appearance of the number referred to, we have received 

 numerous letters asking for further information upon the subject, 

 and, instead of answering them separately in the usual place, we 

 have considered it desirable to group the several inquiries together, 

 and give a general outline of the system, accompanied with an 

 illustration of the tiles employed in carrying it out. As was 

 explained in the lecture, the potato suffers most severely from the 

 disease in cold wet summers, like that of 1860, and in summers 

 remarkable for the fluctuations in the temperature, as was the case 

 in 1872, when heat and cold rapidly alternated, and the plant was 

 frequently gorged by sudden heavy falls of rain. Heavy rains 

 promote the growth of the potatoes, and if the surplus water can 

 escape quickly, the increased rate of growth need not be badly 

 balanced by destruction resulting from the murrain. The way out 

 of the difficulty is to resort to " geothermal culture," and adopt 

 measures for quickly removing the surplus moisture from the soil, 

 and also for storing up sun heat to assist the plant in tiding over a 

 term of destructive cold. The cheapest and readiest non-conductor 

 available to aid in the undertaking vras atmospheric air, and the 

 conclusion was arrived at, that by imprisoning a body of air beneath 



