94 THE PLOEAL WORLD AND G-AEDEN GIIIDE. 



ria alpina, L. Cliiliensis, L. Mas;ellanica*, Polysticlium acrostochoides. P. falcinel- 

 lum, P. vestitiim, Pteris esculenta*, Woodwardia radicans, W. orientalis, A?pleniutn 

 bulbiferum*, Pteris flabellata*, P. cretica*, Davallia canariensis*, Platycerium alci- 

 corne*, Todea hymenopliylloides (pellucida)*, Plilebodium sporodocarpiim*. It 

 •would be a pity to omit some of the more characteristic of deciduous species, such 

 as Onoclea sensibilis, Osmunda Claytoniana, etc., etc., tliey are so exquisitely beau- 

 tiful in summer. At p. 4 of the January number will be found a list, which may 

 be consulted with advantage. 



Okange Trees, Currant Trees, etc. — E. S. JF., Faversliam.—lhe. orange trees 

 raised from pips, and nnw eight years old, ought to begin now to flower and bear 

 fruit. There is no need to graft them, unless you want some particular variety. 

 ' Yours will be as useful for all general purposes without grafting. T)ie currant trees 

 you want are only procurable at first-rate nurseries. We obtained a very complete 

 collection a few years since from Messrs. Cutbusli and Son, Highgate, London, N. ; 

 no doubt they could now supply what you want. As a rule Stipa peniiata is most 

 diiBcult to raise from seed ; possibly trade seed is generally bad. If fifty practical 

 cultivators were asked about it, the majority would say that to raise it from seed is 

 out of the question. Your home-grown seed is evidently good ; pray send a pinch 

 of it. 



Bedding Plants. — A Cleric. — "VTe suppose your query to refer to bedding plants, 

 but you do not say precisely. Every kind of bedding plants may be .propagated 

 now, and if fairly dealt with, will bloom well when planted. Autumn-struck plants 

 are to be preferred, but spring-struck geraniums, calceolarias, tropteolums, etc., etc., 

 are not to be despised, and, in fact, thousands such are sold every year for bedding. 

 Two requisites are needed : first, the old plants to be cut from must be in a grow- 

 ing state to furnish short, rather soft shoots ; next, the propagating bed must have 

 a steady temperature of 70 degrees, whether by fermenting material, hot water, or 

 what else. A bed of mere sand suffices if the heat is right, and there need be no 

 ventilation at all. In case of making up a bed in a greenhouse, as you propose, it 

 will be advisable to employ a common garden frame, so as to shut up the cuttings, 

 and secure to them a different atmosphere to that in the house. A moderate state 

 of moisture will promote rooting without rotting, and if you handle the whole busi- 

 ness well, the cuttings will begin to make roots in about ten days after being 

 inserted. 



Heating Greenhouse from Kitchen Boileb.— J". 1?. C. — This is not only a 

 possible, but a very advisable proceeding where circumstances are favourable, and is 

 frequently adopted. It is open to the objection that culinary operations are apt to 

 interfere with the uniformity of temperature of the greenhouse, as, in tlie event of 

 the cook emptying the boiler suddenly, some time must elapse before the cold water 

 with which it is refilled can attain to the previous degree of heat, and during the 

 interval the warmth of the plant house must be affected. Another objection may be 

 founded on the fact that kitchen fires are not, and, generally speaking, cannot be, 

 kept burning all night, and in case of very severe weather the assaults of frost about 

 4 or 5 A.M. may undo in an hour all the care of a season by freezing up everything 

 in the house when you and your servants are sound asleep. But so far as obtaining 

 a good circulation of hot water, and heat enough for any ordinary purposes, why, 

 it can be done wherever there is a good kitchen fire kept, and the greenhouse hap- 

 pens to be so placed that the pipes have not far to traverse to reach it, To carry it 

 into eflTect is as simple as any other mode of hot-water heating, but it must be done 

 properly, or not at all. The necessary conditions may be briefly stated. The boiler 

 must be fed by a cistern placed higher than the highest point to which the pipes will 

 rise, but tlie cold water must enter the boiler at its lowest part. The boiler 

 must be made air-tight and water-tight at top, as well as at the bottom and sides, 

 otherwise it is impossible the water should circulate in pipes rising from it. The 

 flow pipe may be taken from the top or near the top of the boiler, and it must rise 

 all the way round the house slightly ; if the rise is one in ten or even one in twenty 

 it may suffice, and in returning it must enter tlie boiler near the bottom. It will 

 economize labour to make one orifice near the bottom do for the insertion of return 

 pipe and admission of water from feed cistern. At the extreme highest point of the 

 pipe an air tube must be inserted, to prevent explosions through, accumulation of air 

 in the pipes. 



Bebry-beabing Solanums. — Flora. — We intended to have written an article 



