374 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



JEcHMEA GLOMEiiATA, Crotcded-Jlouerecl JEchmea (Bot. Mag., t. 5668).— 

 Bromeliaceae. A fine Brazilian plant, easy of cultivation, and very effective at a 

 season when the tropical houses are rather deficient in conspicuous plants. The 

 llower-scape is stout, &ix to ei;^ht inches high, bearing a brilli/intly-coloured blood- 

 red branched panicle of lar^re bracts studded with small violet flowers. 



RoNDELETiA PuiiDii:! {Bot. Mag., t. .5069).— A charming fragrant hothouse 

 shrub, bearing ovate, oblong, grass-green leaves, and large corymbs of pale yellow 

 flowers. 



TnAP.siA DECiPiEN.s {Bot. Mag., t. o670).— Umbelliferffi. One of the most 

 remarkable umbelliferous plants in cultivation, elegant' in habit and leafage, but of 

 little beauty as regards inflorescence. It has a slender, erect, annulate, palm-like 

 stem, tAvo to four, or even six feet high, and half to one inch in diameter, bearing 

 at the top a splendid waving crown, three to four feet across, of two to three deeply 

 cut leaves. 



Epimedium alpixum, vae. rlbrum {Bot. Mag., t. 5671).— Berberidge. An 

 elegant hardy herbaceous plant, adapted for rockwork or for early greenhouse decora- 

 tion. It is distinguished from E. alpinum only in the rather larger size and the red 

 colour of the flowers. 



THE CEXTIGEADE THEEMOMETEE. 



[EVERAL eminent horticultuiists have expressed themselves desirous of 

 seeing the centigrade scale take the place of Fahrenheit's, and Dr. J. D. 

 Hooker, the learned director at Kew, has fully and fairly stated its 

 advantages. The centigrade is more readily applied to practical pur- 

 poses than Fahrenheit's scale, and may be more easily understood, 

 for it is a true scale, whereas the other is but an attempt to form a scale. The only 

 possible objection to the centigrade is that its divisions are too large, but this may 

 be obviated by again dividing them, and possibly the best plan would be to divide 

 them into tenths, as in the divisions of inches on the scale of the barometer. That 

 32' should be the technical description of the freezing point is simply absurd, and 

 has always been felt to be so ; but Fahrenheit's " zero " is even more absurd, because 

 we know nothing of zero in relative temperature, and in the first instance it was an 

 assumption which experience soon after proved to be unsound. There can be no 

 doubt that the centigrade scale will be the subject of considerable discussion, and 

 that it will ultimately come into general use, and in anticipation of a possible want, 

 we have given amongst the tables in the "Garden Oracle" for 1868, a comparison 

 of the three scales of the centigrade, Reaumur's, and Fahrenheit's, to facilitate the 

 conversion of one to the other without need of calculations. 



GAEDEX GUIDE EOE DECEMBEE. 



Kitchen Garden. — There is little to be done now but to dig and manure vacant 

 plots, and the more earnestly this is done the better. By thorough good work of this 

 sort now, the ground may be brought into fine condition for spring sowing, and the 

 general hurry tiiat prevails in spring may be mitigated. Peas and beans may be 

 sown on Avarm dry slopes ; rhubarb, horse-radish, and sea-kale may be planted. 



Fruit Garden.— Yruit-trats, of all kinds may be planted, and the sooner the 

 better. If strawberry-beds are,to be planted in the spring, as recommended by Mr. 

 De Jonghe, now is the proper time to prepare the beds. Pruning should be per- 

 ibrined in mild weather, if possible, but there is no danger to the trees by pruning 

 during frosts of only moderate severity. 



Flower Garden.— Fiov/Qr beds that have been many years in use and had but 

 little manure should be deeply dug, the clods well broken, and a good dressing of 

 rotten manure dug in. Vv'here calceolarias are to be planted next season, a very 

 heavy dressing of manure siiould be given, to make the ground rich, as for sea-kale 

 or cauliflowers ; but the manure must be quite rotten. Bulbs planted now w ill 

 flower very well in spring. 



Greenhouse and titove. — Take especial pains to prevent injury to plants by drip 

 and damp. If there is time to have all the glasses of planthouses, pits, etc., well 



