1873.] CULTURE OF PITCHER-PLANTS. 201 



were invented. Coal is now a serious item to encounter in erecting and 

 working hothouses. The waste of it is perhaps the most serious part 

 of it all. Are we to suppose that efficiency and economy in hothouse 

 heating have reached their climax 1 We should be sorry to think so. 

 If the grimy sons of the pit cannot be superseded, or aided so far by 

 means of machinery to cheapen the coal, can we not hope for relief 

 to come from an improved system of applied heat 1 We do not 

 know of anything that would at present give a greater momentum to 

 Horticulture as a greatly lessened cost for coal : whoever can happily 

 hit upon any means of doing this his fortune would be certain. Can- 

 not any system be invented by which we can more directly heat the 

 atmosphere of hothouses without so much costly iron, such immense 

 bodies of water, and such an escape of heat up our chimneys 1 Who 

 wiU say that there is not, if it could only be found, as the sculptor 

 finds his ideal figure in a block of marble ? Vie are under impression 

 that there is a road to this desired end, and that it lies more by way 

 of heated air than heated water and expensive water-ways. 



An inventor of an apparatus called on us the other day with 

 models on his way to the Patent Office, which invention he has proved, 

 in heating a range of hothouses, supplies the heat for nothing ; or rather 

 it produces so much of another material in the process of heating as 

 clears all cost. W^e hope soon to be able to refer to the particulars 

 of this process, which will be applicable to many districts in Britain, 

 though not to all. We know that others are at present deeply 

 engrossed in solving the hot-air principle, and to these, and all others 

 that will so far effect the end, every well-wisher of Horticulture must 

 wish good speed. A correspondent hailing from the Scotch oil district 

 favoured us with a communication some time ago on economic heat- 

 ing, and promised to refer in our pages to the matter again ; we 

 should be glad, and no doubt so would our readers, if he would redeem 

 his promise. 



THE CULTURE OF PITCHER -PLANTS. 



(XEPEXTHES.) 



An erroneous idea seems to have gained ground with horticulturists 

 generally — viz., that l!^epenthes are very difficult plants to cultivate 

 satisfactorily ; hence we find gardeners as a rule set their faces dead 

 against admitting these interesting plants into their collections ; in- 

 deed, by many they, together with orchids, are regarded with marked 

 antipathy, notwithstanding the excellent examples afforded by Mr 

 Thos. Baines of Southgate and Mr Speed of Chatsworth. 



