106 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[/lpn7, 



THE DUCHESS OF EDINBURG ROSE. 



1!Y SAMI;KI, S.MIlll, NKWl-OKI', K. I. 



I a ball of eartli witliout a free circulation of air. 



I I have rellected a great deal on this subject of 



I late, and have come to this conclusion, that our 



I dry atmosphere is "argument enough " in favor 



That tliere is a false Duchess of Ediiiburg | of drainage. Plants can be watered freely ; the 



Rose in tlie market I have proof, and to show j water percolates freely through the soil, the air 



you tlie dilTerence in the buds, I enclose you j follows and keeps the moisture suspended in the 



the true rose, also the false one. Tliese plants ' mass. 



were importeil by me from England. I i The above, Mr. Editor, are my views, but if I 

 got twenty-throe of these in one hundred I have made any misstatements, I .shall be glad 

 P^*^"ts. and thankful to be set right; neither am I too 



I believe that the false rose is a sport, as I do ' jirejudiced, or adhere too zealously to an old 

 not know it, Tior can I find any one who does principle or custom to be convinced when a 



know it. However this may be, I would advise 

 all who have the wrong variety, if like mine, to 



better one is otfered. I have neither taste nor 

 talent for recriminating controversies, being con- 



preserve it; for when well grown it is a beautiful j vinced that those who resort to such quibbles, 

 rose, as you will see by the bud sent. The ; manifest a disposition for a controversial tri- 

 habit and foliage of the plants are very like umph more than for the elucidation of truth, 

 the true Duchess. It differs only in color. 

 [Mr. Smith is right, evidently. The one is a 



sport of the other, and propagators will have to 



watch itjust as they have to watch ColeusCha-! "EATING SMALL VEGETABLE OR GREEN- 



meleon and other things.— Ed. G. M.J HOUSES. 



BY AN OHIO LADY. 



DRAINAGE. 



BY RA.MBLER. 



There has been of late some writing, and a 

 great deal of talking in regard to drainage, and 

 without attempting to condemn or uphold the 

 same, permit me to ask— does nature justify 

 drainage? We are all aware that it is most 

 essential in artificial culture to follow the exam- 

 ples of nature, and we are also aware that no 

 farmer would for a moment think of putting 

 drainage under the top soil of his fields before 

 planting grain, though perhaps many a grain- 

 field would be benefited by judicious drainage. 

 But, on the other hand, in what conditions do 

 we find the most luxurious tropical vegetation ? 

 Is it on hard, parched and half baked earth under 

 the full rays of the meridian sun of Summer? 

 No ! In situations moist and shaded, where the 

 plants spring up annually among the decayed 

 herbage of the previous season, when the de- 

 composed mass is free and porous, allowing the 

 accumulated moisture to pass off in season of 

 growth. How is it possible for the air to circu- 

 late if the pores are blocked with water, or 

 where the ball is as hard as a lump of clay ; be- 

 sides, the w'ater itself will not circulate through 



In the January number of the Gardener's 

 Monthly I saw a communication in reply to some 

 one having asked the expediency of warming a 

 small vegetable-house with a coal stove, in an- 

 swer to which it was stated, "that it would not 

 be satisfactory." 



I will give a little experience of my own. Like 

 many others, I long wanted a greenhouse, or more 

 properly, a conservatory; but the finst obstacle 

 which always arises is, the difficulty of heating a 

 small house. With a conservatory attached to 

 the dwelling there is always more or less dan- 

 ger from heating by flues, and besides, they are 

 extremely unsightly things. Heating by steam 

 is too expensive. More than three years ago 

 I determined to try one heated by a coal 

 stove. 



My conservatory opens bj' a glass door directly 

 from the sitting-room. It is a lean-to, 12x20 ft., 

 looking toward the south and protected by the 

 house on the north and most of the west side. 

 I have wooden shutters made of flooring-boards 

 to use in extreme weather, and it is heated by a 

 base-burning soft coal stove. With care, there 

 is but little dust. I have a cistern in the house, 

 with a force-pump, hose, and sprinkler, which 

 is very convenient, and it can all be watered in 

 two minutes. This has been almost indispensa- 

 ble hitherto, as I was obliged to depend upon 



