1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



269 



^veil-grown plants the petioles are about three 

 feet long; leaves light green, and cordate in 

 shape, from nine to twelve inches broad; the 

 Howers are thrown well above the foliage on 

 stout flower stalks; the spathe, which is pure 

 white is from six to eight inches in length, and 

 two and three-quarter inches in breadth, taper- 

 ing towards the apex; the spadix, which is about 

 six inches in length, stands up very conspicuous, 

 being nearly black, but covered with a violet 

 hue ; this most interesting plant should find a 

 place in every collection. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Egbert's Portable Terra Cotta Dry 

 ■ Stove. — Can any one inform a Doylestown, 

 Bucks County Pa., correspondent if "Robert's 

 portable patent terra cotta dry stove " for heat- 

 ing plant houses, can be obtained in this country, 

 and if so from whom ? It was noticed in the 

 London Garden^ March 1st, 1873, in vol. 3d, 

 and he thinks from the description given, it 

 would suit admirably in a good sized plant cel- 

 lar, which he uses for his Oranges, Lemons, Cape 

 Jasamines, &c. It gets ample light from three 

 large area windows ; keeps out frost perfectly, 

 and his plants thrive in it; but it is not warm 

 enough to induce them to flower and set their 

 -fruit. 



Oiled Sheeting. — J. M., Brenham, Texas, 

 writes: "Can you please inform me through 



the MoNTHiiY, what will keep sheeting from 

 rutting when exposed to the atmosphere. "We 

 have to use it on the roofs of our greenhouses, 

 and propagating houses ; we cannot use glass, 

 on account of the heavy hail storms we are 

 visited with frequently. I have seen whole 

 roofs of greenhouses of glass utterly demolished 

 in a few moments by these feai'ful storms, 

 they come so very sudden there is no time 

 to make any preparations to protect glass, and 

 the hail is larger than pigeon eggs, and glass 

 will not stand that. We have been using good 

 strong sheeting and have given it two coats of 

 linseed oil to keep out water, which it has .done ; 

 have used both the raw and the boiled oil, and 

 have found no difference in it. It seems to stand 

 here very well in the Winter and Spring and 

 plants grow well under it, but through the Sum- 

 mer it rots away at once. Through the Winter 

 and Spring, after the oil is put on, the sheeting 

 looks perfectly white, but directly the hot 

 weather sets in, the sheeting turns quite black, 

 and plants will not do well in that dark light. 

 Kow, can you please tell me of any prepai'ation 

 we can use that will keep the sheeting from 

 rotting and becoming full of mildew? Can 

 you also tell me where I can procure fresh seed 

 of Magnolia fuscata ?" 



[We know of nothing better than the plan 

 already in use by our correspondent. The Xew 

 Orleans seedsmen could probably get the seed 

 required. — Ed. G. M.] 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The planting of the Pear, Apple, Plum and 

 'Cherry will soon be in season ; Peaches Apricots 

 and Grape vines, except south of the Potomac 

 being for the most part left till Spring, Choose 

 a dry piece of ground. If not naturally dry, it 

 is best to throw the earth up into banks or ridges 

 and plant on them. This is cheaper and better 

 than underdraining. In planting, if the roots 

 appear deep, cut away some of the deeper ones, 

 and shorten some of the top of the tree at the 

 same time. This is particularly true of dwarf 

 Pears which are often grafted on rather long 

 Quince stocks. Cut away all of the Quince root 

 ;but about six inches, and if this should be found 



to leave few roots, cut away the top correspond- 

 ingly. Most of the failures with dwarf Pears 

 come from bad Quince roots, so deep in the 

 ground the lower parts decay, and this decay 

 gradually communicates upwards until the whole 

 system becomes diseased. The more tenacious 

 the subsoil the more necessary it is to attend to 

 this matter. Wo spoke of pruning in proportion 

 to injury. It will be found that all trees are a 

 little injured by removal, therefore all trees 

 should be a little pruned at transplanting. 



Whitewash is frequently resorted to by farmers, 

 but the great objection is its unsightly appear- 

 ance — the I'esult is otherwise good. The great 

 opposition to washes formerly was, that the 

 pores of the bark were closed by them — this 



