1880.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



863 



oval crenate leaflets. The flowers are produced 

 from April to July in loose terminal panicles, the 

 single flowers being long and pendulous, with an 

 inflated calyx and a tubular purple corolla. It 

 ia a plant of easy cultivation, requiring good 

 drainage, a rich loamy soil and but little water. 

 Propagation is effected by the leaves which pro- 

 duce buds on their margins, which produce new 

 plants if placed in a damp situation. During 

 wet summer weather they occasionally do this 

 in the living plant, this peculiarity renders it 

 rather an interesting plant. 



If Mrs. R. P. possesses a copy of Peter Hender- 

 son's plant catalogue for 1877, she will find on 

 page 26 an excellent wood-cut of the Bryophyllum 

 from which she can form a much better idea of 

 its manner of flowering than I could possibly 

 give her by words. 



Why Mrs. R. P.'s plant does not flower I can- 

 not say, but I would advise her to allow it to be- 

 come pot bound, and to keep it dry during the 

 winter months. Commence to water freely in 

 April, giving it an occasional watering of liquid 

 manure water. After it has ceased flowering, 

 shift the plant into a larger pot, and gradually 

 withhold all water after the first of October. 

 Thus treated, I do not think it is a diflficult plant 

 to flower, and I am inclined to the opinion that 

 Mrs R. P. gives her plmit too much pot room 

 for its roots. The Bryophyllum is cultivated, 

 however, more for the peculiarity of its leaves 

 rooting at their edges than the beauty of its 

 flowers. 



WATERING CREENHOUSES.WITH A HOSE. 



BY EDWARD L. KOETHEN, PITTSBURG, PA. 



Many very good gardeners have a prejudice 

 against using a hose in watering their green- 

 houses. It is hard to tell where such a prejudice 

 has originated, but it is undoubtedly nothing 

 more or less than this, for much time and labor 

 can be saved by its judicious use, without injury 

 to the plants. Indeed, plants which require 

 much water are apt to be neglected by careless 

 workmen, when they must be supplied by can 

 watering, but where the hose is used there is less 

 liability to neglect. It is true care must be 

 taken in its application ; but where is there an 

 operation in this line which does not require 

 ■care ? It might be answered that careless work- 

 men cannot be trusted with a hose, that they 

 will water every thing indiscriminately if they 

 have so easy a manner of getting the water, and 

 that then you have gained nothing over the can 



method in this direction, and on the contrary 



that it takes more care. Admit all this, but do 

 you not gain time and labor? and will it not pay 

 in the end to hire good help, and watch that the 

 watering is properly done ? In the winter par- 

 ticularly, the hose should be used with discretion, 

 especially in the stove-house, where indeed it 

 might be well to banish it entirely until the 

 water becomes warm enough to be used with 

 safety, and even then it is well to use a can with 

 many finer plants which require special atten- 

 tion. The careful workman who waters with a 

 hose, it must be remembered, need not throw 

 the water around in all directions, regardless of 

 the wants of many of the plants in the house ; 

 but he will so regulate the stream that he can 

 water each plant separately, and only wet the 

 foliage of those which require syringing, and 

 with a little practice it can be done with as 

 much precision by this means as by the old way, 

 except in some few cases, and then a can must 

 be used as above indicated. With general stock, 

 in the cooler houses, the hose can and will, I am 

 sure, eventually be universally used to good ad- 

 vantage. I say it can, because I have seen it 

 used for a number of years with good results. 

 Where city waterworks are not at command a 

 good force pump is indispensable, and no garden 

 should be without one. There are some large 

 commercial pstablishmeuts in the country where 

 the hose is never used, and where at least one- 

 third, and in many cases much more of the work 

 of watering, could be saved by its use. I have 

 seen two men do all the watering in an establish- 

 ment, where the hose and hydrant were taken 

 advantage of, in the same time that it took five 

 men with much harder work to water all the 

 plants under less glass, where the watering was 

 done with cans, and then their work was not 

 done nearly as well, and had to be revised before 

 the time came again for regular watering. 



Now if some of the good old fashioned garden- 

 ers who are opposed to all innovations, would 

 give this a thorough trial, they would be 

 astonished at the result, and I am sure that they 

 would never want to do without the hose after- 

 wards. 



ONE USE OF SLATE IN GREENHOUSE 

 BUILDING. 



BY GEORGE BALDEKSTON. COLORA, MD. 



I have received many valuable ideas from the 

 pages of the Gardener's Monthly during the 

 past few years, and by way of return give an idea 



