tation of all the old ones in the soil. This applies to annuals, but, in the case of plants 



that spread by roots, the extirpation by hand or instrument is the only mode. Shak- 



speare, in his Winter^s Tale, thus alludes to the violet : — 



"Violets, dim, 



But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 



Or Cytherca's breath." 



Flower Seeds. — We have, from Mr, Dreer, of Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, samples of 

 his flower seeds, put up to go by mail, which is a great convenience to distant gardeners, 

 ladies, &c. ; they have only to put a dollar in an envelop, direct it, place it in a hole in a 

 post-office window, and, with only three cents' worth of manure (no water), a whole bunch 

 of seeds will come up in a few days, without trouble, and you can water at leisure. 



R. K. Bliss & Haven, Springfield, Massachusetts, whose advertisements have attracted 

 much attention in our pages, have also sent us samples (innumerable) in this way, for 

 which they will also accept our thanks. An editor of a journal likes to see the handywork 

 of his readers, and often has a fellow-feeling with them which may be without any public 

 expression, and yet none the less forcible and agreeable. 



Description of the Greenhopses and Conservatories at Springbrook. By Tuomas Meehan, 

 of Germantown, late gardener thereat : — 



In numerical order from the mansion-house is — 



No. 1. A Greenhouse, double pitched, and 38 by 20 feet. It includes a seed-room and 

 potting-room, so that the necessary operations of plant growing can be carried on without 

 exposure to the open air. In this house are collected plants from New Holland, Cape of 

 Good Hope, and the more temperate regions of the earth. 



No. 2. Conservatory — mainly for Rhododendrons and Azaleas, It is 31 feet 1 inch in length 

 by 24 feet in width. 



No. 3. Stove or Hothouse — same dimensions as No. 1. It is kept generally at a tempera- 

 ture of (50O or 70O, to accommodate plants from tropical countries. 



The above three houses form one complete range. No. 2 being the central, and considerably 

 elevated above the others. Its roof is supported by truss work, in order to avoid the incon- 

 venience and unsightliness of columns. The whole range is heated by hot water from two 

 of Burbidge & Healy's boilers, with Sylvester furnaces, furnished by Morris, Tasker & Morris, 

 of this city, which answer admirably. 



No. 4. Cactus House. — It is 51 feet in length and 33 feet in width, double pitched. The 

 roof, massive as it is, is supported by a single iron column, and four iron braces, running 

 diagonally. It embraces the largest and choicest collection of those grotesque-looking plants 

 in the country. Some of them are of great age, and many reach almost to the apex of the 

 roof. A single specimen of the celebrated " Visnaga," or " Tooth-Pick Cactus," of the 

 globular variety, is over four feet in circumference. These gigantic forms make, as it were, 

 a " body guard" to the apartments of the Queen of Flowers, the Victoria Regia occupying 

 the adjoining house. 



No. 5. Lily House — 30 feet long and 33 feet wide. In the centre is an octagon-shaped 

 tank, 24 feet in diameter, in which the Victoria is grown. This tank is formed in the cen- 

 tral portion, about 14 feet square, being built up of brick, 4^ feet high. From the top of 

 this brick centre a ledge of boards proceeds outwards, about live feet all round, handsomely 

 curbed at its edges, in order to contain enough water to accommodate the floating leaves. 

 The brickwork is coated with hydraulic cement, and boards are fastened vertically to the 

 sides by copper bolts passing through them and the brickwork, and secured by nuts ami 

 screws. To these boards brass hooks are affixed, to support the heating pipes hereafter to 

 be described ; and the whole interior of the tank, as thus formed, is lined with sheet lead ; 

 about 4,000 lbs. being employed for that purpose. The bottom of the tank is composed of 

 stout hornblende stone, supported on pillars of masonry, to allow the foui'-inch hot-water 

 pipes employed to heat the soil in the bottom of the tank, to pass up and down in every 

 direction beneath. Connected with these four-inch pipes is a range of one-inch leaden ones, 

 which, passing through the sides of the tank, and supported by the brass hooks above alluded 



