1816.] 



AND EORTIGULTUBIST. 



171 



These five fine varieties were raised from seed by 

 Mr. Duval, of Versailles, and upon every occa- 

 sion, and at every place where they have been 

 exhibited, they have attracted general admira- 

 tion. They show that these charming Gesneria- 

 caee have not yet attained their highest degree of 

 perfection. From year to year there has been 

 an advance in purity of form, in the size of the 

 flowers, and in the marvellous diversity of rich 

 coloring they display. We think they very closely 

 approach perfection, though doubtless crosses 

 with new species would bring fiarther improve- 

 ments. 



The Lilac-flowered Fuchsia. — Eeferring to 

 Fuchsia syringaeflora, Mr. Porcher, President 

 of the Orleans Horticultural Society, writes 

 as follows to the Revue Horticole : " When 

 grown in small pots, the effect of Fuchsia syringse- 

 flora is indifierent, but, when grown in large 

 pots, or in the open ground, it forms splendid 

 bushes 3 or 4 feet high, of fine shape, and bear- 

 ing an abundance of flowers all the summer, 

 and for some time on into the winter. Tliis 

 plant was introduced in 1849, by M. Van Houtte, 

 of Gand, who considers it to be a variety of F. 

 arborescens." 



QUERIES. 



Bryophyllum calycinum.— a correspondent 

 from Plainville, Conn., says : " I send with this 

 a plant by mail for you to examine and name if 

 you can. It is commonly called air plant. The 

 leaves taken ofi" and hung up in a room will 

 root, and numbers of small plants will spring 

 forth from the edges of the leaf. I have kept 

 them for a year, but have had no flowers as yet ; 

 hardly think they flower." 



[Nearly every month we get this thing to name 

 from somebody. It is a plant no one can kill, 

 and perhaps this is why it comes here so often. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Grafting Double Camellias. — J. S., Baltimore, 

 Md., writes: "In article 'Grafting,' Appleton's 

 Encydojpxdia, reads : ' The fine double cam- 

 ellias will not grow from cuttings, but are propa- 

 gated by grafting upon the single kinds which 

 readily do so.' Is not this wrong ? I have a fine 

 double white camellia, and I have always under- 

 stood that it is growing on its own roots." 



[The Encyclopxdia is wrong. As a rule double 

 flowering plants are not as vigorous as single 

 flowered kinds of the same species, and it is best 

 to graft the double ones, therefore, on single 

 stocks. But it is an error to say " double cam- 

 ellias will not grow from cuttings." — Ed. G. M.] 



Summer Treatment of Camellias. — H. L., of 

 Oak Park, Ills., writes : " Will not some one write 

 an article on this subject, and oblige me and 

 probably a great many others ? " 



[Camellias in this part of the world are gen- 

 erally taken out of the houses about the middle 

 of May and are placed under a shade made of 

 lattice-work, or if that is not to hand, the partial 

 shade afibrded by a large tree. They want light 

 in summer time, but not the full blaze of the 

 mid-day sun. — Ed. G. M.] 



Greenhouse Furnaces. — W. H. L., (post-office 

 indistinct) writes : " Will you please give explicit 

 direction for building furnace and flue to heat 

 small or large greenhouses, in Gardener's Monthly 

 and Horticulturist? or if such directions have 

 been given in previous numbers will you 

 please give their numbers and volumes 

 that I may procure them, as I desire to 

 build a furnace to heat a small greenhouse? 

 Please state the price of the numbers also. I 

 never saw Gardener's Monthly until this month's 

 number fell accidentally into my hands, and as a 

 lover of flowers am much pleased with it. I in- 

 tend to become one of its regular subscribers." 



[No particular directions can be given, because 

 how to build will vary with each one's particular 

 circumstances. In a general way one may say 

 that it pays to have a furnace well built. The 

 heat soon uses up a poor thing. I^ouble doors 

 are good. Single doors warp, crack, and soon 

 loosen from their holdings. Good fire brick . 

 should form the sides and roof of the furnace, 

 convenient the roof is best arched. The frame 

 inside supporting the building arch can be burnt 

 out. The mouth of the furnace, if possible, 

 should be outside the greenhouse. Besides avoid- 

 ing dust it is a saving of fuel, as when inside the 

 fire is fed from the warmed atmosphere of the 

 house. Where flues are made of brick, these 

 should be soaked in water when about to be 

 used, and the mortar should be of the best qual- 

 ity. The flue should be elevated from the 

 ground, in order to keep the flue dry^ which fla- 

 vors draught, as well as to save heat, as when 

 the flue is in contact with the earth much is loat 

 by conduction.— Ed. G. M.] 



