DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



441 



by 10 in length, and well bricked up, leaving a 

 space of 3 ft. in width all around; this space to 

 be filled in with dry tan or some other similar ma- 

 terial, to the depth of from four to six inches, and 

 covered with a good matched floor. 



Above this pit, I would have my stage for the 

 flowers suspended, by weights, in such a man- 

 ner that it may be let down with its contents, rea- 

 dily into the pit below, over which I would have a 

 double sash, shut down closely. Into this pit, I 

 would have the stages lowered every night, and 

 in very cold, cloudy weather, to protect the plants 

 from tlie frost. But in fair days, the heat of the 

 sun, together with the heat communicated from 

 tlie sitting room, would enable them to emerge 

 with safety from their prison, in perfect liealthand 

 vigor. 



This, it seems to me, would give all I could de- 

 sire in a small green-house, and at a verj' trifling 

 expense. Should this plan be found practicable, 

 it can be applied to green-houses of any possible 

 shape or dimensions. The danger of withering 

 some plants by the dry and heated atmosphere in 

 the vicinity of the furnace, while those at a dis- 

 tance would be suffering from the frost, would be 

 entirely obviated ; and it is believed the plants 

 would thrive far better than in green-houses heat- 

 ed in the ordinary way. 



I design in this article, merely to throw out sug- 

 gestions, leaving the practical man to fill up the 

 minutia himself. I would, however say, that I 

 would have the weight boxes suspended by ropes, 

 each running over puUies, and attached near the 

 corners at each end of the stage, to ensure stea- 

 diness of motion. There should be an excavation 

 at each end of the pit, sufficiently deep to enable 

 them to play wholly beneath the floor. I make 

 these suggestions for your practical consideration, 

 and shall look for your opinion in reference to the 

 feasibility of the plan, in the columns of your 

 journal. Yours truly, George W. Calkins, M. D. 

 Gerviantowrij Columbia Co., N. Y. 



[We fear our correspondent would find his 

 stage, when filled with plants, rather a heavy 

 thing to manage with weights in the mode he pro- 

 poses. Would not double shutters answer the 

 purpose more satisfactorily? Only the hardier 

 green house plants could be kept in this way, and 

 such are easily kept in pits or green-houses, with 

 mats of outside covering to the glass, without 

 fire heat. Ed.] 



good stocks now, as some I purchased at $20 per 

 1,000. Why would not this be as good a plan as 

 any other to propagate pear stocks? Soil a loamy 

 mould. A. F. Lancaster. Ohio, Feb. I, 1849. 



Disposition of Pear Cuttings to root — 

 Last spring I received from a friend about 2 doz. 

 pear stocks in bud. As soon as the buds began to 

 swell, I cut ofl" the tops, with the label upon them 

 and stuck them in the ground, beside the stock 

 from which they were taken, in order to mark the 

 varieties until I had made a record of the same — 

 however, they were permitted to remain during 

 the whole season as put in, and this last fall I took 

 them up, each one having rooted finely, and grown 

 from three to six inches. They are equally as 



Orchidaceous Plants. — Sir: Having shown, 

 in my letter in the January number of the Horti- 

 culturist, that orchidaceous plants are found eve- 

 rywhere, except in the very coldest regions, or 

 where everlasting dryness reigns, but still wish- 

 ing to revive our feeble attempt at reconunending 

 to your readers this most singular and exquisite 

 tribe of plants, we will confine our observations, 

 for the present, to .some remarks on the general 

 treatment of American species, to which we will 

 add a few of those really worthy of cultivation, 

 and with reciting a few of those remarkable pe- 

 culiarities so unusually met with in other plants. 

 Ere we proceed with our rcmaiks, it is right 

 that we should explain the term Epiphyte to 

 those who may not understand it, as it is fre- 

 quently met with in every work on botany, or or- 

 chidaceous plants. The woid Epiphyte, properly 

 speaking, is applied to all those plants, whether 

 Orchids, Mosses, Lichens, or any other plants 

 that grow upon trees, stones, or other plants, 

 without deriving any nourishment from the mate- 

 rial on which they grow. Hence, the term was 

 originally derived from two Greek words, — epi, 

 upon, and futon, a plant; (from tlie supposition 

 that they always grew upon trees, or other plants.) 

 As this derivation did not give general satisfac- 

 tion, Mr. Lyons substituted i'or futon, the word 

 fuo. which means, to grow or be produced; for 

 which he was upbraided by an author of no less 

 celebrity in horticulture than the late Mr. Lou- 

 don, who expressed his surprise at Mr. Lyons' 

 ignorance in not deriving it from epi and futon. 

 But the new derivation has, since then, proved to 

 be the most general and correct; as several spe- 

 cimens of the genus Brassavola have since been 

 discovered in Brazil, growing upon stones and 

 bare rocks. Mr. Gibson also found several spe- 

 cies in India, growing upon rocks and stones, 

 among which were Dendrobium Gibsoni and Cam- 

 hridgensis. Consequently, the word fuo, is now 

 justly acknowledged to be correct by all scientific 

 writers. 



Let us now see what progress has been made 

 in their cultivation since their introduction into 

 England, some fifty years ago. In the year 1800, 

 their number in Kew Gardens is supposed not to 

 have exceeded two dozen ; nor does it appear that 

 even botanical collections were better furnished 

 with them. It is not to be supposed that bota- 

 nists were not aware of their existence ; for we 

 find they were occasionally introduced into Eng- 

 land. But the proper mode of cultivating them 

 was then unknown; hence, the impossibility of in 

 creasing them, or prolonging their existence ^o 

 any lengthened period after tlieir introductio tv 

 Before Mr. Cattley turned his attention to them 

 it was customary to submit them to the sam ©> 



