230 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



\^August^ 



the appearance of the plants for use next 

 Winter. Some people like to have Cinerarias, 

 Calceolarias, Pansies, and similar things in their 

 greenhouses, and follow the English practice 

 of sowing in September. But this is rather 

 late for our climate, and August is a better 

 month. 



August and September are often taken as the 

 time to repair plant houses and build new ones. 

 A few hints in connection may not be out of the 

 waj-. Summer heat shrinks wood, and very 

 often loosens glass, and makes leaks, through 

 which water drips in Fall and "Winter most an- 

 noyiugly. This is worse when there is putty. 

 This is used now only to lay the glass in. The 

 glass is pressed down on it, tacked down by 

 brads, and only painted on the outside. The 

 laps of the glass should be as narrow as possible 

 and white — not dark — paint used. Never use 

 dark paint or dark material about the house if 

 possible, and most positively avoid tar. 



Water tanks collecting rain from the roof, can 

 often be introduced to advantage. Where the 

 earth is solid no stone or brick need be used. 

 Put on a thin coat of mortar, say a quarter of an 

 inch, and on this a coat of cement about as thick 

 as a sheet of brown paper. The thinner the ce- 

 ment coat the more chance of its being water- 

 proof. AVe liave known one barrel do for one 

 thousand square feet of surface, and be as im- 

 pervious to water as glass. For large ranges of 

 glass there is nothing that equals hot-water 

 pipes for heating. For small greenhouses well 

 constructed flues answer. Flues should be near 

 the ground but never touch it. If there are 

 cracks in flues, permitting the passage of smoke 

 and gas, it is no use to plaster over it. Work 

 out the whole mortar near the crack — that is, 

 make the hole larger, and fill in with new mor- 

 tar. Never paint or whitewash flues. A flue of 

 any length, even on a dead level, can be made 

 to draw by building a fire at the end of it. By 

 this we rarify the air, making it lighter, and the 

 heavier air rushes in at the furnace end to take 

 its place. A close reflection on this fact will 

 always enable one to build a flue that will, to a 

 dead certainty, draw well. There is no excuse 

 whatever for a badly drawing flue. In small 

 bay windows, fitted up for plants, close curtains 

 may be drawn across to cut off" the atmosphere 

 of the room ; and if double glass be used for the 

 windows, or the window itself be in a sheltered 

 place, a good oil lamp or two will generally suf- 

 fice to keep out frost. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



ABUTILONS-SPEC3ES AND VARIETIES. 



BY MR. J. GRIEVES, SEC. GREENBROOK AKD 

 PATERSOX NURSERIES, K. J. 



Your correspondent C. E. P. asks as to the 

 difference between Abutilon mesopotamicum 

 and A. vexillarium. A. mesopotamicum as I 

 understand it, bears scarlet and yellow flowers •, 

 is of a. drooping or semi-trailing habit, growing 

 to the height of three to four feet, with plain 

 green leaves. I find it described in the supple- 

 ment of Paxton's Botanical Dictionary, new 

 edition, 1868, page 599, as bearing scarlet flow- 

 ers, etc., and is referred to Sida Bedfordiana, its 

 synonym, and where a similar description to 

 that in our catalogue is given. In the same sup- 

 plement where this is described, A. vexillarium 

 is also named, but as explained, comes under 

 " the new genera upon which no remarks are 

 given, they having either not come under the 

 Editor's observation, or were too little known 

 for him to venture to speak of them with confi- 

 dence." I do not know where A. vexillarium 

 originated, but I saw it for the first time at the 

 World's fair at Vienna, amongst many other 

 fine Hybrid Abutilons raised in continental ear- 

 dens. It was the poorest of this class of Hy- 

 brid Abutilons; all being improvements (m it, 

 notably : vexill. brillantissimum, vexill. car- 

 mineum, vexill. elegans, vexill. grandiflorinm, 

 vexill. venosum, vexill. fioribundum, vexill. 

 aureomarmorata, the latter being the newest 

 although not the finest. I imported during the 

 two following Summers all of the above, and 

 have most of them on hand yet. I found them 

 all near Vienna, at a small town called Heitz- 

 ing. These are the names I bought and im- 

 ported them under; and I can assure C. E. P. 

 that A. vexillarium and A. vexill. brillantis- 

 simum are not improvements in name only. I 

 herewith send you a leaf of both and four others, 

 and a translation of the grower's description 

 which we find well borne out. " A. vexillarium 

 flowers yellow with dark reddish and blackish 

 brown markings. A. vexill. brillantissimum 

 flowers brilliant salmon red, shaded and marked 

 with dark rose, making a very rich eff"ect, a 

 striking variegated free flowering variety." I also 

 add the translation of two more of those named 

 above to give a better idea of this group, viz : 

 \. vexill. elegans flowers carmine shaded with 



