1882. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



137 



posed of two-thirds fibry loam, one third leaf 

 mould, and enough sand to keep the compost 

 open, and during the winter season a tempera- 

 ture of from 55° to 60° Fahrenheit. During the 

 summer season the plant, if small, can be 

 planted out, or if large plunged in the border 

 fully exposed to the sun, but on account of the 

 fibrous character of the roots great care is neces- 

 sary at all times to give it a sufficient supply of 

 water, for if allowed to become very dry the 

 plant will be severely injured, and if this is 

 repeated several times the plant will almost, if 

 not entirely, be destroyed. 



When in the house the Kondoletia should be 

 freely and frequently syringed, and during the 

 blooming season a weekly watering of liquid 

 manure water will be found to be of great bene- 

 fit to it. It is an essential point in th« cultiva- 

 tion of this plant to fully expose it to the sun 

 during the summer season in order to enable it 

 to flower to perfection. 



Our plant is about nine and one-half feet high, 

 with a head four feet in diameter, and is grow- 

 ing in a tub three feet in diameter, and when in 

 full bloom is a remarkably attractive plant. 



As I do not see its name even mention- 

 ed in but few of the catalogues of our florists, 

 I hope that these few brief remarks will be 

 the means of calling the attention of some 

 of our plant growers to this attractive and de- 

 sirable plant. 



STEAM HEATING. 



BY A. B. FOWLER, BOSTON. 



I am glad to see that at last we are beginning 

 to awaken the astute minds of the florists to the 

 fact that steam is the best heat for them, and I 

 trust your modesty will not cause you to blush 

 when I ascribe to your kindly offices much of 

 the benefit which in the future will accrue to 

 those who have taken the hint and struck out in 

 the new direction. Truly there seems to be fire 

 all along the line — Pittsburg, Detroit, Boston. 

 But where are our New York friends ? They are 

 not wont to be so conservative. I think friend 

 Taber has made a little mistake, or, possibly, 

 your printers have made one for him. He 

 quotes from my former letter, " Regarding the 

 larger pipes, their cost is nearly double that of 

 the smaller, and if the latter can be made as 

 eflfective, this is surely a saving." Now that is 

 all correct, and what I said I meant ; nor do 1 

 yet see any reason to change my mind. Then 



he says : " While I do not see any advantage of 

 large pipes over small, except in cheapness, 

 Mr. Fowler must know that more heat is ob- 

 tained from one two-inch pipe than from two 

 one-inch pipes." 



The impression I intended to convey in the 

 letter from which he quotes, was, that two-inch 

 pipe was more costly than one-inch. My au- 

 thority being the general price-list of pipe, 

 which reads that the price per foot of two-inch 

 pipe is forty-six cents, while one-inch is nineteen 

 cents per foot. 



Now, by referring to Dennett's table of sur- 

 faces of pipe, I find that two feet of one-inch 

 pipe more than equals one foot of two-inch. So, 

 since the surface exposed is what we desire for 

 heating, we see that the two feet of one-inch 

 pipe not only costs eight cents less, but also pre- 

 sents more surface than one foot of two-inch. 

 Of course, this is a small matter, and I notice it 

 not for the sake of discussion, but merely from 

 the desire to correct any wrong impression 

 which may have been given. I believe I had 

 the honor of being Mr. Taber's correspondent at 

 the establishment of R. G. Parker & Co. So we 

 have met very pleasantly before, as I trust we 

 may do again. 



FUMIGATING. 



BY W. FALCONER. 



Thrips and aphides succumb to tobacco 

 smoke, but in order to make fumigating effect- 

 ual for thrips repeated doses are necessary. It 

 is not the amount of smoke that hurts the plants, 

 but the hot smoke. Cold smoke does no injury. 

 When plants are being fumigated their leaves 

 and stems should be dry. Never fumigate in 

 the daytime in sunny or windy weather ; even- 

 ings and rainy days are the preferable times. 

 Syringe your plants the morning after fumiga- 

 ting. Red spiders, scales, mealy bugs, cock- 

 roaches and weevils are smoke proof. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Orchid Growing —The extent to which the 

 culture of orchids has reached, since the Gar- 

 dener's Monthly and other magazines have 

 done so much to simplify the mystery with which 

 the older times loved to surround their treat- 

 ment, is very remarkable. Almost every one 

 who has a greenhouse now has a few orchids, 



