r8g6. 



GARDENING. 



165 



THE NEW FERN-HOUSE, LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO. 



by hot water) shall I need in each house 

 to maintain these temperatures? 

 Michigan. C. W. R. 



For house No. 1 use six lines of 2-inch 

 pipe on each side, and two lines of the 

 same on each end. For house No. 2 have 

 eight lines of 2-inch pipes on each side, 

 and two lines of the same at each end. 

 We have assumed that the house 60x20 

 will contain approximately 1,500 square 

 feet of glass. This would call for 500 

 square feet of radiating surface, for a 

 temperature of 50° at night, with mer- 

 cury outside at 10° below zero, and as it 

 requires 160 feet of 2-inch pipe to make 

 100 square feet of radiating surface you 

 would require about 800 feet of 2-inch 

 pipe for that house. The house 40x20 

 feet would contain about 1,000 square 

 feet of glass, requiring for a temperature 

 of 60°, with mercury outside at 10° below- 

 zero, 400 square feet of radiating surface, 

 or 640 feet of 2-inch pipe. .\ better con- 

 trol of temperature may be had by plac- 

 ing a portion of the pipe under the center 

 bench instead of on the sides onlv. 



GRINUM KIRKU. 



M. W. R., Iowa City, asks: "Why 

 doesn't my Crinum Kirkii bloom? It has 

 been planted out in permanent bed in 

 greenhouse three years in rich soil." 



.4 ns, Give it a good rest. Dig it up 

 and with what earth may stick to it, and 

 let it stay quite dry in a room or cellar, 

 away from frost, till May, then plant it 

 out in the open ground and leave it there 

 till the first frost of autumn kills the 

 leaves, then lift the bulb, cut oft" the tops 

 and roots, and winter it just as vou 



would gladiolus bulbs. Plant it out 

 again the following spring. I don't think 

 it will bloom this year because the rest it 

 will get between now and spring will be so 

 short, and probably no embryo buds have 

 been formed. E.S.Miller. 



Long Island. 



fl GREENHOUSE FERNERY. 



We all love and enjoy ferns, be it out 

 of doors, in the window or greenhouse; in 

 fact when we go a-strolling through the 

 woods we often dig up clumps of fern 

 roots and bring them home to plant in 

 our gardens; and of all the wild plants 

 chosen by^ summer visitors to our moun- 

 tain resorts, to bring back home in their 

 trunks, perhaps there are more ferns than 

 anything else. An artificial out of doors 

 fernery if intelligently constructed and 

 planted is always a spot of beautv, not 

 only because of the ferns alone but al.so 

 on accoxint of the numerous little wild 

 flowering plants— orchids, wood anem- 

 ones, hepatiea, violets, twin flower, bunch 

 berry, oxalis, columbine and others, that 

 love to associate with them. But out of 

 doors we cannot aim at the imposing 

 grandeur of the majestic ferneries of New 

 Zealand and other parts where the tree 

 ferns are at home. To enjoy these in 

 their beauty and perfection we must 

 grow them in greenhouses, and to show 

 them oft' most effectively plant them out 

 in natural style. Of course this requires 

 a spacious structure, but it is wonderful 

 what a pleasing effect can be had in a 

 glass house of moderate size providing it 

 affords head room enough for the spread 

 of one or two of the tree fern tops. Our 

 illustration, engraved from a photograph 

 taken in the new fern house at Lincoln 



Park, Chicago, gives a good idea of the 

 a rrangement and planting of such a house. 

 The heating pipes are arranged next the 

 wall and hidden from sight by an uneven 

 rocky bank full of pockets of earth and 

 planted with ferns and mosses. The 

 whole interior has a rustic adornment, 

 the paths wind among and between the 

 rocky edgings and embankments, and all 

 under the canopy of the broad fronded 

 tree fern tops; after they are longer 

 planted they will become more expanded. 

 A little waterfall among the rocks and 

 emptying into a little pool is also pro- 

 vided, pellucid filmy ferns inhabiting its 

 course down the face of the rocks, and 

 fish in variety the pondlet at the bottom. 



GREENHOUSE PLANTS IN BLOOM. 



Ipomcea Briggsii is a new plant and 

 described in the catalogues as a good 

 winter bloomer. It has been grown by 

 John Saul for two years and each winter 

 it has been covered with flowers, which 

 for beauty surpass all the other species in 

 cultivation. There is now a plant of it in 

 one ot the conservatories of the White 

 House on which I recently counted over 

 400 flowers open at one time, the flowers 

 are of a rich shade of crimson, about two 

 inches in diameter, and produced in 

 bunches from the axils of the leaves. We 

 have not yet given it a trial out of doors, 

 but intend doing so the coming season. 



Magnolia fascata is a small evergreen' 

 somewhat tender Chinese species which 

 is grown principally on account of its 

 deliciously perfumed flowers; it forms 

 quite a handsome bush. It is propagated 

 largely by some of the southern 1 



