1 66 



GARDENING. 



Feb. 75, 



It is wonderful what a rich display can 

 be got from some of the large leaved early 

 flowering hardy saxifrages indoors abmt 

 this time. They are hardy in most parts 

 of the country, forming strong clumps in 

 fairly good ground within a short time. 

 Mr. Pfister of the White House uses them 

 to much advantage in the decoration ol 

 the conservatories there. Pieces of the 

 plants which are likely to flower are lifted 

 in the fall and put in 5 or 6-inch pots and 

 merely stored in a frame, they are ready 

 to burst into flower by the middle of Jan- 

 ary. S. cordifolia, S. Stracbeyi and S. 

 crassifolia are the most suitable kinds. 

 [Try S. ligulata and its variety ciliata 

 too' Neither is reliably hardy at Dosoris, 

 but they should be at Washington. They 

 bloom very freely and have a more refined 

 look about them than crassifolia has. — 

 Ed] 



Echeveria metellica is a most accom- 

 modating plant; we use it in summer 

 planted out among cactuses, houseleeks, 

 stonecrops and the like, and if we lift and 

 pot it in the fall it will bear spikes of 

 beautiful flowers nearly all winter. It 

 succeeds well in a dwelling house. In 

 propagating simply cut the top off an old 

 plant and put the cutting in a pot with 

 nothing but a Uttle moss covering the 

 bottom, stand it anywhere in the green- 

 house or in a sunny window and in a few 

 weeks, without watering or other atten- 

 tion, it will put out slender roots. When 

 about half an inch in length put in a pot 

 according to the size of the cutting, any 

 ordinary open soil will do, and give a 

 slight watering merely to settle the soil. 

 If it is desired to increase the number of 

 plants keep the old stumps and they will 

 give out little growths which are easily 

 rooted in sand, keep them on the drvside. 



Plvmbago rosea is as serviceable in the 

 winter months in the greenhouse as its 

 sister species, P. capensis, is in summer as 

 a bedder. The flowers of rosea are ar- 

 ranged in long spikes, the color is a soft 

 shade of red. Cuttings should be rooted 

 in spring and growing on duringsummer. 

 Justicia calycotricba is at the present 

 time the most showy of the yellow flow- 

 ered plants in bloom in the greenhouse; 

 the florets are long and narrow, and 

 great numbers of them form a spike at 

 the ends of the shoots. Most people have 

 a difficulty in raising young plants of this 

 species, as the growths they make are 

 very small. I find it best to take the cut- 

 tings just after the plants are done bloom- 

 ing, simply nip the flowers off and take 

 the wood immediately below them; this 

 will be found to n ot all right. 



Washington, D. C. G. W. C. 



GREENHOUSE PLANTS IN BLOOM. 



The following plants have come into 

 bloom lately with us: Datura ahorea, a 

 plant of very easy culture with large 

 white trumpet shaped flowers. Velthei- 

 mia viriditolia, a pretty little bulbous 

 plant bearing spikes of light rose colored 

 flowers; the bulbs rest in summer. Erica 

 persoluta alba, a very free flowering and 

 useful heath lor cut flowers. It is one of 

 the few heaths that do well in this 

 ■ climate. Cuttings rooted in January or 

 February from parts of the wood with- 

 out flowers, in pans of sand under a bell 

 glass, in a shady place, will make nice 

 little plants in a year's time, and fine 

 plants in two yeai s. They require a cool 

 even temperature, and partial shade dur- 

 ing the summer months. Metrosideros 

 Sorjbunda, a floweringshrub with bright 

 scarlet flowers in bunches shaped like a 

 bottle brush. Olea fragrans, with small 

 yellowish white axillary flowers of a very 

 agreeable odor. Vriesia sp/endens, a very 



handsome bromeliad with zebra-striped 

 leaves and small yellow flowers with fiery 

 purple bracts which last a very long time. 

 Chevallieria (^cbmea) Veitchii, a brome- 

 liad which lasts a year in bloom^ — or 

 rather the persistent flower bracts— the 

 flowers open successively, and are of a 

 bright rose color. Billbergia Liboniana, 

 with bright red sepals. The last three 

 are potted in orchid potting material, 

 two-thirds peat fibre and one-third 

 sphagnum moss. The foUowmg also do 

 best potted in this material and suspended 

 in orchid baskets. The beautiful varie- 

 gated pineapple, Tillandsia acaulis 

 zebrina; Nidularium Binotii, and N. ful- 

 gens; Hecbtea Gbriesbreghtii, a very odd 

 basket plant with spiny recurving leaves; 

 and Pepinea apbelandraeffora, a species 

 with small yellowish flowers. These all 

 require the temperatu'C ot the stove or 

 warm greenhouse and, excepting the 

 tillandsia, the sphagnum should be kept 

 in a growing state on the surface of the 

 baskets. Freesias that come into bloom 

 in the warm house should be removed to 

 a cool one, where they will last much 

 longer. Wm. Fitzwii.i.iam. 



Baronald, N. J. 



GREENHOUSE CONSTRUGTION AND HEATING. 



1. What are the advantages in build- 

 ing a greenhouse with short span to the 

 south? 



2. In a greenhouse 50 feet long by 18 

 feet wide how many rows of inch pipe will 

 be necessary to maintain azalea and car- 

 nation temperature (50°)? In this state 

 the mercury occasionally falls to 20° be- 

 low zero. With a good steam apparatus 

 how many tons of coal would you esti- 

 mate to maintain above temperature? 



Maine. F. C. C. 



Ans. 1. It is argued that more light 

 and heat can be secured in this way than 

 in the case of an even span. It is used a 

 good deal by carnation growers; at 

 Queens, a few miles from Dosoris, Mr. C. 

 W. Ward has an extensive greenhouse 

 establishment built in this style, and likes 

 it, and as he grows as fine carnations as 

 come into the New York market there is 

 no doubt of its efficiency. For a miscel- 

 laneous collection of plants, however, or 

 for tall plants of any kind, or for roses we 

 would not use it, but would stick to the 

 even span or hip roof with long side to 

 the south. 



We learn from Prof. Taft's work on 

 greenhouse construction it is common 

 practice to figure one square foot of steam 

 radiating surface for every six square feet 

 of glass for a temperature of 50° at night 

 during zero weather, with a pressure of 

 from two to five pounds. We would 

 therefore advise for a house 50x18, which 

 will contain, if constructed in the ordi- 

 nary way, about 1,200 square feet of 

 glass, two IVa-inch flow pipes and ten 

 1-inch return ones, making a total of 222 

 square feet of surface. Regarding the 

 quantity of coal such an apparatus 

 would consume, we find that the Mich. 

 Experiment Station at Lansing consumed 

 114 pounds of coal per day for heating a 

 house 50x20 to a temperature of 50° 

 with steam. We think it well to advise 

 you against using steam for so small a 

 plant, as it will necessitate firing at night. 



alas! at th? present time it has again lost 

 its leaves, and looks like an old beet. It 

 is kept in a room heated with hot water 

 at night. What shall I do with it?" ,4ns. 

 Let it alone for this winter, but give 

 water enough to keep the soil from get- 

 ting too dry. Next April repot it into a 

 clean well drained pot, using sandy loam 

 and pack the earth very firmly. In May 

 don't plant it out in the garden, but 

 plunge it out, that is, lower the pot to 

 over the brim into the ground, and let it 

 stay there all summer. At taking-intime 

 lift the pot out of the ground without 

 disturbing the plant, wash the pot and 

 take it indoors and treat it as before. 

 Don't overpot it. It won't grow as lux- 

 uriantly in summer as it did when planted 

 out, but when lifted it should hold its 

 leaves in winter. 



flSPflRflGUS SPRENGERI. 



Our illustration shows some feathery 

 sprays of this beautiful greenhouse vine 

 which we described in the last issue of 

 Gardening, page 14.9. These ornamental 

 species of asparagus are very well worth 

 growing, not only for greenhouse and 

 window decoration, but forcutting; when 

 cut they last better than any kinds of 

 ferns, and few green sprays have a more 

 airy and elegant effect either when used 

 alone or as a relief among cut flowers. 



CooNTiE (Zamia iiitegriioIia).—C. K., 

 Wormlej'sburg, Pa., writes: "This plant 

 was sent to me from the south two j'ears 

 ago. Every winter it loses its leaves, but 

 on being planted out in the spring in the 

 garden puts forth new leaves and fills me 

 with hope that I may succeed with it, but 



Zamia. — A Michigan reader writes: 

 "What is this? I find it in cata- 

 logue, but in no other that I have. Is it 

 of any practical value?" Ans. The plant 

 meant is probably Zamia integrifolia, the 

 coontie of southern Florida. Little 

 stumps are dug up in the low grounds of 

 Florida and shipped north, where they 

 are potted and cared for in greenhouses 

 till they throw up young leaves. Florida 

 arrow-root is obtained from its stem. 

 There are many species of zamia, and all 

 are indigenous in tropical America, ex- 

 tending into the West Indies, and onespe- 

 cies — the one you refer to — reaches into the 

 southern United States. They belong to 

 the cycas family of plants and are grown 

 for their odd and decorative forms,just as 

 we do in the case of the common Cycas 

 reroluta. 



Begonias not thriving.— In the issue 

 of January 15, page 129, a correspondent 

 speaks of his begonias losing their leaves, 

 notwithstanding his efforts to the con- 

 trary. I had a similar experience seven 

 years ago. The causes were thrips and 

 begonia rust. I fumigated for the thrips 

 and was agreeably surprised to find it 

 conquered the rust also. If the leaves of 

 your correspondent's begonias are rusty 

 i would advise him to fumigate three 

 times a week, gently, for a month. 



W. FrrzwiLLiAM. 



For Heating a Small Greenhouse.— 

 Apropos of your note, page 138, I would 

 suggest that you use a Rochester heater, 

 then your glass won't crack, for there is 

 no glass, no smell of smoke and no trouble 

 with it, and to run it costs only one cent 

 an hour. I have one, and it is a comfort 

 in our home. E. S. Miller. 



Floral Park, N. Y. 



The Fruit Garden. 



strawberries. 



No garden, however small, should be 

 without its bed of strawberries. There 

 are so many fine varieties that one can 

 hardly make a mistake in his selectioiL I 



