5-J 



AND HORTICULTURIST 



41 



or three strips of wood to support a sheet of per- 

 forated zinc with a hole in it, through which was ; 

 let in a common two inch draining pipe in a ver- 

 tical direction, so as to enable water to be poured 

 into the dish. Over the zinc cover was a layer of ; 

 broken pottery, and over that a quantity of fine ; 

 sandy soil, filling up the box to within six inches of , 

 the top. An ordinary square garden hand-light, 

 with upright sides and pyramidal top, was put over 

 the whole apparatus, and a lamp was placed under 

 the hole in the bottom of the box. The seeds were i 

 sown in small pots, which were sunk in the soil to 

 a greater or less depth, according to the amount of 

 heat which they required. The steam from the j 

 hot water passed through the holes in the zinc, and 

 kept the soil moist and warm, raising the tempera- 

 ture at the surface to about 70 Fahrenheit. Of 

 course the water in the baking dish required tp be j 

 renewed to replace the loss occasioned by evapo- 1 

 ration, and a little practice soon taught how often 

 this should be done. As the frequency must de- 

 pend on the depth of the baking dish, &c., each 

 experimenter must ascertain for himself, by occa- 

 sionally putting a stick down the draining pipe, and 

 noticing the depth of the water below ; for if by 

 carelessness he allows the water to entirely evapo- 

 rate a hole in the tin will be the result. As the 

 young seedlings grew it became necessary to pro- 

 vide more room for them in a longer box, or one 

 two feet wide and four feet long, not heated with a 

 lamp, but with a special tank to be filled with hot 

 water every twenty-four hours, and with a tap for 

 drawing off the water which had cooled, and a 

 bent pipe at the side for filling it, which, being no 

 higher than the top of the tank, prevented danger 

 of over-filling. It was covered with sliding lights. 

 This box, not being so warm as the other, answered 

 well for receiving seedlings already started. 



Prize Orchids. — The orchids which obtained 

 the chief premium at the New York Horticultural 

 Society in October were grown by Mr. W. H. 

 Clements, gardener to Mrs. M. J. Morgan, and 

 were: Odontoglossum Roezlii, Cypripedium ni- 

 veum, Cattleyea Triana; delicata, Oncidium vari- 

 cosum Rogersii, Cattleyea labiata pescatoria and 

 Cattleyea Exoniensis. 



A Good Rose. — Referring to the Horists' es- 

 tablishment of Miller cK; Hunt, of Chicago, 

 Mr. E. Sanders remarks, in the Prairie Far- 

 mer : " A fine little rose for bedding and cem- 

 etery work, pure white and always in flower, dwarf 

 and pretty, called Mille Annie Marie de Montraval 

 (a most unfortunate name, and Frenchy ), that we 



think is well worth extensive trial. Such kinds as 

 Niphetos, Cornelia Cook, Duchess of Edinburgh, 

 and Perle des Jardins (the crack roses of the day) 

 are grown in immense quantities, while the total 

 number catalogued is something like two hundred 

 kinds. 



A (luou List of Greenhouse Ferns. ^The 

 following is the list of Mr. F. Roenbeck, of Ba- 

 yonne, N. J., whigh obtained the first premium at 

 the October exhibition of the New York Horticul- 

 tural Society : Adiantum Haysii, Adiantum Mun- 

 dulum, Adiantum Aneitense, Adiantum Roenbeckii,. 

 Adiantum Wigancii, Adiantum denticulata, Adian- 

 tum Bausii, Adiantum gracillimum, Adiantum ste- 

 latum (new seedling), Adiantum decorum cuni- 

 forme, Adiantum Farleyense alcicorne. Gleichenia 

 flabellata, Gleichenia dichotoma, Gleichenia dif- 

 carpa, Gleichenia spelunca;. DavalliaTyermania, 

 Davalliacanariensis, Davallia canariensii, Davallia 

 alpina. Polypodium plumula, Nathrodium con- 

 taminans. Hyminodium crinitum, Nephobolus 

 Lingua, Nephobolus corimbiforum, Nephobolus bi- 

 color, Thamnopteris Australasica, Thamnopteris 

 Nidus, Lygodium dichotoma, Platycereum grande, 

 Platycereum Willenka, Platycereum Wollenkii, 

 Platycereum majus. Aspidium aristata. 



NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



The Diamond Tuberose. — Our readers will 

 remember that on the appearance of the " Dia- 

 mond " tuberose last year, evidence was offered 

 us tending to show that it was the Pearl under a 

 new name. As the introducers withdrew, in order, 

 as it was stated, to " fairly test it another season,, 

 before sending it out," it seemed but justice to give 

 them the chance before saying anything more 

 about it. No opportunity has been afforded us to 

 judge of the difference between the two, but we 

 note that the stock has been placed on the French 

 market, while it is denied to our own. 



Under these circumstances we feel justified in 

 expressing our belief that the French are going to^ 

 pay dearly for a "novelty" in the name of the 

 Diamond, which they could get in the shape of 

 Pearl bulbs for perhaps half the price. 



Odontoglossu.m VEXILL.A.RIU.M. — The increas- 

 ing taste for orchid culture in America will render 

 the following representation of a very beautiful 

 species particularly acceptable to a great number 

 of our readers, and even those who never saw an 

 orchid house, or an epiphytal orchid growing, will 

 enjov looking at a picture of that which they would 



