•1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



295 



these plants is from seed or spores, of which mil- 

 lions are produced. A portion of the frond can be 

 pinched oft" with the seed attached, and laid by to 

 dry on paper. It will be ready for sowing in a few 

 days. The soil should be leaf mould and silver 

 sand, run through a fine sieve, and put into a 

 regular seed-pan, and then watering with a fine 

 rose-pot, and the seed sown on the top, without any 

 covering of soil. A sheet of glass should be 

 placed over the pan to catch any water that may 

 fall. To obviate the necessity of watering the 

 seed overhead the pan can be set into another pan 

 that will hold water, and be kept supplied as the 

 process of absorption goes on. It will take from 

 five to six weeks for the seed to germinate over a 

 bottom heat of 6^^ or 70^. When the plants are 

 large enough they can be pricked off into other 

 seed pans, each plant about two inches apart, 

 using the same soil as before advised. As they 

 advance in growth they can be potted into two- 

 inch pots. 



NOTES BY JAMES LESLIE, 



ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT. 



Test of Sound Cultivation. — Pimelia specta- 

 bilis is a pretty plant for use in small size. 1 have 

 some plants here in four-inch pots which will 

 average twenty-six heads of bloom to the plant. 



Cattleya citrina is grown here, (Underclyfte, 

 residence of Col. F. f^airbanks,) without shade. 

 Under such treatment the plant flourishes and 

 blooms well. 



STEAM HEATING. 

 BY A. B. FOWLER, BOSTON, MASS. 



As a partial response to Mr. Breitmeyer's article 

 on Steam Heating, 1 would submit for your perusal 

 a few extracts from a letter written by John Tay- 

 lor, Esq., of Bayside, L. I., whose glass covers an 

 area of 50,000 square feet, and whose heating 

 apparatus heats his glass, his large dwelling-house 

 500 feet from the boilers and also his stable, which 

 is about 300 feet from the boilers. 1 thought 

 the testimony which he presents would be the best 

 argument that could be offered to capsize the 

 unfortunate Detroit gentleman. The cases are 

 nearly parallel and the results rather diverse. 



" To Horticulturists or persons using Green- 

 houses : 



"The Exeter Machine works have during the 

 past summer (1882) put into my greenhouses at 

 Bayside, L. 1., which are very extensive, the heat- 

 ing apparatus. It works on the low pressure 



system, the pressure seldom being above five 

 pounds and sometimes no perceptible pressure. 

 This has been working through one season ; was 

 an experiment so far as steam heating was con- 

 cerned ; was an experiment as to the economical 

 and convenient management of the steam, and as 

 to its working at low pressure; but in every respect, 

 so far as 1 have been able to discover, it is a 

 success. 



" Steam as a means for warming greenhouses I 

 consider the best known ; it being more completely 

 under the control of the gardener, and doing 

 away with the necessity of numerous fires. I have 

 no hesitation in saying that in all large establish- 

 ments steam will be a necessity. 



John Taylor." 



CULTURE OF PERPETUAL CARNATIONS 

 IN FRANCE. 



BY JEAN SISLEY, MONPLAISIR, LYONS, FRANCE. 



Their propagation is very easy. Young cuttings 

 strike rapidly in a hot-house, on bottom heat dur- 

 ing winter. When rooted and hardened for a short 

 time in a pit, or a green-house, they can, in April 

 or May, be planted in the open ground. They 

 can also at that time stand a long journey; they 

 must be packed without earth at the roots, in damp 

 moss. They require a very airy situation. When 

 planted out they must be shaded for a few days, if 

 the sun is hot. They must be kept moist, and 

 when they are in a growing state, watered from 

 time to time with liquid manure. When they are 

 about six inches high they must be pruned to at 

 least half their size, to obtain side shoots and a 

 quantity of flower buds. 



To obtain them in bloom during the following 

 winter until April and May, they must be .taken up 

 about the middle of September, potted in six-inch 

 pots, and put on slight bottom heat in a pit, or a 

 stove, shut for about a week and then aired gradu- 

 ally ; if the weather permits, provided there is a 

 temperature of 50^ or 60'^ centigrade, (about 40° 

 Fahrenheit), they do not require more heat. Of 

 course, the plants destined for this purpose must 

 have, when taken up from the ground a good 

 quantity of flower buds, and some will have as 

 many as from sixty to eighty. When the flower 

 buds begin to expand they can be removed for in- 

 door decoration. I have some in my dining-room, 

 since more than a month, and they are still in 

 bloom. They must be placed as near the light as 

 possible. 



The plants which the first year do not bear a 

 sufficient number of flower buds, must not be 

 lifted from the open ground, unless the winter ap- 

 pears to be severe, then they can be taken up with 



