5-] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



327 



enough sand to make it porous. Cover bulbs 

 slightly, place on a shelf near the glass, water 

 sparingly until the plants are some inches high. 

 With such simple treatment the plants grew well, 

 and flowered beyond all expectations. 



Glonera jasminiflora is a stove plant of remark- 

 able beauty, forming a neat shrubby bush, covered 

 with Bouvardia-like flowers of the purest white. 

 This is a decided acquisition to our stove plants, 

 and should be in every collection. 



right kind of soil or compost a plant thrives best 

 in. Numbers of stove plants do well in any light, 

 rich soil. My present subject delights in a mixture 

 of light, fibrous loam, sandy peat, and a very 

 small quantity of vegetable mould. 



The pots must be well drained to secure success. 



PORTLANDIA GRANDIFLORA. 



BY RODERICK CAMPBELL, UTICA, N. V. 



Named in honor of the late Duchess of Port- 

 land, who was a great patron of gardening. 

 This is a noble stove plant, with large, deep green 

 foliage, and fine, pure white flowers, agreeably per- 

 fumed. They appear in pairs at the end of each 

 shoot, and measure from four to five inches long, 

 and from three to four inches across the mouth of 

 the cup. The leaves are oval shaped, six inches 

 long when fully grown, and of a most beautiful 

 light green. With tolerable management the 

 plant forms a good, handsome bush or plant. 

 Though introduced as far back as 1795, it is yet 

 very rare, especially in this country. This is a 

 matter of surprise to me, considering that it is so 

 beautiful, and not difficult to grow or propagate. 

 I can only account for its comparative rarity by 

 supposing that most of our gardeners who have 

 grown stove plants are ignorant almost of its exis- 

 tence, and quite so of its beauty and easy culture. 



It is to make such fine plants as the Portlandia 

 known that I write. There are many plants occu- 

 pying spaces in our stoves and greenhouses that 

 might be filled with better and handsomer varie- 

 ties. 



The best way to increase the Portlandia is by 

 cuttings of the young shoots. These insert in the 

 propagating bench, water the bed thoroughly, and 

 keep close. I have succeeded well by putting 

 cuttings in a six-inch pot, and placing them in hot 

 bed, or cucumber frame at most. 



Early spring is the best time to root the Port- 

 landia. As soon as they have made roots they 

 should be potted in two and one-half inch pots, 

 and placed under hand glass close for four or five 

 weeks, till they are fairly established. Shading^ 

 must be attended to at all times, for the least sun 

 will put an end to all your work in a short time. 

 By this method I have rooted most kinds of 

 shrubby stove plants with ease. 



It is of the greatest importance to know the 



HE\TING GREENHOUSES. 



BY B. O'NEIL, 



CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE ON FLORICULTURE, 

 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



This is a subject of considerable interest to flor- 

 ists and greenhousemen. I have had a life experi- 

 ence with all kinds of heaters — from a forty-horse 

 power, high pressure, steam boiler, down to a one 

 dog power, common greenhouse flue, whose gassy 

 emanations in cloudy weather would kill a toad- 

 stool at forty yards. For growing plants and 

 flowers I would always give the preference to 

 steam heating ; but the great difficulty with high- 

 pressure boilers is that they require constant at- 

 tention, are not economical as to fuel and consume 

 a great deal of water. This is overcome by the 

 low pressure, self-regulating steam boilers. 



I have an eight-section boiler, which heats about 

 one thousand four hundred feet of one-and-a-fourth 

 inch piping, purchased from and put up by, the 

 Exeter Machine Works, of Exeter, N. H. 



The boiler is below all the returns, so that all 

 the water condensed in the pipes returns again 

 into the sections. This water is heated when it 

 comes back into the boiler, so that the process of 

 steam making is not impeded, but goes steadily 

 on. Forty-eight gallons of water fill my boiler 

 and two gallons of water are wasted in a week. 

 Each section is shaped somewhat like an oyster- 

 can placed on its side, with holes on each 

 end for two short pieces of pipe, which connect the 

 sections with two oblong drums (upper and lower) 

 outside the brickwork. On these drums are placed 

 the paraphernalia of all steam boilers, with the 

 addition of the weights and chains which adjust 

 the drafts; and when the indicator reaches the 

 point adjusted by the weights, it closes up all the 

 drafts. The draft for fire can be adjusted by 

 lengthening or shortening the chains to suit the 

 weather. If such a thing as an accident should 

 occur to any of the sections, it can be taken out 

 and the drums plugged, and run without it until 

 another section is procured. Another feature is 

 that additional sections can be put on, without in- 

 terfering with the original sections. 



My boiler will run six hours without attention, 



