JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ SLiy 0, 1872. 



say that it is when cooked delicate in flavour, very fii-m yet ] mondi alba, fifty pitchers, from 2 feet to .3 feet 8 inches long ; 

 tender, and the enveloping leaves are so crowded and close S. flava, sixty pitchers, from 1 foot 6 inches to 3 feet long. 



that even the inner ones can be eaten like Sea-kale. 



THE CULTURE OF SAEEACENIAS, OK 

 SIDE-SADDLE FLOWERS. 

 ^In our notice of the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society will be found this passage — •" Mr'. Barnes, gardener to 

 H. Micholls, Esq., Southgate, had a cultural commendation 

 for two marveUous specimens of Sarraceuia Dnimmondi alba 

 and S. flava, standing 4,J to 5 feet high from the ground." 

 Two such specimens of Sarracenia were perhaps never seen 

 before. All the accounts we have ever had of these two species 

 in theii' native habitats inform us that the ordinary height to 

 which they grow is 2 feet. This, then, is a striking instance 

 of the art of a skilful cultivator outdoing Natm-e in a way 

 which can only be described, in the words of our report, as 

 " marvellous.'' Mr. Baines has been so good as to fumish us 

 with the details of his practice in the cultivation of these 

 interesting plants in the following communication. — Eds.] 



Fbosi the experience gained through a lengthened cultural 

 acquaintance with these plants I find it quite as necessary to 

 give some negative as well as positive instructions on theii' 

 culture, and all the more so as I find there is an idea prevalent 

 amongst those who attempt their cultivation that, from the 

 fact of then- inhabiting the swamps of then- native country, it 

 is necessary, in order to grow them weD, to imitate Nature by 

 satiu'ating thek roots in stagnant water contained in pans set 

 under the pots. I find this prevents their ever acquh-ing the 

 amoimt of healthy roots essential to the full development of 

 the plant. This remark more especially apphes to the scarcest 

 and most diflicult kind to grow, S. Drummondi alba, a variety 

 which never roots so freely as the others. I wish to impress 

 this upon all who take an interest in their culture — that ui5ou 

 the amount of healthy roots they possess hangs the secret of 

 then- ability to make fine pitchers. 



All the kinds except S. Drummondi alba and Drummondi 

 rubra require to be repotted eveiy year early in February, re- 

 moving all the old material, and replacing it with fresh soil. 

 Use two-thirds of the best fibrous peat that can be obtained, 

 find one-third of chopped sphagnum, with a hberal admixture 

 of small crocks and a Uttle silver sand. Do not attempt 

 anything like hard potting ; let the material he quite loosely 

 in the pots, so that the water may pass through as freely as 

 if it were a sieve. Treat the varieties of Drummondi in an 

 exactly similar- manner, only pot them iu August instead of 

 the early pia-t of the year. The best place to grow them in is 

 the moist corner of a house where no air is admitted in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of where they stand. Place them on 

 a rough unpainted shelf that will absorb the water given them 

 at the roots once a-day during then- season of growth, which 

 extends more or less from the end of February to the end of 

 October. After that time watering twice a-week will be suf- 

 ficient. Never syringe overhead, it only breaks down the 

 pitchers by its weight when it gets in them,' and renders them 

 so soft as to be of much shorter duration. 



Nothing can be more en-oneous than the extremes of tem- 

 perature we often hear recommended for growing them. The 

 first cultural treatise I ever read upon them represented 

 Dnimmondi as luxuriating in from 80° to 100° dming the 

 growing season. On the contrary, S. purpurea is recommended 

 to be grown in a cold frame. They wiU exist under both 

 these conditions. Last July, after our large mass of S. pur- 

 pui-ea had finished its growth it was placed in a late vinery, 

 and allowed to remain there throughout the autumn until 

 after Christmas, up to which time the Grapes were hanging. 

 A little fire was kept in for them, so as to maintain the tem- 

 perature up to 40°. The pitchers they have made smce are 

 not more than half their usual size, and not nearly so large as 

 those formed by small plants kept in the usual temperature of 

 50' at night, with a rise of 5° or 10° by day during then- 

 season of rest ; GO" by night, with 05° to 75° by day from the 

 time they commence growing at the end of February to the 

 autumn; also plenty of moisture iu the atmosphere, with a 

 very thin shade in sunny weather. 



The Sarracenias are subject to brown scale and thrips. The 

 former must be carefully removed with a sponge, the latter 

 kept under by fumigation. 



The f oUowing are the dimensions of the two plants I exhi- 

 bited before the Floral Committee on May 1st. : — S. Drum- 



The Uds on the largest pitchers are 6J inches across.- 

 Bakes, Soutlii/atc 



WATEE TANKS. 

 I HAVE always stated that if the rains are husbanded no- 

 garden or house need be without a good supply of water. 

 Some time ago I described how a large brick-manufacturing 

 firm, by setting apart an acre of gi'ound, with the surface 

 hardened and sloping to a pond in the centre, had by the sacri- 

 fice of that acre of ground saved themselves more than £100 

 in the cartage of water. I have another strong evidence iu 

 my mind at present. A gentleman has gone to great expense 

 in re-arranging, adding to, and consoUdating his farm build- 

 ings, and as these are aU spouted, the pond reservoir's show 

 the change. That gentleman told me the other day, not what 

 he expected to reaUse from his new barns and cattle-sheds, 

 though I know wcU that these will pay, but that, taking into 

 consideration the expense of carting water from a distance, he 

 felt confident, even as respects water alone, the buUdings 

 would return fuUy 3 per cent, for the outlay. 



When tanks for rain water are of large size, no materials 

 are better than brick and Roman or Portland cement. If I 

 had any preference at all, it would be for the dark instead ol 

 the Ught. During the twelvemonth I have heard a mournful 

 account of some score of these tanks that would not hold 

 water. " The bricks, instead of holding the water, seemed to- 

 part with it like a squeezed sponge." I knew all about that,, 

 and gave a warning respecting it. I have seen brick tanks 

 that were of no more use for holding water than a pond of 

 open marly loam. The conditions of success are simple, but 

 they must be attended to. The chief of these are, that every 

 briek must be soaked in water untU every air -bubble escapes 

 before it is laid in the cement, and then, before the exposed 

 ends of the bricks get di-y, a casing of the cement should cover 

 them. Thus treated no water will ever escape, unless from 

 the action of the suiTounding ground the structm-e should 

 become cracked and fissured. Without such precautions, 

 building a tank with dry bricks is httle or no better than 

 making up the sides with clay. I can easUy see in the causes 

 of failm-e that the chief one is using bricks in a compara- 

 tively di-y state. Under such circumstances bricks and cement 

 are thrown away. 



For a moderate-sized tank, say 14 feet m diameter, and 20 to 

 25 feet in depth, the circular or egg-shaped is the most secure ; 

 but in this case the covering at the apex should be left so far 

 open that the ah- may act on the water, otherwise, from the- 

 absorption of the cement, it will become too hard to suit 

 tender plants. In such tanks all below ground there will be 

 no trouble with frost ; but for tlus, I should prefer square or 

 parallelogram tanks, with the surface wholly exposed, as then 

 the water is always clear, and as soft and pure as when it 

 comes from the rain-clouds. For all gardening purposes I 

 greatly prefer the latter, but the waUs and the ground round 

 them must be protected from frost from November until April, 

 or the walls must suffer from expansion and contraction ; 

 and the smallest crack from such neglect, if it is not much 

 more than a haii-'s breadth, will soon cause the water to dis- 

 perse. 



Again I say that the round, or rather egg-shaped, tank under- 

 ground is the safest ; but after all, the rain w-ater in the open 

 tank is the best, only the sides and the ground round it should 

 be protected in winter, and in some cases even in summer, as 

 whatever interferes with the ground, in the way of expansion 

 and contraction, will more or less interfere with the solidity of 

 the walls. This is especially the case when the surrounding 

 ground is of a strong clayey nature. In wet weather it swells 

 and heaves, and thus acts on the walls. In dry hot weather it 

 contracts, and leaves the walls to bear the full weight of the- 

 water. A Uttle short litter round the sides of such a tank in 

 summer, say from 3 to 5 feet in width, would prevent con- 

 tractior. 



If I were making more of these open square or oblong tanks, 

 I would not build the walls perpendicularly or upright, but 

 bevel them outwards a httle, and thus give them a better 

 chance of resisting aU such changes of expansion and con- 

 traction iu the surrounding ground. With the advantage 

 referred to of an open tank there is this disadvantage — that 

 leaves and other matters vnll blow into it, and thus the water, 

 though clear, may be anything but sweet before the end of the 



