Jnne 6, 1872. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



4G5 



hope to be excused for making " C. A.'s " letter a sort of text for 

 stating my opinions. On the -whole, then, if I had ranges of 

 houses to heat I would never think of using any mode of heat- 

 ing except hot water. Even for small houses, where a high 

 uniform temperature has to be maintained, I would prefer hot 

 water. For small isolated houses, say from 20 to 40 feet in 

 length, and where merely a safe temperature to keep plants 

 from frosts and tempests has to be secured, then hot water is 

 the most expensive mode which can be tried. Stoves, iron or 

 brick, are far more economical. I have often found that two 

 pecks of coke have done more to counteract frost in a stove than 

 seven pecks under a hot-water boiler. The small contracted 

 flue, as alluded to above, is not quite so economical as the 

 stove, but it is more easily managed, and is far more economical 

 as respects fuel, than the boiler, whatever may be its position 

 or shape. Where neatness — concealment of the heating me- 

 dium — is to be combined with economy, then I would urge 

 having a flue under the pathway. A small house I thus heated 

 by a flue for something like one-fifth part of the lowest tender 

 I had for hot water, and I am quite sure that the fuel used is 

 not more than one-tliird of what would be requh'ed for a boiler. 

 Even in a common iron or brick stove a little attention will 

 enable one to concentrate the heat round the stove. Use dampers 

 as you will, the heat will go off into the ah' from a hot-water 

 apparatus. This is of less consequence when thousands of 

 feet are heated from one boiler, but it is of consequence when 

 you heat only some scores or a few hundreds of feet. After aU, 

 the great question returns — and that I wish to keep in view — 

 Why should not thousands have their little greenhouses in 

 winter and early in spring heated by stoves and flues, who 

 dare not venture on hot-water heating? — E. Fish.] 



BASKET PLANTS FOR THE STOVE.— No. 4. 



ToKENiA AsiATiCA, although an old inhabitant of our stoves, 

 must be reckoned amongst the handsomest and most suitable 

 for basketwork that an amateur can grow. It has a robust 

 free-growing habit, and yields an abundant crop of beautiful 

 flowers. It belongs to the order Scrophulariaceaj. The leaves 

 ai-e opposite, cordate-acuminate, serrate at the edges, and Ught 

 gi-een in colour. The flowers are produced from the axils of 

 the leaves ; they have a short tube, and a broad, spreading, 

 four-lobed limb ; the groimd colour is intense deep purple, 

 whilst the tips of each lobe ai'e china white. 



This plant succeeds admirably in a mixture of rich loam, 

 peat, and leaf mould in about equal parts, with the addition 

 of some sharp river or Reigate sand. In the basket should be 

 placed a thick coating of sphagnum moss in a gi'owing state, 

 before putting in the soil, sphagnum being so eminently 

 adapted for the purpose, as it will grow rather than decay as 

 common moss does when placed in similar positions. This 

 Torenia is a common plant in the East Indies. 



T. ruLcHEEKiMA. — This plant is of similar habit to the pre- 

 ceding, but a greater trailer, a circumstance which renders it a 

 fit subject for suspending in the stove. Its flowers are deeper 

 purple than those of T. asiatica, and its leaves somewhat haiiy 

 and dark green. 



Before leaving these plants I must here remark that they 

 are liable to the attacks of mealy bug, but a httle care and 

 occasional cleaning wiU keep them free from the unsightly 

 pests of our plant houses. 



CoccocYPSELru EEPENS. — I do not introduce this plant to 

 the notice of my readers on account of its showy flowers, for 

 the truth is that they are most unpretending, but because 

 these are foDowed by a profusion of beautiful deep blue 

 berries, which continue in perfection a long time. The plant 

 is worthy of a place in the first rank as a basket plant for 

 winter decoration, a fact which should recommend it to the 

 attention of all lovers of horticulture. I have, however, fre- 

 quently remarked that amongst amateurs in particular there 

 exists a disposition to discard plants which have no attractions 

 during the summer ; and thus while basking lq the beauties of 

 Flora, they entirely forget that with the fall of the leaf in 

 autumn come a dearth of flowers and long dreary months, 

 which are made still more dreary by the cultivator's own 

 indolence in summer, when plants might easily have been 

 provided to rob winter of one-half of its dreariness. 



I have usually found this plant succeed well in a mixture of 

 loam, peat, and sand, and that the temperature of the green- 

 house is suflScient for it during summer. It must be liberally 

 suppUed witli water at the roots, and frequently syringed in 

 order to keep away red spider, for it this pest be allowed to 



gain a footing amongst its foliage the plant will lose half its 

 beauty during winter, through having but few leaves to set oS 

 its bright ultramarine berries. It is a native of the mountain 

 regions of Jamaica. 



KrssELLA JONCEA. — TMs plant belongs to the order Scro- 

 phulariaceffi, and is exceedingly useful both tor planting 

 amongst rockwork in ferneries and also for hanging baskets. 

 It is a free-growing plant, with long, pendulous, dark green, 

 somewhat angular, rush-like shoots, from which are produced 

 from the end of June to the end of August a profusion of 

 tubular' bright coral red flowers. Without these, however, it 

 is a veiy ornamental plant, and is well deserving the notice of 

 aU plant-growers, from whom it has not received the attention 

 due to its merits, although it has been an inhabitant of oiu' 

 plant houses about forty years. It succeeds well grown in 

 peat, leaf mould, and sand, with a little loam added, and 

 should be very hberaUy suppUed with water. 



SAB5IIEXTA EEPEXS. — This is the only species of the genus 

 at present known, and is a native of ChUi, from which it may 

 be inferi'ed that a warm greenhouse, or at most a cool stove, 

 will suit it well. It is a trailing plant, and is peculiaiiy 

 adapted for suspending in a basket, or planting upon rockwork 

 in a fernery or conservatory, arranged upon what is called the 

 natural system. The leaves of Sarmienta repens are opposite, 

 ovate, fleshy, and slightly hairy, whilst from the ends of the 

 shoots are produced its tubular, rich, deep scarlet flowers, which 

 render it very attractive. It should be grown in a mixture of 

 peat, good leaf mould, and sand, with the addition of some 

 sphagnum moss, and be hberally supplied with water; there- 

 fore the pot must be well di-ained. — Expeeto Ckede. 



WINTEEING BEDDING PELARGONIUMS WITH 

 OR WITHOUT A GREENHOUSE. 



I SHALL first briefly describe the eft'ects of the common me- 

 thod of keeping bedding Pelargoniums duriug the winter. 



Suppose the month is October, the flower-beds are still 

 beautiful, and the horticulturist contemplates his garden with 

 deUght. No faded leaves are there yet, but tasteful arrange- 

 ment, beauty of form, brilhant colours, and fragrant perfumes 

 delight every sense, and our florist in making a tour round his 

 garden enjoys one of the highest pleasures given toman. But 

 his meditations are interrupted by his gardener. 



" I win take up the bedding stuff next week, sir, and will 

 want five or sis hundred new pots." 



" Can you not leave them out tUl November or December ? 

 The white frosts will not materially injure the plants." 



" All right, sir ; I will wait tUl the end of November. De- 

 cember would be rather late." 



November comes ; the garden* gets the new flower-pots, 

 and commences the gigantic task of taking up and potting the 

 bedding plants. 



I will not investigate at present how he manages the Cal- 

 ceolarias, Verbenas, &c. ; our business is to see how he treats 

 the bedding Pelargoniums. He pots them very neatly, cuts 

 away luxuriant growths, and fiUs the greenhouse, vinery, &c. 

 There are some dozens of plants to be lodged yet : these are 

 put into cold frames. This done, the Pelargoniums look very 

 well and are covered with blossoms. 



It is now January. December has been frosty and sloppy. 

 One avoids the garden ; it looks so wretched now that tlie 

 summer flowers have gone, and the spring flowers not yet 

 come. The garden is a wilderness, cold and bleak ; yet we 

 will take courage and have a look at our Pelargoniums. We 

 first go to the greenhouse. The plants look very middling ; 

 the leaves are hmp, the flower-trusses half blooming, half 

 withered ; still they seem Ukely to survive the winter. We next 

 visit the cold frames, and the Pelargoniums there present the 

 following appearances : the tops of the stalks are rotten and 

 quite black, the flower-stems are completely withered. The 

 gardener is hard at work picking off dead and dying leaves, or 

 rather aU the leaves, and he very properly cuts a*vay the rotten 

 stems and dusts the wounds with charcoal. 



Bedding time comes, and the Pelargoniums in the houses 

 are slowly regaining their good looks, whilst those in the frames 

 are either half aUve or quite dead. In short, the best part of 

 the bedding season is lost, as the Pelargoniums do not come 

 into full leaf and flower until August. 



The method of managing Pelargoniums I would recommend 

 is to commence propagating them at the beginning of June. 

 The first day of June have your pots and labels ready, put three 

 cuttings of each sort in a pot, and label them. The best soil to 



