Jjnaiiy 7, 130). ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE OAKDENEB. 



folium, 6 feet by 4 feet ; Phrenocoma pi-olifera Barnosii, Dra- 

 cophylium gracile, and Erioateinou scabrum being likewise 

 very largo and healthy. Passing into the other division of this 

 house I f mud thu large Azaleas which have done so much 

 credit to Mr. Charles Turner for several years past. They are 

 in a very flourishing condition, although many thought they 

 would not agaiu be so after the enormous quantities of flowers 

 they bore last year, and the knocking-about they have had. 

 Many persons are also of opinion, that the Azalea, and several 

 other plants will only last a certain number of years, after which 

 they become useless ; but this only happens when they fall 

 into unskilful hands, as these fine plants abundantly show. I 

 also know from my own experience, that plants that have re- 

 mained in the same pots for eight or ten years, during which 

 time they had never been repotted, and had in consequence 

 become very sickly, and to all appearance worthless, have, by 

 simply scattering over the surface of the soil a little of Stan- 

 den's manure, and paying due attention to watering, &c., be- 

 come as healthy as they were at any period of their growth. 

 They will produce as fine flowers and as numerously as ever, 

 without repotting, for double the above period, if suitable quan- 

 tities of this invaluable manure be administered to them every 

 year immediately after they have done flowering. This manure 

 will produce a similar effect on the Camellia, the Orange, and 

 many other plants, if properly applied. Not only is a great 

 saving of labour and room thus effected, but we have a safe- 

 guard against any want of care in repotting, as regards the 

 state of the soil at the time the plant is put into a larger pot. 

 The soil in which the plant is growing should be in precisely 

 the same condition in respect to moisture as the new soil. 

 More specimen plants are killed from want of attention to this 

 matter than from any other cause. 



The Azaleas are placed along the south side of the walk, 

 through the centre of the house, and on the north side are the 

 Camellias, some of which are very large and most luxuriant, 

 and all are completely covered with flower buds. The large 

 plants are sunk into the ground in square brick pits, consider 

 ably below the level of the floor, in order to afiord them more 

 head room. The following are the dimensions of some of the 

 Azaleas : — Flower of the Day, 4 feet by 3 feet C inches ; Bril- 

 liant, 5 feet by 4 feet ; Cedo NuUi, 5 feet by 4 feet ; Louise von 

 Baden, 5 feet by 3 feet ; Flag of Truce, 3 feet inches by 

 3 feet; Iveryana, 5 feet by 5 feet G inches ; Coronata, .5 feet 

 6 inches by 4 feet ; Chelsoni, 5 feet G inches by 4 feet ; Varie- 

 gata, 4 feet 6 inches by 4 feet ; Stella, 4 feet G inches by 4 feet ; 

 Extranei. 6 feet by 5 feet 6 inches ; Barclayana. G feet by 

 6 feet ; Holfordi, 4 feet 6 inches by 8 feet ; Sir Charles Napier, 

 6 feet 6 inches by 6 feet ; Juliana, G feet by 5 feet 6 inches ; 

 President, 4 feet 6 inches by .3 feet. Rhododendron Gibsoni 

 is 6 feet by 4 feet, and completely covered with flower buds. 

 The oR Double White Camellia, 12 feet by 10 feet, with up- 

 wards of two thousand fine flower buds, is the largest plant in 

 the house ; but there are many others of scarcely less dimen- 

 sions. A bank, 8-5 feet long, is formed of large and small plants 

 of all the best varieties. 



Leaving this house (called the exhibition house) by the north 

 door, and turning to the left we follow a walk loading to the 

 kitchen garden, and by a slight curve to the left reach a 

 straight walk, which passes through the kitchen garden from 

 east to west. Parallel with this walk, and facing the south, is a 

 continuous range of glass 4'J5 feet long, for the cultivation of 

 fruits of various kinds. The Tines and other fruit trees in 

 many of the houses have not long been planted ; I need there- 

 fore only say, that every care has been taken in preparing the 

 borders, and that satisfactory results may be expected. I 

 noticed in several of them very promising crops of Pines, 

 Dwarf Kidney Beans, &i. In this range there are houses for 

 Pines, Vines, Cherries, Peaches, and Nectarines, all well 

 heated, and all filled with trees in a promising condition. 



On the opposite side of the walk there are several span-roof 

 houses for the growth of Pines, Cucumbers, and Melons, and 

 for forcing flowers, propagating, &o. The first of these houses 

 I entered is nged for propagating, and is filled with a useful 

 Btook, among which I noticed a fine plant of Dracrrna regin.T, 

 JQst beginning to show its silver-margined leaves ; the next is 

 the winter Cucumber house, used also for Melons after the Cu- 

 cumbers are over ; and a third is called the summer Cucumber 

 house, the plants in which are destroyed as soon as those in 

 the winter house are in full bearing, and the house used for 

 forcing Eoses, Hyacinths, and other plants, for the decoration 

 of the conservatory. The next houoe is used exclusively for 

 forcing early RjseS, and for the cultivation of Melons in sum- 



mer ; the first lot of Uosos had just been prepared and placed 

 in the pits on each side of the walk which passes through the 

 centre of the house. A span-roofed house, CO feet G inches long 

 and 12 feet G inches wide, contains a fine collection of Pelar- 

 goniums of the best varieties, and a fine lot of Cinerarias. I 

 also noticed a fine healthy plant of Lapageria alba. On the 

 south side of this house there is a very useful pit, G feet wide, 

 and of the same length as the house, filled with ft very healthy 

 stock of shrubby and other Calceolarias. The Pino stove is a 

 fine, and, for the purpose, very suitable house. It is CG feet 

 long by 20 feet wide, with a largo pit in the centre, a shelf near 

 the glass on the front side, and another at the back, and on 

 these enormous quantities of Kidney Beans are forced during 

 the winter. The pit is filled with a very healthy stock of Pines, 

 which are perfectly clean and free from insects. Many of them 

 are planted out, and the suckers are to remain on the plants 

 after the fruit has been cut, as an experiment. On my telling 

 Mr. Petch that this was the only way to make Pine-growing re- 

 munerative, and a plan by which he could grow two or more 

 Pines in the space generally allotted to one, he became doubly 

 anxious to give it a fair trial. Of this system of Pine-growing 

 1 shall have something to say hereafter ; for the present I may 

 state that I have seen the most satisfactory results attend its 

 adoption by one of the best Pine-growers in the world, who has 

 quietly pursued this system for many years, and who has 

 grown some of the finest Pines ever produced. On the back 

 shelf was a fine lot of pot Tines. 



A lean-to near the large ferneries is filled with store pots 

 of Verbenas, Petunias, and various other softwooded plants, 

 and although it has no pretensions to architectural beauty, it is, 

 perhaps, one of the most useful houses in the place. At the 

 eastern extremity of the kitchen garden, against a wall facing 

 the east, there is a house for the cultivation of the Apricot. — 

 J. Wills, F.E.H.S. 



CHRISTMAS ROSE (HELLEBORUS NIGER) 

 NOT FLOWERING. 



A BED of this beautiful winter ornament to our gardens, aa 

 it now is, quite gay with its large white flowers, or what pass 

 for such, has often eUcited the following observation—" We 

 have it, but it will not flower with us." Now, I have^ not the 

 slightest doubt that there is hardly a spotf anywhere in which 

 it may not be made to flower prufu.-ely if rightly managed. 



I had it formerly in a side border, where it did not flower, 

 but an accidental occurrence led to its being removed and 

 treated so thpt it has flowered abundantly every winter since. 

 One of our smaller nurserymen took up some plants from an 

 open dry situation, where they had never flowered, and put 

 them in a waste corner, where they were partly covered up 

 by other odds and ends, and here they bloomed freely. This 

 fact led me at once to suspect the reason, and endeavouring to 

 profit by it, I immediately transferred my plants to another 

 situation, where, although the sun shines upon the spot all 

 the year round, they have the advantage of partial shade and 

 plenty of moisture during the summer months. As these 

 plants make and ripen their buds at a time when there is alwaj s 

 a profusion of flowers, and plenty of other matters to attend to, 

 they are apt to be neglected and left dry when most needing a 

 little consideration ; and hence either do not flower at all, or 

 produce only a few starved and diminutive apologies for flowers. 



The plan I have acted upon is this : The plants being ar- 

 ranged symmetrically in an open sunny spot, where In the 

 winter they are in a conspicuous position, and form the prin- 

 cipal objects left, in the summer they are thickly planted over 

 with Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, Pyrethrums, i-c, 

 so as to be wholly shaded from the sun, at the same time that 

 they receive an abundance of water, as well as a share of the 

 liquid manure aud other good things intended for their pro- 

 tectors. Thus, without any special care they receive an addi- 

 tional stimulus at the very time that it is of most service to 

 them. Blooming as they do at a season when there is hardly 

 any other flower to occupy the ground, they are invaluable, and 

 we'll worthy of more general cultivation. — W. K. BBiDGiiiN, 

 Nuncich. 



OPEN-AIR MUSHROOMS IN WINTER. 



On the 22nd of December I gathered eighteen Mushrooms 



from the outside of a pigeon-holed Melon pit. One of them 



weighed H lb., and measured 10* inches in diameter and 



2 inches thick. Several of the others weighed rather more 



