iU 



jOuenal of hoeticultuee and cottage gaedenee. 



[ February 20, 1873. 



great practice, made this remark to me when looking through 

 his little houses together, " Ail the spare time I can find from 

 doctoring others is spent in here doctoring myself." A clergy- 

 man also, with the heavy work of frequently three Sunday 

 services before the same congregations, said to me in effect 

 during a garden walk, " You cannot think what a reUef and 

 aid this garden is to me. I often feel spent, depressed, and 

 feeble, and in a short run round I see the works of an Almighty 

 Hand ever -s-igorous and smiling, when my energy is restored 

 and my duties made easier to myself, and, I believe, more 

 effective." Further, I can see almost every morning of my 

 life a gentleman past the allotted age of man, whose days are 

 spent in the superintendenco of and directing the largest bank- 

 ing establishment in the county ; but neither the labour and 

 responsibility of this great business, the anxieties necessarily 

 connected therewith, nor advancing years, appear to impair 

 the pristine vigour of mind and body which seem steeled for 

 all exigencies. Is not one great contributory cause of this 

 found in the daily visits to his garden and through his houses, 

 inspecting, admiring, and suggesting ? I believe it is — indeed 

 I feel as certain as I am of anything, that it is not pleasure 

 merely that his garden affords, but real benefit, and I am not 

 alone in this opinion. ^ 



Gardening in its different phases by amateurs is not only 

 enjoyable and beneficial to them, but by and through them is 

 made beneficial to others. Amateurs very frequently confine 

 their efforts to perfecting one special branch, and after attain- 

 ing proficiency are, by their position, peculiarly able, and gene- 

 rally disposed, to impait the information they possess for the 

 benefit of others. Practical gardeners, however able, are really 

 indebted to this class of men for much interesting information, 

 and they in turn are generally willing to give a hand in assist- 

 ing others wishful, yet lacking sufficient knowledge, in making 

 a start in any particular line of gardening. Any hints for the 

 guidance of such cannot be too plain and practical, nor too simply 

 expressed. Elaborate writing and attempts at scientific reason- 

 ing are of quite secondary importance. As a rule, instruction 

 is generally the best and easiest to work by when given on the 

 assumption that the instructed knows little or nothing of the 

 matter treated of by the instructor. 



After these musings — perhaps not altogether out of place 

 and unseasonable — I venture the attempt of a few plain notes 

 on Vines, &c., solely for the guidance of the uninitiated. A 

 vinery is one of the most useful of garden appendages. It 

 can, besides giving luscious fruit without great cultural skill, 

 be turned to account in providing and preservhig plants for 

 the flower garden, for there is no real reason why Vines and 

 bedding plants will not associate together and both prosper. 

 And if bedding plants are not required, other things interesting 

 and beautiful may be grown with the Vines, notwithstanding 

 the reiterated advice tliat Vines must have a house to them- 

 selves. Tills advice, sound enough in itself, but too dogmatic 

 and exclusive, is calculated to have a deterrent effect on the 

 minds of certain people who desire both Grapes and plants, 

 while they can only manage to erect one house. But enough 

 for the present. I will resume the subject another week. — 

 J. W., Lincoln. 



ECONOMY IN FUEL. 

 When I designed my double-glazed house I imagined that, 

 in consequence of the small amount of radiation from the 

 glass, there would be a great saving in fuel, and that probably 

 coals might be dispensed with altogether. During the last 

 three months I have had sufficient experience to prove that I 

 have not been mistaken in my views. In front of the saddle- 

 back boiler I constructed a brick oven capable of containing 

 large roots, rotten posts, and other useless wood and rubbish. 

 Half a ton of coals were carted into the stokehole, in case they 

 might be required. I find that 1 cwt. has been used, but not 

 because it was necessary. I have carefully watched the night 

 and day temperature, and find that it has been invariably at 

 night 45°, and from 50° to 55° during the day ; the tempera- 

 ture might have been higher had there not been sixteen 2-iuch 

 apertures, G feet apart, in the floor of the house, opening under 

 the hot-water pipes, which, with the open cross ventilators in tlie 

 ridge, caused a constant brisk motion in the air of the house 

 niglit and day. However, at this low temperature the Peaches 

 and Nectarines are in fruit, and the Vines also coming on fast, 

 all looking remarkably strong and healthy. The door of the 

 oven, 'J feet s(juare, is outside, but the oven itself is built 

 inside the house ; the top of it, i\ feet by o, forms a good 



bottom-heat arrangement and Melon bed. The flue — a 6-inch 

 iron pipe — is also inside the house, the harsh heat from it 

 being kept down by its being enclosed in a terra cotta pipe 

 filled with watered sand. This oven is not in contact with 

 the earth, there is a space between, and the air heated in this 

 space passes into the house rapidly through a 4-inch aperture 

 in the floor, the draught being caused by an aperture outside 

 on a level with the firebars of the oven. The whole of this 

 house, with the heating apparatus, was complete from the 

 first, and we have had no occasion to make any alteration 

 since. When the ventUators and apertures in the floor are 

 closed, it is au'tight if necessary. — Observer. 



THE YUCCA. 



The Yuccas may assuredly be classed amongst plants having 

 a tropical appearance ; for although they neither require a 

 tropical heat nor the unclouded sunshine of chmates usually 

 termed temperate, these plants are nevertheless Bufficieutly dis- 

 tinct from those commonly regarded as hardy. In most parts 

 of the south of England the species usually termed Y. gloriosa, 

 Y. aloifolia, Y. recurva, and Y. filamentosa not only stand the 

 winter well, but flower in favourable seasons. Their flower- 

 stems, it is true, are not so plentifully produced as those of 

 Hollyhocks or Pelargoniums, but they have a charm of theu' 

 own which florists' flowers do not possess, and at all times 

 present a neat though rather formidable appearance. When 

 a Yucca is once established in a particular spot it is rarely 

 meddled with afterwai'ds, except to propagate it ; for the 

 growth of the plant being slow, few like to disturb one when 

 it has arrived at a flowering size. It is not every year that 

 the same plant throws up its unique spike of blooms, although 

 those having a number of plants may reasonably expect one or 

 more every year ; and should there be a fine dry autumn and 

 mild winter, a large number of flower-spikes will probably be 

 produced in the following summer, as has been the case here 

 on several occasions. 



In the past summer, amongst other Yuccas that have bloomed 

 well on a south border was one of more than ordinary im- 

 portance, having three fine spikes of bloom upon it all fully 

 out at the same time, and all three as nearly ahke as pos- 

 sible, two of them being 10 feet G inches high, the third 

 10 feet 4 inches, and all perfectly upright, as, in fact, all Yucca 

 flower-spikes usually are. Thej- also stood sufficiently far 

 apart to be clear of each other. The plant which produced 

 them is an old one, and the portion which bloomed last year 

 was an upright naked stem with three branches, and destitute 

 of leaves for between 3 and 4 feet, then there was a tuft at 

 each of the points, out of which the flower-stems sprung. 

 Another portion of the same plant did not flower. I do not 

 remember ever noticing as many as three spikes on one plant 

 before, and but rarely two. Individually the flower-spikes 

 were quite as good as in plants sending up only one spike, and 

 better than in many, but we have had much finer in former 

 years ; however, in the past season 9 feet, 8 feet, and as low 

 as 7 feet G inches were the general run for the tall species, and 

 for Y. filamentosa still less. The flower is so handsome, and 

 the plant altogether so unlike most hardy subjects, that I 

 should be sorry to part with the Yuccas on any account. 



The situation in which the Yuccas are growing is a very dry 

 one — a south border against a terrace wall, with good shelter 

 in other directions. The soil is highly charged with calcareous 

 matter — in fact, the subsoil may be said to be decomposed 

 limestone, but it is well adapted for the growth of many kinds 

 of shrubs and trees. From some trees of Magnolia graudiflora 

 growing against the mansion only a few yards from the Yucca 

 border a dozen or more fully-expanded blooms could be gathered 

 at one time. We have also Yuccas growing in other places as 

 well, and they flower more or less freely according to the 

 character of the season. In making alterations some years ago, 

 several Yucca plants were stored away for the time being in 

 a piece of outside kitchen-garden ground, the soil of which was 

 rather stiff and moist, and not being all wanted again, they 

 were allowed to remain. Several of them have bloomed in 

 favourable years, and look well; others as single specimens iu 

 conspicuous places seem also at home. 



The only drawback to the general cultivation of Yuccas ia 

 their slowness of growth and propagation ; but old broken- 

 down or cut-down plants emit a number of shoots, which, after 

 attaining some size, may be taken off like Pine suckers, and 

 will root accordingly. Still the progress of the plant is so slow 

 that the amateur sometimes gets out of patience iu waiting for 



