198 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March G, 1873. 



of about IG feet wide. There is no attempt at graudeur in their 

 arrangement, utihty being the one thing needed. There are 

 therefore, no grand conservatories or blooming bouses, but 

 plain simple structures. Many horticultural traditions have 

 been broken through ; none of our great horticultural builders 

 have erected the houses, they have all been erected by an ordi- 

 nary builder. Ford, of Rochester. In the same way none of 

 the old-established systems of heating have been adopted, but 

 one of the most recent introductions, Stevens's Trentham 

 boiler. Of these boilers there will be four, all placed together. 

 One of these heats the vineries 250 feet in length; another will 

 heat the Peach, Fig, and Strawberry houses, together with 

 the^egetable forcing pits, making a total of about 500 feet ; 

 another heats the range of Orchid houses, 250 feet by 22 feet ; 

 and the fourth heats the pits, 250 feet long. ■ 



The Orchid houses contain the splendid collection Lord 

 Londesborough has been for some years forming at Grimston, 

 and of which it is needless to particularise the names. All 

 the various families are thoroughly well represented, and the 

 Council-room at South Kensington bears witness to the skill with 

 which they are cultivated. All looked in excellent health and 

 gave promise of future triumph. The forcing pits were admir- 

 ably contrived, and from these there have to be suppUed every 

 week twenty dozen of forced plants in pots, besides cut flowers 

 for room and table-decoration; it will not be surprising then to 

 hear, that for this purpose alone 20,000 plants are required annu- 

 ally. From these pits also come French Beans, Cucumbers, 

 Asparagus, and the various delicate vegetables which modern 

 luxury demands at seasons when Nature in her ordinary course 

 will not produce them for us. For the same purpose Mr. Den- 

 ning has a large number of the Grimston plant-protector. This 

 is of wood and glass, and portable, so that it can be removed in 

 a few minutes to any part of the garden, and is economical, for 

 800 feet of these have been made for £23 ; but although they 

 are thus light and easily moved, I think I prefer the Acme 

 Frame of Mr. Looker for these purposes. Outside, the ground 

 is being brought into order, so as to form a vegetable and fruit 

 garden, and as the land is good, it wUl, no doubt, prove by- 

 and-by productive. 



The expenditure already made on this ground cannot be 

 less than from £8000 to £10,000, and when we recollect the 

 purposes for which it is done, betokening all through a real 

 love of flowers, it cannot but be conceded that Lord Londes- 

 borough is a munificent patron of horticulture, and that 

 among the many names so freely canvassed at late meetings, 

 none would be more popular than his to be connected in some 

 way, not involving much labour, with the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, whose meetings he does so much to make attractive. 

 — D., Deal. 



FLOWERS FOK OUR BOKDEES.— No. 1. 



MncH do we rejoice to notice throughout the gardens of the 

 three United Kingdoms a revival of the taste for border 

 flowers. We have not a word to pen against bedding-out and 

 ribbon borders, but we have many words to pen in favour of 

 mixed flower borders. They " admit a profusion of ornament, 

 are fit for the reception of every elegance, and require the 

 nicest preservation." They may be arranged so as to be 

 attractive at all seasons of the year, and we now commence 

 pubUshing a series of drawings, descriptions, and details of 

 culture that will assist our readers in the good work. 



OX.VLIS CEr.NDA— DROopraci Wood Sokeel. 



In the very pretty genus Oxahs we have an extensive assem- 

 blage of plants of so interesting a character, that it cannot 

 but excite surprise that of more than one hundred species 

 known to botanists, so few should be seen in general cultiva- 

 tion. The habit of the whole is remarkably neat and dwarf, 

 their colours comprise nearly every imaginable shade, and the 

 simplicity of their culture is such, that the veriest novice can 

 hardly fail in their successful treatment. A few only of the 

 species are perfectly hardy, but a considerable number may be 

 grown in the open borders during the summer and autumn ; 

 of many, however, the flowers are produced at so early a 

 season of the year, that they are chiefly cultivated in pots, 

 for which all of them are admirably suited, and it is from 

 tills section of the genus that our illustration is taken. 



The Oxalis ccrnua possesses in a high degree the quahlJcations 

 we have attributed to the whole genus ; its flowers are of the 

 purest yellow, of a delicious .Tasmine-liko fragrance, and 

 produced in greater abundance than in any other species of 

 our acquaintance. On a bright sunny morning a pot of this 



plant will present up to noon a perfect blaze of beauty ; but, as 

 in the case of the rest of the genus, its flowers remain closed 

 in cloudy weather, or where no direct sunshine penetrates. 



As in most of the other species, the root is a small bulb, 

 from which arises a very short underground stem or stipe, to 

 which the leaf-stalks are articulated. The leaflets, sprinkled 

 with russet brown spots, are so broadly heart-shaped that they 

 may be termed two-lobed, which, with its many-flowered umbel, 

 serves to distinguish it among the stemless species. WhOe 

 young the leaflets are, at the approach of evening, folded back 

 against the petiole, expanding with the return of the morning 

 light ; but the older leaves appear to lose gradually this sensi- 

 bility to the solar radiations, and remain folded under all cir- 

 cumstances. 



Oxalis cei-nua. 



The umbel of flowers, consisting of eight to twelve blossoms 

 sometimes more, is supported on a smooth peduncle, or, to 

 speak more correctly, scape, 6 or 8 inches long ; and as each 

 bulb throws uji at least half-a-dozen scapes in succession, the 

 flowering season of the plant may be fairly said to extend 

 over a period of two months. 



Cultivation. — After blooming the plants should be exposed 

 in a sunny corner out of doors, water being gradually with- 

 held. By degrees the leaves will assume a yellow tint, and 

 finally fall off ; and in this condition the pots containing the 

 bulbs should be placed aside, and kept perfectly dry uutil the 

 season arrives for repotting them. If the ball of earth be 

 now examined, a strong fibre may be traced from the surface- 

 bulb quite to the bottom of the pot, and usually terminated 

 by a cluster of young bulbs, each of the size of a nut. A pot 

 planted originally with three bulbs will often contain, after 

 flowering, a dozen or more full-sized roots, so that abundant 

 facilities are offered for its propagation. At the base of the 

 old bulb, which perishes, and also upon the short stipe pro- 

 ceeding from it, small ofi'sets are often produced ; but they are 

 too minute to be available for the ready increase of the plant. 

 At the end of September, about which time the roots will 

 begin to gi'ow, they may be repotted iu sandy loam, with a 

 httle peat or leaf mould, planting them, if large, singly iu a 

 4-inch pot about an inch below the surface ; but it is preferable 

 to place from three to five or six bulbs in one of rather larger 

 diameter, a good drainage of potsherds or fragments of char- 

 coal being indispensable. If the weather is mild the pots may 

 remain in a warm nook out of doors, due precaution being 

 taken to protect the plants from those pests of the gardener — 

 slugs, siiuils, and wonns ; but on the approach of frosts they 

 should Vte removed either to a cold frame, or, in the absence 

 of this, to a cool window of south aspect, where plenty of air 

 can be admitted in mild weather. A dry hot atmosphere is 

 injurious to the plant; it should, therefore, be grown at a com- 

 paratively low temperature, and be removed to the sitting-room 



