March ia, lara. ] 



JOUBNAIi 0& riORTICULTORE AND COTTAGE GARDENEli. 



223 



with more oaso tbau when growa in small pots. I have as yet 

 Baiil iiotbinv; about the hotbed or propagating pit. The former 

 is my own favourite, but a rather dangerous playmate for 

 amateurs to attempt early work with. I have seen whole 

 batches destroyed, when a Uttle pebble under each sash, to 

 allow the .superfluous steam to escape, or perhaps the ])ots raised 

 out of the plunging material when the heat was too strong, 

 might have saved them. Drooping leaves with a stewed ap- 

 pearance denote the latter evil. 



One more remark before concluding. Do not waste hours 

 listlessly in making cuttings ; when cut-off the plants they arc 

 ready for insertion, without stripping of leaves and cutting at 

 joints. The great secretin Verbena culture is to guard against 

 sudden checks ; it is neglecting these little things which ruins 

 many promising lots, and which ends in complete or comparative 

 failure. Verbenas may also be grown to great advantage for 

 greenhouse decoration. For out-door work I only grow Purple 

 King, Crimson King, and llrs. HolforJ. The former two are 

 BO well known for their bedding qualities as to need no com- 

 ment. — The G-iiiDEyuE, Bobij Hull, Licerpoul. 



LOW NIGHT TEMPEEATURE IN HOTHOUSES. 



Wk have only to go to the school of Nature to learn most 

 unmistakeably, from the nocturnal fall of temperature, how 

 erroneous is the practice of hard firing to maintain high night 

 temperature, even in the case of those plants which in theii' 

 native halntats are subject to the most intense sun and the 

 highest degree of tropical heat, and where the variation between 

 the sweltering heat of day and the chilliness of night is most 

 forcibly experienced. Some may jierhaps be inclined to tell 

 lis that Nature is not now marching according to primeval law 

 and order in tins as well as in other respects. This, however, 

 would be " drawing the subject a little too line" in reference 

 to the case in point. True, the most successful horticultural 

 practice does not invariably homologate the teachings of Nature, 

 but it does corroborate what we are taught in these nocturnal 

 variations ; and surely it is not nccess.ary, at this era of horti- 

 culture, to jioint out how erroneous is the artificial applica- 

 tion in excess of the stimulating power of heat throughout the 

 long hours of darkness of a British winter night. The ex- 

 perienced cultivator, at any rate, knows well that such a com- 

 bination of circumstances is productive only of debility, and 

 the utter want of that stamina in plants which is only attain- 

 able under a corresponding amount of light and sunshine, with 

 which we are never favoured in this country during our season 

 of early forcing. 



If plants arc kept continuously at a high pitch of excitability 

 by the stimulating agency of heat, irrespective of the variations 

 of day and night — of light and darkness — their whole system 

 becomes impaired ; and Nature has provided against such a 

 result, not only by the less sudden variation of summer and 

 winter, rainy seasons and dry ones, when a long season of 

 activity is following by a long repose, but by the more sudden 

 variation from a high temperature by day with light, to com- 

 parative coolness by night with darkness. Were it possible to 

 reverse this order of things for a single mouth, when plants 

 are in full tide of growth — could we have light and a low tem- 

 perature, darkness and excessive heat — we should learn a lesson 

 from the appearance of the vegetable world that would impress 

 us with the beneficence and wisdom of Nature's order of things, 

 and would teach us a great and lasting lesson in early forcing 

 if in nought else. 



It is no part of our present intention to enter into the nature 

 and results of the distinct functional operations of plant-hfo 

 by day and night. Our object, and all that is possible for us, 

 is to throw out a few hints which we hope may stimulate our 

 young and inexperienced readers to study vegetable physiology 

 — the structure and functions of plants ; and we are not aware 

 that we can direct them to a better authority than Dr. Liud- 

 ley, in his " Theory of Horticulture." Suffice it here to say, 

 that in the absence of sunshine at night, there is a cessation 

 in plants of that evaporating and decomposing process by 

 which plant food is perfected and rendered fit for augmenting 

 in a proper manner the growth of plants and trees ; and that 

 all excess of heat at night, iu the absence of these processes, 

 which are dependant on light, only tends to gorge the system 

 with an overdose of crude sap, producing a mere attenuation 

 of imperfect and unfruitful growth, which by day does not 

 bear the strain of sunshine iu a manner so as to result in the 

 production of wood and foliage, flowers and fruits, of which 

 plants are capable when subject to that nocturnal repose which 



is as necessary to plants as it is to animal hfg. Hence all ex- 

 perienced forcers of early flowers and fruits avoid high night 

 temperatures when the days are short and dull, and endeavour, 

 on the contrary, to do the — what may be termed — hard forc- 

 ing by day with light. Experience has taught that the growth 

 that is squeezed out in midwinter with a high temperature is 

 soft and flabby to a degree that will not Lear with impunity 

 that sunshine which is absolutely necessary to restore it to a 

 proper state of tissue. 



The too common practice of fixing rigidly any given tempe- 

 rature in hothouses, irrespective of the state of the external 

 atmosjiherc, we regard as bad practice, and, so far as we are 

 concerned ourselves, we invariably fix the range of temperature 

 over at least .5 ' or 7 , according to the coldness or mildness of 

 the weather. This not only saves fuel, but it is better for tha 

 plants than highly-heated surfaces. Moreover, we have cause 

 to regard the lluctuation of the thermometer, even in steady 

 weather, with much more complacency than we did at one 

 time. And wc are at a loss to know from whence such rigid 

 lessons as to heat have been learned. We have several corre- 

 spondents in the tropics who have remarked to us that if cul- 

 tivators of tropical Orchids at home saw how amazingly they 

 luxuriate with the night temperature frequently below 40", 

 they would not be so careful about high night temperatures. 

 There is, however, another side to this question. We know 

 that the Teach sometimes gets killed with a British frost, 

 while it stands that of the United States with impunity, owing 

 to the more thorough maturity that the wood attains under an 

 American sun. The same may no doubt be applicable to even 

 many Orchids. This, however, teaches us that it is not from 

 wide differences of temperatures in the twenty-four hours that 

 plants suffer, but that it is much more from unnatural growth 

 in the absence of light. 



There can be no doubt that this is a question well worthy of 

 discussion while we are face to face with the price of coal 

 nearly tripled within the last two years, and that the hours of 

 darkness are those in which most money can be saved or 

 wasted in connection with our practice in maintaining night 

 temperatures. It is therefore from this, as well as from other 

 points of view, that we would invite further discussion on the 

 subject. The tendency of the present generation of gardeners 

 has been to recede from the night temperatures advocated by 

 those who have gone before them ; and our conviction is, that 

 there are yet some steps, not only within the limits of safety, 

 but to be attended with improved culture in many things. 

 The subject has many sides in practice, and a change in this 

 calls for change more or less in other conditions as well. — 

 (TIic Ganhncr.) 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



At a meeting of the Veitcii MEMor.i.iL Trustees, held on the 

 •ith inst., it was resolved " That the Veitch Memorial Prize be 

 offered trienuially, commencing with the present year'; and 

 that until the fund reaches the amount of XIOOO, the interest 

 accruing in the two intervening years be added thereto." It 

 was also resolved " That steps be taken to procure designs for 

 a Veitch Memorial Medal, with the view of having the same 

 executed for use, if possible, at the forthcoming Show of the 

 Koyal Horticultural Society at Bath," it being an instruction 

 to the Trustees that an inexpensive medal should accompany 

 the money prizes distributed. 



The sale of Orchids, Palms, and other plants, which 



is to take place at Blanley Hall, near Manchester, next month, 

 is one of the largest and most noteworthy that has recently 

 occurred. It will continue for seven davs, and there are more 

 than ICOO lots. 



• We learn from the Journal of Bottunj that Dr. Ebnsi, 



of Caracas, has been named by the Government of Venezuela 

 to fill the chair of botany in the University of Caracas, where 

 natural history has hitherto never been taught. He is like- 

 wise commissioned with the foundation and management of a 

 small botanic garden and the correspondent botanic museum. 

 For the garden he will have the two large yards of the Uni- 

 versity building, both together 1300 square metres large, which 

 will give about 800 square metres available ground for planting. 



On Thursday last an important sale or Oechids, 



chiefly the property of Messrs. Backhouse, of York, took place 

 at Mr. Stevens's rooms. The total amount realised was £933. 

 A fine plant of Cattleya Mendelii brought £10, Oncidium 

 tigrinum from £-1 to £20, Odontoglossum llossLi majus, with 

 thirty-five bulbs, £5 15s. ; Adiantum farleyense, with thirty 



