452 



JOUKNAL OF HOBTICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GABDENEE, 



[ June 5, 1873. 



Where sufEcient space can be spared, theywill be found very 

 suitable plants for a bed, or a clump of them may be planted 

 together in the mixed flower border ; and in either situation 

 they will, when in bloom, form a highly pleasing contrast to 

 the numerous flowers of scarlet hue with which the flower 

 garden abounds in the summer season. Plants with blossoms 

 of clear unambiguous blue are not so numerous as could be 

 wished, for there is no colour, we think, on which the eye rests 

 with greater satisfaction than on " Heaven's own tint." 



We must not neglect to observe, that although the P. speci- 

 osum is a native of the bleak Oregon Territory, it requires, not- 

 withstanding, to be guarded from excessive moisture during 

 the winter season. This may be partially accomplished by 

 covering the earth in the immediate neighbourhood of the 

 roots with dry Fern, and also by planting the specimens in 

 soil well drained and of an open sandy texture, supplying any 

 deficiency of vegetable matter by a top-dressing of thoroughly 

 rotten manure in the spring, to be afterwards dug in. 



If the plant, after flowering the first season, be allowed to 

 ripen its seed, it is generally so much exhausted by the opera- 

 tion, that it seldom blooms well the second year ; but if cut 

 down immediately after the first production of flowers is over, 

 it "breaks" for the next season. It may be increased by 

 cuttings or slips, but they are very sparingly afforded, the 

 habit of the plant being in this respect singularly opposed to 

 that of most of the species. 



Pentstemon Bpeciosum. 



There tie several other very showy blue Pentstemons, not to 

 mention those of a purple tint, such as the now common 

 P. gentianoides, which may frequently be met with 7 or 8 feet 

 high. 



Perhaps the best of these is the P. ovatum, a species which, 

 in some respects, is superior to that just described ; it has the 

 largest foliage of any of the Pentstemous, and flowers of an 

 interesting blue tint at the mouth and throat, though the 

 outside of the tube is of a brownish purple. — (W. Thompson's 

 English Flower Garden.) 



LAEGE PEACH HOUSE AND VINERIES 



AT MK. GODWIN'S, JIAIDSTONE. 

 The late Sir Eobert Peel, in abolishing the duty on glass 

 and removing the restrictions which fettered its manufacture, 

 did more to encourage the higher branches of horticulture than 

 any other man of the present century. In making this obser- 

 vation I by no means deny the credit due to the eminent 

 writers and practitioners who have advanced so much the 

 calling in a professional way ; but we have only to look round 

 us to see the multitude of glass structures that have risen up 

 everywhere, and at the same time bear in mind how thinly 

 such things were scattered over the laud before the time of 



that great statesman, and our gratitude to him ought to be more 

 general. Although I do not attach too much importance to 

 such things as require the aid of glass, there is no question 

 that it has been of immense service in the production of many 

 crops which our imcertain climate rendered precarious. Be- 

 sides, the denizens of many of our towns, whose back yards 

 afforded scarcely more room than was required to dust a cai'pet, 

 aud which could only with the utmost skill and economy be 

 made to produce anything either useful or ornamental, can now 

 make them wholly or in part conducive to the pleasure of the^ 

 master of the house, his family, and visitors, and to afi'ord 

 the means of enlivening many an hour after the cares and 

 anxieties of business. 



Apart from the multitude of small plant structures that 

 afford so much enjoyment to the amateur of small means, we 

 have also to look to the caterers for the public market, and 

 there we find what may not inaptly be called whole streets of 

 glass structures, and their number is daily increasing. 01 

 late we have heard of the magnificent Grape houses Mr. Thom- 

 son has erected in one of the border counties, whDe a simUar 

 establishment, over which Mr. Meredith presides, has existed 

 for some years in the vicmity of Liverpool ; and many others 

 might be noted, including the extensive glass structures of our 

 leading nurserymen. Many of these, as well as the other build- 

 ings of which glass forms so important a part, owe their origin 

 to the impulse which cheap glass gave to such things, and we 

 cannot take a railway journey, or even enter a station, with- 

 out being reminded of what has been done with this material. 

 To the above notes of what has been efi'ected by glass might 

 be added much that does not always meet the eye at the gresi 

 number of places of which the general gardening world has 

 heard but little, and yet some of them are scarcely inferior to 

 those which have obtained a wide repute. A visit to Maid- 

 stone a few days ago brought me to one of these places, and 

 two or three years ago I believe I called attention to one of the 

 glass houses that was being erected, and remarked on its unusual 

 size. A second visit has enabled me to furnish some further 

 particulars, which may be interesting to the amateur and pro- 

 fessional gardener, and as the houses have been erected and 

 are managed by one of the former class, the latter will pro- 

 bably be glad to hear the result. 



In one of the suburbs of the town, three or four acres of 

 waste land were purchased by Mr. Godwin. The ground had 

 been a Kentish ragstone quarry, and although offering one ol 

 the prettiest prospects for building, the fact of its being quar- 

 ried deterred builders from venturing upon it, and the debris 

 of the quarry, together with what had been its surface soil, lay 

 in the usual disorderly heaps. The situation, however, was a 

 favourable one — a rather steep incline to the south — and the 

 lower part of it was within a stone's throw of the river Med- 

 way. On this unpromising plot Mr. Godwin determined to 

 try his hand at growing some choice fruits, and at the base 

 of the hill erected certainly one of the largest glass houses 

 I have ever seen. It is a sort of half-span, the longer rafter 

 being 18 feet, and the shorter one 5 feet in length, with a fronts 

 light 2 feet high, and a total length, undivided by any partition, 

 of 385 feet. Is there any similar house that exceeds this in 

 size'? But this house is not the only one, for immediately be- 

 hind it, with an open space of 00 feet between, there is another 

 house of the same dimensions, except that it is 20 feet shorter, 

 or 365 feet in length. 



These structures were erected by Mr. Godwin from his own 

 design. The width of each is 16 feet, and the back aud front 

 wall were constructed of the materials which the ground 

 afforded. Some stone was still to be had, aud some of the 

 best of it was burnt into lime ; with the aid of this and the 

 other waste stone that was found in levelling and puttiug the 

 ground in order, the back and front walls of these two glass 

 houses were built, not in the ordinary way, for the stones, 

 being so small, it was impossible to build them like ordinary 

 masonry, but as a concrete wall, wider at bottom than at 

 top. The wall being thickly whitewashed outside had a pleas- 

 ing appearance, and, from what I saw of it, was likely to stand 

 the weather well — in fact, Mr. Godwin said that the portion of 

 it first built was getting as hard as in buildings that had 

 stood the test of centuries. The front wall is built on arches 

 of the same material, the wall plate embedded on the top, and 

 the woodwork attached in the usual way. The front upright 

 lights are all moveable as ventilators, so are many of the 

 back lights, while a row of pillars inside at, I believe, 8 feet 

 apart support the roof. The main roof is fixed; the sasli- 

 bars stouter than ordinary, and every fifth bar is a rafter. 



