464 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. t Deeeriibci 5, 18«. 



■abbreviated, both very beautifnl, lately gathered by him in Mardale- 

 In the dJBCoveiy of varieties of a Fern that is usually regarded as not 

 fit all " s^iorting," Mr. Barnes has bad singnhir success, having gathered 

 not less than half a dozen distinct forms within almost as many months. 

 A variety of Adiantnm capillns- Veneris was exhibited, from the Cornish 

 coast, EG much and so profoundly incised as hardly to be referable to 

 the type. Mr. J. Hartley azmomiced the discovery by Mr. William 

 Pickles (Newbride, uearHebden-bridge), in the prolific Hebden valley, 

 of a new habitut for Osmuudu regalis, the royal Osmunda never having 

 been previously found in that neighbourhood. Mr. B. Sytes submitted 

 specimeuB of seedling Athv-riums. amongst which was noticeable a 

 mtJtifid " eicnrrens." Apropos of Fem-sportB, the learned and viva- 

 ■■nL i>,.,)jj i: 3v;jj ■,LiX.,?.':lh,o\i ai .i.iv_i ^■■■!'..;M>ii)j -y^: ■•■-jaV.' 1 



cions editor of " LlUnatratiou Horticole," M. Ch. I..emaire,in a IiUe 

 Number of that periodical, referring to the many curious forms of 

 indigenous Ferns exhibited at a recent show of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, by Messrs. Stansfieldand Ivery, remarks, "And there can be 

 no doubt that cultivation has done all this, for of the esotic Ferns thM 

 reach ns, none, or almost none, show variations so marked ! " &c. 

 Cultivation has done but little of this. The major part of the vegetable 

 curiosities over which M. Lemaire is so justly exclamative, were ex- 

 hibited intact, precisely as they had been found wild. But now that 

 the nature of the spores of cryptogams has been so closely looked into, 

 now that hybridisation has been proved practicable, who shall say what 

 cultivation fannot or will not do ? 

 '.,"-. ]'i:r 2r 5iii;jn-5qmi)t ad.' 



HOUSE FOR GROWING THE MANGO AND JIANGOSTEEN. 



As toy papers on tlie cultivation of the Mango, Mangosteen, 

 and other tropical fmitB -woiiW hardly be complete withont 

 some accoimt of a house in livhich to grow them, I purpose this 

 week sajinR a few words on the subject, particularly as a good 

 deal more depends upon the hou.se itpelf thap most persons 



would suppose. 



Abundance of light 



is the main thing 



to be considered in 



erecting a stoTe 



for these trees, as 



unless they have all 



the Ught our mur- 

 ky skies will afford, 



there is no chance 



of their fruiting, al- 

 though the plants 



themselves may 



grow well and even 



flower. Some time 



ago I was asked by 



a lady to look at 



three Mango trees 



which she had, and 



which had been 



cultivated strictly 



in accordance with 



my directions, 



without, however, 



ohtainiug from 



them any fruit. On '^' 



going to see the trees I found they were at the back of 



an old-fashioned and rather dark lean-to stove, half smo- 

 thered with Pines, and shaded on one side by Banana ti-ees. 



The moment I saw them I recommended their being removed 



into a new light house hard hy, wliich could he kept warmer 



than the Pine stove, and where there were no other large 



plants. About twelve or 



fourteen months after- 

 wards I received from 



the lady a letter, ac- 

 companied with two 



well-flavom-ed fruit, 



thanking me for my 



advice, and informing 



me that one of the 



trees had just borne 



fruit for the fii'st time, 



although it had been 



in her garden for ten 



years and more. So 



much for light. But to 



return to our house. 

 I should recommend 



its being span-roofed, 



and as low as practic- 

 able, in order both to 



economise heat, a very 



be higher. i'Vp. 1 is a section of the house, and,^, S^the 

 ground plan, showing how the trees are arranged. 



The house is a span-roof, running north and south. It may 

 be of any required length, but 30 feet is a fair size for a be- 

 ginning, and will accommodate ten fruiting trees. It is 16 feet 



wide, 10 feet high 

 in the centre, and 6 

 feet at each side ; 

 both the ends and 

 sides are glazed, 

 and rest all round 

 on 2 feet of nine- 

 inch brickwork. 

 Dow^l the middle 

 is the bark-bed, 

 82 feet long, by 8 

 feet wide. It is 

 4 feet deep, 1 foot 

 being below the 

 ground level, and 

 the walls are either 

 of brick or thick 

 slate. The house 

 is heated by hot 

 water in four-inch 

 pipes, p p, which 

 go all round ex- 

 cepting where the 

 door is. There are 

 two distinct sets, 

 so that either or 



1. 



Fig. 2. 



important matter, particularly in winter, and also to keep the 

 trees near the glass, which wUl prevent their becoming lanky 

 and drawn, and will enable them the better to ripen their 

 wood. 



The accompanying engi-avings represent the house in which 

 for some time I grew and fruited the llango and Mangosteen, and 

 which, for ordinary purposes, is, I believe, as good as any which 

 could be devised, except that for large trees it would require to 



both can he nseil at pleasm-e, the boiler and furnace, f, being 

 outside at the north-east corner. There are sliding slate 

 ventilators, v v. just below the hot-water pipes, three on either 

 side, each being 2 feet long by 8 inches wide. There are a.lso 

 two other ventilators close to the ridge of the roof, one being 

 in the north side, and the other in the south. As every ray 



of light is of conse- 

 quence, the panes of 

 glass both in the roof 

 and sides are as large 

 as possible, and the 

 laps in the root are 

 very close. The top 

 sashes I should advise 

 being fixed, a« suffi- 

 cient air can always be 

 obtained bj- means of 

 the ventilators, and 

 there is a great danger 

 of chilling the trees if 

 the roof-Ughts move. 



I prefer tan, when 

 it can easily be pro- 

 cured, for giving bot- 

 tom heat, and for 

 plimging the pots or 

 tubs in, to heating the 

 middle bed by hot water. I always fancied (it may have been 

 only fancy, however), that the trees feenied to thrive better 

 in it than in anything else. StUl, I have no doubt but that hot 

 water iu a tank under the bed w-ould do as well, or nearly so. 



In_A'3. 2we see the aiTangement of the bark-bed, showing 

 how the trees are planted. The four trees, 1, 1, 1, 1, down the 

 centre of the bed are the Mangos trained as standards, there 

 should be at the least 5 clear feet between each. The other 



