344 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENSB, 



[ October 16, 1874. 



and as a conEequenee of this indifference, in regard to all fruit 

 qualities excepting size and beauty, varieties have become so 

 confused that dealers, and even producers, scarcely know what 

 they are selling, further than that they are Apples. 



THE INDIAN FIG. 



This, the Cactus Opuntia of botanists, is one of the cosmo- 

 politan plants, for we have seen it growing in the open air 

 of Europe, Africa, 

 and Asia, and know 

 those who have 

 seen it similarly 

 thriving both in 

 South and North 

 America. 



Our earliest writer 

 on plants, Lyte, 

 knew little about it, 

 for although in 

 1578 he published 

 a tolerable woodcut 

 of it, he had no 

 more to say rela- 

 tively than that it 

 is " a strange kind 

 of plante which 

 cometh foorth of 

 one leafe set in the 

 grounde, and some- 

 times it groweth 

 high, and is named 

 of Plinio, Opuntia, 

 now in these dayes 

 Ficus indiea "-that 

 is, the Indian Fig, 

 a popular name it 

 still retains. 



Gerarde tried in 

 1583 to induce it 

 to bear fruit, but, 

 he adds, " never as 

 yet, although I have 

 bestowed great 

 pains and cost in 

 keeping it from the 

 injury of our cold 

 clymat." 



We now know 

 that on this plant 

 the Cochineal in- 

 sect is reared, but 

 Johnson who edited 

 a later edition of 

 Gerarde's ' Herbal,' 

 thought that these 

 insects were trans- 

 formations of the 

 plant's substance. 

 He says," Upon this 

 plant in some parts 

 of the West Indiea 

 grow certain ex- 

 crescences which, 



in continuance of time, tnm into insects, and these ontgrow- 

 ings are that high-prized Coehenell wherewith they dye colours 

 in graine." This error was soon dispelled, and the true history 

 of the Cochineal insect and its cultivation were made known. 



Wo have seen at the Cape of Good Hope hedges entirely 

 formed of this plant, and most formidable opponents they were 

 to anyone attempting to pass through them. 



In the " Botanical Magazine," t. 2393, there is a coloured 

 portrait of this Cactus and its yellow flower, with this notice 

 appended : — " Cactus Opuntia is a native of America, and 

 although now indigenous in many parts of the south of 

 Europe, and in Barbary, was probably originally brought 

 from thence. 



" This species is sufficiently hardy to bear our winters with- 

 out protection, provided it is planted in a dry soil. It is well 

 suited to ornament rockwork, in which situation, in the Chelsea 

 gardens, the plant from which our drawing was taken has 

 stood several years." 



" Flowers in June and July, 

 tions." 



Propagated by the articula- 



HEATING BY GAS. 



As a partner in an old-estabUshed house which has from 

 time to time suppUed hundreds, and I may say thousands, of 

 gas boilers for heating apparatus, will yon allow me to ask 

 your correspondent (see page 322) where "the coleur-de-roae 



advertisements and 

 flattering reports " 

 that he refers to ap- 

 pear ? I am afraid 

 his failure arises 

 more from the in- 

 sufficiency of heat- 

 ing surface exposed 

 in the house by 

 using 1-inch pipes 

 than the gas ap- 

 paratus itself. He 

 does not say the 

 height of the house 

 8 feet 4 inches by 

 7 feet wide. If we 

 suppose it is an 

 average of 8 feet 

 G inches high, I 

 would advise his 

 using at least 00 

 feet of 2-inch pipe if 

 to be heated by an 

 improved form of 

 gas boiler with at- 

 mospheric burner. 

 Your correspondent 

 and readers gene- 

 rally must not for- 

 get, as a set-cff 

 against cost of gas, 

 the Uttle or no 

 trouble necessary 

 in attending to a 

 gas stove for small 

 houses compared 

 with cleaning,light- 

 ing, and night stok- 

 ing of a boiler for 

 coal or coke, I do 

 not advocate a gas 

 stove where there 

 is convenience for 

 stokehole and flue 

 for a boiler for coke ; 

 but as there arehun- 

 dreds of small oon- 

 servatories where 

 no other than a 

 gas stove or boiler 

 can be used, I do 

 not see that the 

 cost of gas should 

 be made such a 

 " soare-crow " as 

 D. 



Fig. 101.— The rsDiAN no. 



your correspondent thinks it is. — E. S, 



THE BEDDING IN THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY'S GARDEN, SOUTH KENSINGTON. 

 Good as the bedding display has been in former years, it 

 has this season been equal to that of any previous season, 

 and better in regard to beauty and variety. With a proper 

 play of colour, variety of form, and an harmonious relation 

 throughout, the effect is rich and pleasing. Neutral colours 

 have been largely used and properly arranged ; and to main- 

 tain the popularity of bedding a change was needed, for 

 people had become tired of for ever seeing beds of scarlet and 

 yellow wherever they went ; the public taste has considerably 

 improved, and people now appreciate soft colours in flowers 

 and leafage judiciously combined, and even foliage plants alone 

 for bedding are becoming the first fashion. It is no wonder ; 

 for when they are nicely arranged, and contrasted with care 



