366 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE, 
there is not a more affectionate and happy creature to be found in 
the race of parrots, while in liveliness it has no equal. Its softer 
notes are frequently uttered at dusk, and are, I imagine, call-notes, 
indicating the time when the flocks gather together for the night. 
But it is full of life all the evening, and in the gaslicht has a 
splendid appearance as it plays the harp and grunts and whistles. 
CHOICK FLOWERS FOR CHRISTMAS. 
BY WILLIAM JOHNSON. 
HE paper on flowers for November, contributed to the 
last issue of the Ftorat Wortp by Mr. Oubridge, whose 
skill asa cultivator iseverywhere known, was well timed 
and full of interest and instruction. I agree with Mr. 
Oubridge that the glass structures might be made more 
attractive during the winter season than is now usually the case 
were the plants available turned to proper account ; and to aid in 
making the best of the winter-flowering plants more generally known 
and their peculiarities better understood, I propose to contribute a 
few notes on the most valuable of those which maybe had in perfection 
during the Christmas and New Year’s festivities. 
To avoid going over the same ground as Mr. Oubridge, I shall 
confine my remarks exclusively to those things requiring the tem- 
perature of a stove during the autumn and winter, if not throughout 
the whole year. And before proceeding further, I would say that in 
all medium-sized gardens, as well as in those of larger size, pro- 
vided no serious objection exists to the expense of maintaining the 
needful temperature, there should be a plant-stove of moderate 
dimensions. It will be found of great use not only for the accommo- 
dation of the things proper to it, but also for accelerating the flowering 
season of azaleas, rhododendrons, hyacinths, and a host of other. 
things, and in the spring the work of propagating bedding and other 
plants can be carried on with a degree of comfort unknown to those 
who have nothing but an ordinary greenhouse and a frame placed 
upon a heap of fermenting materials, to aid them in their work. In 
addition, a few good dishes of seakale may be obtained with no 
more trouble than is involved in lifting the roots, packing them, 
crown upwards, rather close together in deep boxes, and placing them 
under the stages of the house. Of course the boxes will require a 
covering to effectually exclude the light from the seakale, but it ig 
not desirable that I should descend to details. 
_ A very large house will not be required in gardens of limited 
size, but it must not be too small, or it will not-afford space for a 
stock sufficient to pay for the trouble and expense incidental to the 
maintenance of the proper temperature. A most useful! house for 
the small garden is one with a span roof, and about thirty feet in 
length, by fifteen feet in width. The internal arrangem«nts to con- 
sist of a central stage, four feet six inches in width, a stage all round, 
two: feet six inches, and a pathway all round, two feet uiue inches 
