116 MISCF.LLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



the open air. An early answer will be an additional favour,as if they do succeed 

 it is her intention to procure some to plant out this spring. 

 Tomes, Devon, Feb. 17, 1844. 



[We have seen a large bed of Lilium lancifolium. album, grown in the open 

 air, and b ooming beautifully, and several of the punctatum and rubrum do 

 equally well. The bulbs were planted in small pots, and kept in a cool frame, 

 and the plants turned out early in spring into the open bed, the soil of which 

 was a sandy peat and light loam, about equal parts. There is no doubt but that 

 they may be planted out at once into a bed or border, as done with the old kinds 

 of Lilies, where the substratum is dry and the compost light, as above described, 

 and will flourish equal to the common kinds. We have been informed by a 

 friend that he has tried it one season with entire success. — Conductor.] 



On Orange Trees. — I am but a beginner in gardening, but having erected a 

 small conservatory and a greenhouse I have a promise of a present of a dozen 

 Orange Trees, which have been in the possession of my friend for several years, 

 but they grow weakly, and appear of a sickly yellow hue. What is the best 

 kind of compost to grow them in, in tubs or large earthen pots, as on my first 

 obtaining the plants I intend to remove them into one or the other. An answer 

 in the March Cabinet will much oblige, Enquirer. 



[Chopped turfy-loam, well enriched with rotten cow-dung, to which add one 

 quarter of turfy sandy peat and a tolerable sprinkling of bits of charcoal, aud 

 small granite stones added. In this compost, with a free bottom drainage, and 

 not to be over-potted, the plants will grow vigorously, if otherwise properly 

 attended to. We have seen them growing quite robust in such compost. — Con- 

 ductor ] 



REMARKS. 



On Preserving Exomc Plants suited vor the Flower-gakokn in Summer 

 duuing Winter, and early Spring. — 'The flower-gardens are, during the 

 summer months, in many cases, almost exclusively decorated with exotics ; and 

 too much cannot be said in favour of a practice that enables them to rival, for a 

 time, the sun-lit scenes of happier climes, from which we have lately received 

 many plants so perfectly suited to such a purpose, aud so exquisitely lovely when 

 displaying their beauty in masses, that without them our gardens would be a 

 blank indeed. What, in all the range of floral beauty, unlimited as it is, could 

 compensate us for the loss of even that single group, the matchless Verbenas ? 

 The duration of plants used for this purpose, under the mode of culture this prac- 

 tice has introduced, is only annual ; as they require to be propagated in autumn 

 or spring, produce their blossoms during the season, and perish at its close. As 

 they cannot be turned out with any certainty of success until the season is far 

 advanced, the small plants require to be planted thick enough to cover the soil, 

 and produce an immediate effect. Thus a moderate sized garden requires a con- 

 siderable number of plants to furnish it annually, a prospect that would have 

 appalled even the best gardeners of yore ; but at the present day, where suffi- 

 cient means are allowed, the propagation of the plants is a matter ol no diffi- 

 culty. In cuttings, put in during February or March, failures seldom occur; 

 when they do, they are generally the effect of too much confinement, and not, as 

 is often assumed, of too much water. For the sort of cuttings I am speaking of, 

 during the early part of the season, double glass is altogether unnecessary : 

 wateiiug them overhead during sunshine, while air is admitted, will prove of 

 more service than covering them with glasses or shading, a practice that ought 

 to be avoided. 



The inexperienced will find a frame with a little bottom heat, covered four or 

 five inches deep with light soil, the cuttings planted in the soil, a most efficient 

 apparatus ; and those who possess a stove or hothouse will find that cuttings in 

 pots, plunged in the bark-bed, and fully exposed to the light, will root without 

 further trouble. 



The introduction of so many plants into the houses at a time when those 

 wintered there are begiuning to grow, and require more room, is a serious evil ; 



