NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 239 



reservoir, when once heated, remains warm for a considerable length 

 of time. The thermometer is generally on an average at 65°. 



In a small house this principle can be adopted for less than 51. ; 

 and in larger ones at a cost at least one-half less than that of hot- 

 water pipes. As you justly remark, a common blacksmith and car- 

 penter are all that are required to put it up. I doubt not but before 

 many years it will be universally adopted by all those who grow pine- 

 apple, melon, cucumber, or even stove and orchidaceous plants, when 

 we shall find dung, leaves, and other fermenting materials excluded 

 from the pinery and stove, and used only for manures. Even I, who 

 can procure tan and dung at a very low rate, am a saver of at least 

 20Z. a-year by this discovery ; therefore the saving must be very great 

 in a larger establishment, where hundreds of loads of dung, tan, and 

 leaves are consumed annually. 



On the 28th of December last the apparatus was set at work, and 

 my foreman commenced propagating Dahlias, which are potted and 

 placed on the top of the slates, and surrounded by sawdust. They 

 are now breaking luxuriantly ; hundreds of cuttings are already off, 

 and plunged in sawdust in another part of the tank. I have used the 

 apparatus for more than eight months, and have been highly suc- 

 cessful in striking some thousands of plants. It is certainly the most 

 complete plan that possibly can be adopted for a propagating-house. j 



PART II. 

 LIST OF NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 



Acacia spectabilis. Showy Acacia. (Bot. Reg. 46.) Leguminosse. Poly- 

 gamia Monsecia. This very neat and pretty species has been introduced into 

 this country by H. B. Lott, E-q ., from New Holland, where it was found grow- 

 ing in Wellington Valley, and on the eastern coast. Mr. Bentham has enu- 

 rated 340 species, and this it is said is the handsomest yet introduced. Mr. Lott 

 presented the plant to Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co., of Exeter, with whom 

 it has bloomed. The appearance of the plant is a beautiful delicacy and soft- 

 ness, the leaves and branches being covered with the most delicate bloom. The 

 flowers are of a clear and soft yellow, and are produced in large racemous masses 

 at the ends of the shoots. It deserves a place in every greenhouse and con- 

 servatory. 



Acacia rotundifolia. Round-leaved. (Bot. Mag. 4041.) Leguminosae. 

 Polygamia Monacia. James Backhouse, Esq., sent this very interesting and 

 pretty species from New Holland in 1842. It has bloomed in the greenhouse at 

 Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. It now forms a shrub about four feet high, with 

 straggling branches ; but is found to be well adapted for training to a wire 

 trellis, fixed to a gardeu-pot, in which it makes a very elegant appearance. The 



