REMARKS, 237 
suppose. For white beds use Clarkia pulchella alba, Nemophila ato- 
maria, or White Virginian Stock; for pink or rose colour, Clarkia 
p- rosea, Saponaria calabrica, or Rose Virginian Stock; few things 
make a more splendid yellow or orange bed than Eschscholtzia, and 
for a dwarf very compact bed of the same colour the common Mimulus 
moschatus is well adapted, if the situation is not too shady ; for blue 
beds, Nemophila insignis, Lupinus nanus, the late blue Forget-me- 
not, or the beautiful but rather scarce Centaurea depressa; for dwarf 
scarlet beds Verbenas or Geraniums are indispensable, but a taller bed 
may be made of Pentstemon gentianoides ; the different varieties of 
Antirrhinum majus are also very useful, particularly the dwarf double 
white variety —the taller kinds may easily be made dwarfer by pegging 
them down; for a purple bed, nothing surpasses the purple branching 
Larkspur, if raised from seed on a warm border, planted out eight inches 
apart, and pegged down twice during the growing season. The rest of the 
annuals in the above list may be sown at once in their places, and 
thinned out to proper distances. The Musk and Forget-me-not are hardy 
perennial plants, as are also the Antirrhinums and Pentstemons. The 
time for sowing annuals must be regulated by the period at which the 
greatest display will be most useful ; and as this will generally vary from 
the middle of July to the middle of September, the seeds should be sown 
from tie beginning of April to the end of June. The little Chenos- 
toma polyantha makes a very pretty dwarf bed; it should be sown in 
March, in a warm frame, pricked out into boxes as soon as it is up, 
and planted out at the usual time; the young plants will require stop- 
ping, in order to induce a bushy habit. Lobelia erinus grandiflora 
is known in the seed-shops as L. e. compacta grandiflora. This, and 
all the other varieties of ZL. erinus or L. gracilis, although called 
greenhouse plants in catalogues, are excellently adapted for flower- 
garden decoration; they may be propagated in early spring, either by 
seeds or cuttings, and, with proper attention to potting or transplanting 
them into frames as they require it, will be ready for bedding out by 
the middle of May. They will commence flowering immediately, and, 
unless the ground is very poor, will continue till the end of September. 
— Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
TEMPERATURE OF OrcHnID-HOUSES.—In managing the temperature 
of an Orchid-house, some have been misled by fancying that because 
the inmates come from what is called a “ tropical climate,” they should 
naturally be kept very hot and moist at all times; others again imagine 
that those from the hotter and damper parts cannot be advantageously 
cultivated in the same house with those from drier and cooler stations, 
Now in all places where epiphytal Orchids are found, there are at 
least two seasons, a dry and a damp, with transitions from each; and 
although the transitions may be but of short duration, yet they repre- 
sent spring and autumn. Orchids, therefore, like other plants, have 
the power of adapting themselves to changes of climate and locality, 
both as regards heat, shade, moisture, and full exposure to bright light, 
and they will even endure a certain degree of cold. Lelia majalis 
grows upon Oaks in the mountains of Mexico, where the ground in 
the cool season is sometimes covered with hoar frost. Such low 
temperature, however, must always be endured at the expense of 
