BRIEF REMARKS. Ill 



yards apart they would still do wonders in " lighting up " the garden 

 as it were. I have patches of dwarf bulbs, six feet apart, all along my 

 border, but as I give all of them fair play the patches of each family 

 are a considerable distance from each other; all these are within six 

 or nine inches of the edging. Half way between them I have patches 

 of taller bulbs, Iris, Lilies, &c, but I only plant these patches twelve 

 feet apart, so that they come in the centre, but further back between 

 every alternate two of the dwarfs. I may be a little particular, but I 

 place the same kind in all cases opposite each other. I have strongly 

 recommended one of the great importers of bulbs to make out his 

 catalogue for next season, with the names of all bulbs flowering in the 

 particular months, so that a tyro may order exactly what he wishes. 

 There are many bulbs of great interest, but little known by their 

 names, and London seedsmen are generally unable to inform us any- 

 thing about them ; but a descriptive list, with the heights, colours, 

 season of planting, season of bloom, would be valuable. The principal 

 points that require attention in the culture of bulbs are — 1st, to have 

 the ground well drained ; 2nd, to have the soil rich and light ; 3rd, 

 to plant them before they make tlie least effort to grow ; 4th, not to 

 take them up until the leaves have died down ; lastly, while they are 

 out of ground, to protect them against heat, frost, and damp. I feel 

 assured that if those who do not make bulbs a feature in the gardens 

 will but try the effects of a few Hyacinths, a few Crocuses, a few Scilla 

 sibirica, and a few early Tulips, they will very soon desire to add to 

 their list of bulbs. — E. Mordan, St. Dunstanford, N.B. — Gardener's 

 Chronicle. 



Model, of a Greenhouse, 4 feet 2 inches square, on the 

 Ridge and Furrow Flat-roofed Principle. — On the repeal of 

 the glass duties, Messrs. Hartley and Co. erected several of these, with 

 a view of showing how the materials of glass and iron, or wood, could 

 be best adapted for the economical construction of conservatories. 

 They put up one in the gardens of the Horticultural Society of London 

 in 1 846, and sold several others, among the rest one to W. H. Walker, 

 Esq., Newcastle. Mr. Hartley was the first person to suggest the flat 

 ridge and valley roof for buildings of this kind, thereby doing away 

 with a lap-joint in the glass — a great desideratum, for each ridge is 

 glazed with one single square of glass. He recommended the Royal 

 Commissioners twelve months ago, long before Mr. Paxton came for- 

 ward with his plan, to adopt the principle for the Crystal Palace, 

 offering, as we have heard, to furnish specimens and estimates for the 

 whole building. A section of a ridge and valley roof was exhibited, 

 the span being ten feet ; thus giving in a building such as the Crystal 

 Palace, multiples of ten in place of eight feet, as in that building. 

 '1 his, however, with the high wages paid to Frenchmen, who are 

 employed to blow sheet-glass, would add greatly to the cost were sheet- 

 glass employed. Messrs. Hartley, foreseeing this in 1846, invented a 

 description of cheap rough plate, with which the section of roof is 

 glazed, the size of the squares being 62 inches long and 18 inches wide. 

 This glass is one-eighth of an inch thick, or thirty ounces to the foot 

 (the glass in the Crystal Palace is sixteen-ounce sheet, or one-sixteenth 



