BRIEF REMARKS. 



135 



which its peculiar open porous nature greatly contributes. The value 

 of charcoal as a constituent of the soil depends almost wholly on its 

 physical condition, for a dense (close) charcoal is of little or no use, 

 and the more open and porous it is, the more serviceable to plants, 

 acting as a constant magazine of gaseous food. 



Heating a Forcing-house. — I have just put up a small forcing- 

 house, ten feet long by about seven feet wide, for the purpose of striking 

 cuttings, forwarding Gloxinias, &c, and hastening plants into bloom in 

 winter. 1 do not know how to treat it. I wish to have both top and 

 bottom heat. Would a tank answer for the latter? And do you think 

 I could place the flue from the fire-place below the tank, so as to supply 

 atmospheric heat ? Perhaps you would inform me of the probable 

 cost of the above. If the above plan would not answer, perhaps you 

 would have the kindness to insert in your next Number the best plan 

 for treating it, and at the same time a cheap one. — (We advise you not 

 to try the tank system. We have seen a great deal of it, and in winter 

 the houses and plants have been saturated with the exhalation. We 

 never saw an instance of its succeeding to satisfaction. Hazard's 

 system of heating, where there is no smoke, &c, answers admirably. 

 We will send you every particular. Nothing can be better than it is. 

 An account of it is given in this Magazine: see volume for 1847. — 

 Editor.) 



Coronilla geauga. — This very free flowering plant can be had in 

 bloom throughout the year. Its pretty yellow pea-formed flowers, 

 produced in fine clusters, are at all times interesting, but it is during 

 autumn, winter, and early spring that they are especially so, for which 

 period the plant is an unrivalled bloomer, and merits a place in every 

 greenhouse or sitting-room window. The blossoms too are fragrant. 

 The plant is nearly hardy, so that in a common greenhouse it thrives 

 freely. It is of easy culture. Cuttings strike root readily in spring, 

 and the plants flourish in a compost of equal parts of turfy loam, turfy 

 peat, and old pulverized cow-dung. The plant furnishes an abundance 

 of fibrous roots, and therefore requires plenty of pot room, and when 

 growing a very free supply of water. It amply repays for any atten- 

 tion given in its management. It is adviseable to raise fresh stock 

 every second year. I have tried it in the open ground, but it produces 

 very few flowers when so grown. 



One Shift System of Potting Plants. — The principal object 

 aimed at in this system is rapidity of growth, and to possess a fine 

 specimen in a much less period of time than could be readily realized 

 by freemen t repotting. By this practice the labour of repotting is 

 saved, nor do the plants require such frequent watering. To do this 

 effectually you should have a plant that has not had its roots matted 

 around the side of the pot; a young plant whose roots naturally extend 

 every way is the sort to begin with. It is true a very small plant in a 

 large pot looks unsightly, and such pots take up a large space, and 

 should the greenhouse, stove, &c, be small it. is very objectionable. 

 However, where quick growth is concerned, the system has its advan- 

 tages. In order, however, for the small plants to succeed well placed 

 in a large pot, there must be a very liberal drainage to allow super- 



