PARLOR PLANTS. 99 



are better. One ounce to a gallon of water, is sufficiently strong 

 for any plant, and this should be used only once a week or fort- 

 night. He knew ladies wlio cultivated Cambridge Pet, Perfection, 

 and other fine flowered pelargoniums in their windows better than 

 they are generall}' grown in greenhouses. Macranthum, an old 

 variety, succeeds as well as any of the scarlets. It has a some- 

 what coriaceous foliage which does not gather dust like the downy 

 leaved kinds, and produces clusters of flowers as large as any of 

 the ordinary azaleas. It is flgured in Sweet's " Geraniacese," 

 vol. I, No. 83. 



President Parkman asked why Daphne odora was omitted, and 

 Mr. Rand replied, " from sheer neglect." 



"W. C. Strong asked why Coronilla glauca was omitted, but though 

 Mr. Rand thought it very beautiful in the greenhouse, he had 

 never tried it as a parlor plant. 



A. P. Calder said that he had used saltpetre in the greenhouse 

 with excellent effect, in connection with a solution of cow dung. 

 It heightened the color of violets, and was also excellent for roses. 

 He dissolved a small handful in eight or ten gallons of water, and 

 applied about once a week, but it must not touch the foliage. It 

 has the desirable property of improving the color of flowers 

 without stimulating the growth of plants. His experience in 

 using it as above described, was on strong plants growing in the 

 ground ; on weaker plants, or those in pots, it should be much 

 more diluted.* 



Henry F. Fi'ench wished to know whether greenhouse cultivators 

 were in the habit of using commercial fertilizers, or trusting to 

 the ordinary sources of manure. 



Mr. Rand replied that in greenhouse culture the fertilizer gen- 

 erally used is cow manure in a finely divided form. Commercial 

 fertilizers were seldom used, 



P. Brown Hovey said that James Comley used saltpetre in his 

 greenhouse with good efl^ect, at the rate of a handful to a barrel 

 of water, applied not oftener than once a month. In planting 

 gladiolus bulbs, he opened a drill four inches deep, and strewed 

 in saltpetre, at the rate of a handful to twenty feet in length, and 

 chopped it into the ground, so that it should not come in direct 



* The Editor feels it his duty to urge the greatest caution in the employment of so 

 powerful a stimulant as saltpetre. Among the various methods of using it, men- 

 tioned in this discussion, the iveakest solution is the safest. 



