382 



Editors Letter- Box. 



Subscriber, New York. — You can grow orchids very well in the city. They 

 do not require much room, and will give you great satisfaction. Your house 

 must have a sunny side ; for plenty of light is essential, though not the direct 

 rays of the sun. 



Idem. — There is no heath {Erica) hardy with us in New England ; but, with 

 you, many of the kinds cultivated in England out of doors would succeed. 



The heather {Calliind) and its varieties will survive the winter in New Eng- 

 land, and flower well ; and Gypsocallis Jierbacea, soinetimes Erica Jierbacea, is a 

 charmin^ little spring-blooming plant. 



FoLiAGED Plant-Grower, Philadelphia. — We do not know oi Afusa ensete 

 being for sale in this country. It is a noble plant for summer decoration. The 

 following notes, which we find in English magazines, may interest you : — 



" Mitsa ensete. — I have recently seen a fine plant of this musa, that remained 

 in the open air all through the winter of 1S67-8, in Baron Haussmann's garden, 

 in the Bois de Boulogne. It was left in the position in which it grew during the 

 summer of 1867, and in the month of November covered with a little thatched 

 frame, the space about the plant being filled with dry leaves. All the leaves 

 were cut off. In spring, the protection was removed, and the leaves pushed vig- 

 orously. It had (oa the 8th September, iS53) sixteen leaves, not one of which was 

 torn or lacerated, although it was in an exposed position. It was not more than 

 five feet high, but more attractive than larger individuals of the same species, 

 from being so coinpact, untattered in its growth. As most people who grow it 

 will have ineans of saving it in-doors in winter, and as it is so rare, this way of 

 keeping it is not likely to be taken advantage of with us at present ; but that it 

 can and has been so wintered is an interesting fact. Independently of its use 

 in the open air (and it may have been noticed by many readers in Battersea 

 Park during the present season), it is the finest plant ever introduced to this 

 country for planting out in the bed of a conservatory, doing finely in a cool 

 house. The above instance goes far to prove its hardiness ; but I have several 

 times seen it in the greenest health in mid-winter in cool houses around Paris." 

 — IV. Robinson. 



Sub -Tropical Plants at Battersea Pai-k. — The following are the heights at- 

 tained this year by a few of the plants employed in the sub-tropical department, 

 Battersea Park : — 



Ferdinand.! eminens 12 feet. 



Wig.iiidia canicis.ma 8 ,, 



Po ym.ii I smiulis 6 ,, 



L'anna I'eruviana 11 i> 



C Aiinaji 12 ,1 



Caiina maxima 9 feet. 



C V.in H^nittei 9 ,, 



Solaiuini l.icinintum 8 ,, 



Riciniis, several varieties '3 .> 



Musa ensete 15 u 



The Stem of one plant of Musa ensete measured four feet five inches in cir- 

 cumference at the ground, and two and a half feet at three feet higher up. 



Beginner, Portland, Me. — You can easily distinguish our native pines : 

 the while pine has the needles in fives ; the pitch pine has them in three; while, 

 in the red or Nor' ay pine, they are in two. 



