282 Notes of a Visit to several Gardens. 



Emily, if our memory serves us, being a striped variety, of 

 good shape. Chalmerii perfecta is a well formed, deep red 

 flower, of good habit and desirable in every fine collection. 



The cactuses, which embrace some large specimens, were 

 in fine order ; every thing showed the unwearied attention of 

 Mr. Chalmers, the excellent gardener. 



Exotic Nursery of R. Buist. — Since 1843, Mr. Buist has 

 made several additions to his ranges of glass, which now cover 

 many thousand square feet. A small house, heated on the 

 gutter system, has been erected, which Mr. Buist informed 

 us had worked exceedingly well. One of the greenhouses is 

 heated with a boiler on the plan of Messrs. Burbidge 60 

 Healy, which we shall soon describe, with engravings. To 

 show the economy of the plan, we need only state, that the 

 house is 122 feet long, and is heated from one boiler, during 

 the winter, with a consumption of only about four tons of 

 coal. The heat can be got up in twenty minutes ; the pipes 

 are four inch and of cast iron. 



In the Moyamensing grounds, Mr. Buist has added a new 

 rose house since our last visit ; this is a most convenient 

 structure for blooming tender roses in perfection in our cli- 

 mate, and as they can be erected at a moderate expense, we 

 hope to see them in the gardens of amateur rose fanciers. 

 The house is about fifty feet long, fifteen wide, and six feet 

 high in the centre, with a span roof, and a single flue, side of 

 the path, which runs through the middle from end to end 

 under the ridge. The roses are planted out in the ground, 

 and during the summer season the sashes are taken off"; as 

 soon as frosts set in, in October, they are put on again, and, 

 with occasional fires when cold weather occurs, the plants 

 are kept in full bloom until January ; after this, shutters are 

 put on, and the plants allowed to rest, no fires being required 

 only in extreme cold and then not sufficient to raise the ther- 

 mometer above 32°. By the first of March the shutters are 

 taken off, the plants pruned, and in May they commence 

 blooming again, and continue until the succeeding January, 

 when they are again allowed to rest. In this way the China, 

 tea. Noisette, and Bourbon roses, are flowered in the greatest 

 perfection. We should not omit to say the house is only 

 about two feet high on the sides, and consists merely of posts 



