April 21, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTFEE AND COTTAGE QABDENEB. 



21)3 



doing its work well, while the waste of heat was so great that a 

 paper might be lighted at the top of the chimney. Economy of 

 fuel must, therefore, be one of the requisites. I n,ay add that we 

 have in use three conical and two rather large corrugated saddle 

 boilers, all of them tolerably good, but all, I think, capable of 

 improvement. Another boiler of a dim-rent construction is less 

 satisfactory, while Perkins's coil of pipes in use at the mansion 

 ia not adapted to gardening purposes. 



If tbe house in question had been only intended for green- 

 house plants, I would have been contented with a due such as 

 was described in a former article : but more heat being wanted, 

 in what way is that to be effectually and economically obtaiuetf ? 

 Without being in the least prejudiced, I have rather a dislike to 

 patents. They fetter rather than improve what originally existed, 

 and in more cases than one that I could mention, they have 

 proved losing affairs to those who took them out. This, how- 

 ever, is foreign to my subject, eta x simply ask which is the best 

 hot-water-heating contrivance at present in use. I shall be 

 glad to have the opinion of practical men on the subject, and 

 the question is one well worth discussing in the columns of The 

 JorBXAL of Hoeiictxtube. A few plain suggestions on the 

 heating of a given space will suffice, and if we take as an example 

 the house in question, winch will contain a volume of 2.'0 or 

 270 cubic yards of atmospheric air, might I ask for what could a 

 hot-water apparatus be obtained that would efficiently heat that ? 

 and as a contrast between this and flues, it will be as many 

 pounds as our correspondent "E." said his cost shillings. This, 

 however, I leave for others to say. At the same time those who 

 have a shallow pit heated well by somebody's boiler, must make 

 some calculation of the small volume of air it has to work upon, 

 and not too hastily pass any eulogium on its merits. To econo- 

 mise heat to the utmost is one of the best qualifications of a 

 boiler, aud whether this is already done in any of the boilers we 

 now have or not is more than I can say. At all events let us 

 determine which is the best. J. Roeson. 



THE BAEBADOES POTATO. 



I HATE not as yet been able to discover this valuable variety. 

 M-ny people have fancied that they had it ; hut en examination 

 their specimens, although somen hat resembling the old sort, have 

 differed in the most important features. 



This Potato is something like a Tarn in shape, is often a foot 

 in length ; it has a skin as smooth as satin ; it is very mealy 

 with a rich flavour, and very prolific. It is also one of the 

 earliest sorts. There has been no crop of it in this neighbour- 

 hood for seventeen years. Has this variety become extinct ? — 

 A COHSTASI ReaT-EE. 



Messrs. Peter Lawson i Son, Nurserymen, Edinburgh, may 

 have this Potato. They thus describe it in their " Agriculturist's 

 Manual:" — "Height of stem 2i feet, rather upright; foliage 

 loose and light green : flower light purple ; tubers oblong, whitish, 

 straight, much flattened, rather small, skin sometimes slightl\ 

 tinged with red near the point. Increase ten-fold. Rather waxy, 

 goodish flavour, pretty heaithv, 672 grains trov of starch in 

 1 lb. of tubers."— Eds'.] 



GARDEN HELPS. 



The " helps " I have in my garden axe the elder childi'en. 

 I get them up in good time in the morning, and then again after 

 school-time. The exercise is healthful, and reward sweetens 

 labour, as I give them Id. per hundred for slugs and snails, and 

 lid. per hundred for caterpillars. — D., -Yeweastle. 



[The " yellow reptiles " are centipedes, and we believe not 

 injurious to plants. We always consider that they consume 

 decayed organic substances. — Eds.] 



SPAEEOWS DESTEUCTIYE TO LETTUCE. 



I Ail fond of Lettuce, nothing to my mind being more refresh- 

 ing than a nice White Paris Cos, fresh from the garden, with the 

 usual et-ceteras. But the sparrows are also fond of their salad 

 — a similarity of taste by which I have lately been a sufferer. 



Last Friday I planted out a small crop, the plants used bein^ 

 rather young and tender; on Saturday they remained uninjured, 

 but on Sunday the attack began, and I observed several sparrows 



busily engaged with the green leaves. I determined that the 

 bed should be protected by twine as 3 ooa as Monday came, but 

 by that time every green leaf was gone. Not having any more 

 plants I have had to sow again. 



Having sail this much against sparro.vs, it is but just to state 

 in then- favour that they were also busily employed iu picking 

 up insects on the adjoining new-dug ground. A market-gardener 

 of great experience lately told me that, though troublesome at 

 times, he considered the sparrow was the most useful bird we 

 Lave. — Tyeo. 



POETEAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



CcELoersE lagenabia (Flask-shaped Coelogyne). — LVat. ord., 

 Orehidaeea?. Linn., Gynaudria Monandria. .Native of the 

 Himalaya, bloomed at Messrs. Jaeksou's Nursery, Eingston-ou- 

 Thames. Flowers white, lip blotched with crimson. Dnfortu- 

 nately the leaves do not appear at the time of the flowers. — 

 (Botanical Magazine, t. 5370.) 



EjfCEPHALAKTtrs HOBEEDirs, car. TBISEDTOSA (Three-toothed 

 Encephalartus). — Sat. ord., Cycadaeeos. Linn, Dieaoia Poly- 

 andria. Native of the Cape. The species has been called 

 also Zaruia horrida. — {Ibid. t. 5371.) 



Codonopsis cordaia (Heart-leaved Codonopsis). — LVat. ord., 

 Campanulacete. Linn., Pentaudria Mouogynia. JS at ive of moist 

 woods in mountains of Java, at elevations between 3500 and 

 SOOO feet. A gracefully climbing plant with sickly-green flowers. 

 —(Ibid., t. 5372.) 



LxciOPEESirrji prrBiFiOBinir (Downy-flowered Lycioplesium) . 

 — Nat. ord., Solauacets. Linn., Pentaudria Mouogynia. Very 

 handsome and coming from near Ciiiloe, probably hardy. In- 

 troduced by Messrs. Veitch & Sons through then: collector Mr. 

 Eichard Pearce. Flowers purple, and remind one of the Fox- 

 glove. — (Ibid., t. 5373.) 



Cyetanihps lutescess (Yellow-flowered Cyrtanthus). — 

 Sat. ord., Amaryllidacea?. Linn., Hexaudria Monogynia. Cape 

 bulb. Fiowers graceful and very fragrant, produced in a warm 

 greenhouse during February. Introduced by W. W. Saunders, 

 Esq.— (Ibid., i. 5374.) 



Calakthe Yeitchii HT3En>A (Yeitch' s Calanthe). — A garden 

 hybrid. Flowers pink. Obtained by Mr. Doniiny, in Messrs. 

 Yeitch & Sons' Bursery at Exeter, by fertilising Limatodes rosea 

 with the pollen of " that variety of the white Calanthe vestita, 

 which has a purple spot at the base of the lip." — (Ibid., t., 5375.) 



FEEE-Fi.owEErf.-G- Monochjeum, — Introduced by Messrs. 

 Smith, Nurserymen, Dulwich. Flowers deep pink. A variety 

 of Monoehietuni sericeum. — (Floral JSaguzi..e, pi. 11-1.) 



Dise-shapfjo Nemophxla. — A variety of Nemophihi maculata, 

 raised by Messrs. Gartsr & Co., High Holborn. Corolla white, 

 with the entire base of the disk deep purple. — (Ibid. pi. 142.) 



Steeped Japanese Cuetsasthetjxii.— Exhibited by Air. 

 Standish, Royal Nurseries, Bagshot and Ascot, who received it 

 from Mr. Fortune. Florets some red and some white, with 

 others striped longitudinally red and white. — (Ibid., pi. 143.) 



Yaeieties of Cape Heaths. — Messrs. Rollissou, of Tooting. 

 " Erica profnsa (pink with white disk), raised between Erica 

 Macnabiana rosea aud E. aristata major, the former being the 

 mother plant. Erica affinis (lemon-coloured), raised between 

 E. Cavendisldana, also Messrs. Kollisson's seedling, and E. de- 

 pressa, the last-named being the mother." — (Ibid., pi. 144.) 



CnEXSAyiHEMUits, raised by Mr. Salter. Talbot, " a deep 

 rosy hlae with silvery tips," head close and full. Princess Alex- 

 andra, " outer florets ueep blush-lilac on the outer surface, 

 creamy within, and the central florets lemon-coloured," heads 

 incurved and well filled-out. — (Florist and Pomologist, ii., p. 42.) 



Apeicoi Caseco gbosso. — An Italian variety, from Canino, 

 in the Papal States. Introduced by Mr. Rivers, Nurseries, 

 Sawbridgeworth. Fruit larger than the Royal, melting, ex- 

 cellently flavoured, and peculiarly high-coloured ; orange and red 

 on the sunned side. live hardy and free-growing. — (Ibid., 

 P-iS.) 



PROPAGATING HOST EASILT THE WEIGELA 



ROSEA. 



Havln'G noticed the question often asked, How to propagate 

 the Weigela ? I am induced to give the most ready way I have 

 yet seen by which any quantity of it may be propagated with 

 the utmost ease. 



