May 5, 1863. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



327 



unable to leave his business, and suspecting tbe cause, he at once 

 wrote to them to make the flow-pipe rise so much in such 

 a distance, which when done was found to answer better than a 

 dozen pumps. 



Might I ask " E. " what it would cost to heat with a flue a 

 house 60 feet long by 18 broad ? Also, the quantity of fuel con- 

 sumed in a week, and the heat he could obtain in a given time ? 

 If not too low in cost, I will try to have hot-water pipes to 

 heat the same for less than four times his expenditure. — J. E. L., 

 Jotb. 



HYBEIDISING EHODODENDEONS AND 

 FUCHSIAS. 



I beg to thank your correspondent, H. H. G-lenville, in your 

 Number, April 7th, for having corrected me in replying to an 

 inquiry the preceding week on Rhododendron culture. At the 

 same time I think I have been misunderstood in the views I 

 took on hybridising, and possibly when I further explain the 

 matter our opinions on tho subject may be found both alike. 



I stated that seedlings from hybrids having some affinity to 

 each other, were more likely to do well than when the cross was 

 between parents differing widely from each other, and I cited 

 Fuchsias as an instance of failure ; but in doing this I by no 

 means denied the likelihood of success between such varieties as 

 Clio and Qaeen of Hanover, for although I am not acquainted 

 with one of them, I conclude they are fashionable varieties of 

 the greenhouse class. Cross-breeding as it is called is a misnomer 

 here, the relationship between the varieties rendering such a pro- 

 ceeding comparatively easy ; but try a cross between two distinct 

 species, as Fuchsia corymbiflora and F. microphylla, and if that 

 succeed then there is cross-breeding in the full sense of the 

 word. It was extreme crosses like this that I thought would 

 not answer in Rhododendrons — say, for instance, a cross between 

 B. catawbiense and R. ferrugineum, or any other widely different 

 species. These were the crosses that I said were not likely to 

 furnish a useful progeny. I am glad, however, that Mr. Cox 

 has given us his experience on the Sikkim kinds. No one that 

 I am acquainted with is better qualified, and I hope he will 

 favour us with other notices on plants cultivated at Redleaf. 

 No doubt in a short time the Rhododendrons there as well as 

 elsewhere will be magnificent. I am glad to hear of their 

 doing so well in Ireland. There, are, however, some places 

 where they will not succeed unless earth suitable for them be 

 obtained elsewhere, and that sometimes at long distances, and 

 even there they can hardly be said to be so much at home as 

 when in a soil natural to the place. — J. R. 



PETUNIAS FEOM NEW YOEK. 



A kind friend to horticulture, whose name is appended below, 

 having sent a package of plants to our worthy coadjutor, Mr. 

 Beaton, who, all lovers of gardening will be sorry to hear, is 

 suffering from a long continued illness, the plants have been 

 kindly consigned to my care ; and I can only thus publicly 

 convey my thanks to the donor, and append his remarks on 

 the plants, which our worthy transatlantic cousin gives in a 

 humoursome style everyway becoming the profession he patro- 

 nises. 



Although the plants sent are named after individuals who 

 figure prominently before both the Old and New Worlds, and, 

 consequently, call forth political feelings of a party nature foreign 

 to the peace-loving profession our periodical so truly advocates, 

 it must, nevertheless, be conceded, that amidst all the tumult of 

 party feeling, irritated now and then by events taking place else- 

 where, our New York friend writes with a tone of humourous 

 playfulness, and does honour to an antagonist of his country, 

 which we are not always disposed to do at home. Whether his 

 prediction of the future governors of the far weBt be true or not, 

 the absence of asperity in a letter (half gossiping, perhaps in- 

 tended), itself speaks of the candour of the writer, who amidst 

 the strife of civil warfare still finds time to follow out the more 

 humanising calling he is evidently so great an ornament of. It 

 will be beBt to give his own introduction to the Petunias, which, 

 as will be seen, were in a letter intended for Mr. Beaton, who 

 had some months back given a favourable opinion of them, from 

 a plate that had been sent him. Writing from New York, our 

 correspondent says — 



"I am certainly highly gratified by your complimentary 

 notice of the plate of my Petunias, which I trust will turn out 



all that you desire. I have now great pleasure in attending to 

 your request, by sending you the two honourable gentlemen, the 

 ' Presidents,' and also some of our military celebrities, by which 

 you will readily perceive that we are at present a warlike people. 



" No. 1. Abe Lincoln, President of these United States, 



" No. 2. Jeff. Davis, present President of the Southern 

 Confederacy. 



"No. 3. Gen. M'Clellan, our next President that is to be. 



" No. 4. Little Mac. We will presume he is the son of the 

 General, further comment is unnecessary in his behalf. 



" No. 5. The Zouave. This is not the original, as he has nearly 

 disappeared from constitutional debility. Having sprung on the 

 paternal side from rather a slender race (Nierembergia intermedia), 

 still his blood circulates in the veins of all this strain of Petunias. 



" Now, my dear Sir, I have said about enough, and complied 

 with your request to the best of my abilities — put both Presidents 

 into your hands, with the apparent succession and his supporters, 

 which you can harmonise at your leisure in your own garden, on 

 the banks of the Thames, without the trouble of a disagreeable 

 passage acrosB the Atlantic. I sincerely trust they may all reach 

 you alive, that you may be enabled at some futuue day to report 

 progress how they succeed under your benign influence. 



" The two M'Clellans are double flowers ; the elder very 

 double, the junior half-and-half (that would do as a sign for the 

 " Hand and Flower " at Hammersmith). The others are such as 

 you see on the plate. 



" I have put in the package two of our native Ferns, Lygo- 

 dium palmatum, and Asplenium rhizophyllum, as I know you 

 are fond of such not-very-plenty things. 



" I will shortly have the pleasure of calling to your notice a 

 new yellow Rose, a seedling off Tea Saffrano, much tbe Bame in 

 habit of growth, and equally free in flowering, only a little more 

 double, of a deep canary colour, and strongly Tea-3cented. This 

 is altogether the best yellow Tea Rose that I have seen. 



" I will send you a plate when it is figured. Trusting this may 

 reach you in the enjoyment of good health, and fully prepared 

 for the season of the grand exhibitions, 

 " Believe me, my dear Sir, 



" Yours very truly, 



"ISAAC BUCHANAN." 



Our worthy correspondent will, no doubt, be pleased to hear 

 that the plants came safely to hand ; and although one or two 

 of them have succumbed to an ordeal so trying to small, half- 

 succulent plants like Petunia, in thumb-pots, still by the 

 duplicates sent all the kinds are alive and doing well, as like- 

 wise are the two Ferns : and it is only fair to bear this public 

 testimony of the admirable packing by which a small case of 

 plants so young and tender have endured the long confinement 

 of a transatlantic voyage, and some delay after reaching England. 

 Of their merits, it is, of course, too early yet to venture any 

 opinion, but I will at a future occasion do so, and I have no 

 doubt but they fully bear out all that has been said about them. 

 At the same time our New York friend, if he has not been in 

 England lately, must bear in mind that improvements have been 

 going on with the Petunia here as well as with him, that the 

 varieties held in high repute three or four years ago, have been 

 succeeded by others much their superiors, the double ones 

 especially being much improved. Nevertheless, due justice 

 shall be done to our far-travelled specimens, and we hope the 

 warlike feeling which has called into existence the names given to 

 the innocent flowers noted above, may have entirely subsided ere 

 the report of their successful flowering here has been wafted 

 across the Atlantic. Their merits, nevertheless, shaD be duly 

 recorded ; and I believe the readers of The Jotjknal of Hoeti- 

 CUItube will be exceedingly glad of communications from the 

 other side of the water making their appearance from time to 

 time in its pages. The present is, therefore, we hope not the 

 last from the party who has forwarded the above communication 

 together with the plants he has sent. — J. Robson. 



THE MEEITS OF AN OECHAED-HOUSE. 

 The discussion as to the value of orchard-houses has been 

 renewed lately, and a good deal has been said in their disparage- 

 ment by those who think unfavourably of them in a remunerative 

 point of view. To try the question on this issue alone might, 

 probably, turn the scale against them, as there are, perhaps, not 

 many (Mr. Rivers and a few others excepted) who are skilful 

 enough to have year after year their trees in full bearing. 



