412 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 9, 1863. 



Eor reasons which you will readily understand I am unwilling 

 to indicate more precisely the habitat I found. 



The plants, of which I Becured several young specimens, are 

 remarkably fine, the fronds in many instances being from 12 to 

 18 inches in length ; and as a justification of my having dis- 

 turbed it I may say that it was very abundant in the spot in 

 which I discovered it. 



I shall be glad, if you think it necessary to verify my state- 

 ment, to send yon a dried frond. — John E. Boweotham, Town 

 Hall, Manchester. 



SAM SLICK'S GARDEN. 



I must add my testimony to that of " A Fbiend to Feoei- 

 CUETuee," in your Number of the 12th of May, when he alludes 

 to the flower garden and grounds of the Hon. Mr. Justice Halli- 

 burton (the renowned Sam Slick), at Gordon House, near Isle- 

 worth. I accidentally visited this place in the summer of 1862, 

 and I would advise both lady and gentlemen amateurs to ask 

 permission to do so, which will be courteously granted. 



The arrangement and planting of the flow"er-beds is a perfect 

 study, and I will in a future Number venture on a brief de- 

 scription. The success of these gardens is, I am told, entirely 

 owing to the taste and industry of the fair owner, who with very 

 limited assistance (two men and a boy, I understood), continues 

 to keep in perfect order 6i- acres of flower and kitchen garden. 

 — A Constant Stjbscbibee. 



NEW BEDDING GERANIUMS. 



There are very few of your readers who do not regret the 

 absence of Mr. Beaton's articles from your Journal. Those of us 

 who are interested in the cross-breeding of flowers, especially 

 bedding plants, have felt disappointment as week after week 

 your Journal has appeared on our tables, and no lively pleasant 

 page with the well-known signature at the bottom. Though per- 

 sonally unknown to me, I for one desire to express my regret at 

 the blow by which, I hope only for a time, Providence has de- 

 prived floriculture of one of its most learned professors. It is 

 not many months ago that Mr. Beaton announced in your pages 

 his possession of a variety of seedling Geraniums of all colours 

 except yellow, that he hoped to obtain even that, and as yellow 

 as a buttercup, and that already lie had one of a true orange. 

 It was by the aid of his very accurate article in your Journal, 

 descriptive of the bedding-out at the Crystal Palace, that last 

 August I was able to find out all the novelties which he had 

 sent to be tried there. That same article, by-the-by, sent me on 

 a fool's errand, for no sooner had I seen the Crimson Minimum 

 and Lord Palmerston, especially the latter, than off I went to the 

 nearest nursery in hopes of obtaining both. But I was told at 

 once, " Oh ! you are too fast, sir, by a year or two ; those Gera- 

 niums are only sent for trial, and wo'n't be in the trade for, 

 perhaps, a year or two." That same Lord Palmerston, however, 

 has appeared this year, and if I mistake not, I have also the 

 Crimson Minimum of the Crystal Palace. I bought it last year 

 of Messrs. E. Henderson & Co. under the name of Minimum Nose- 

 gay. Lord Palmerston is a magnificent Geranium. There was, I 

 believe, only one bed of it last year at the Crystal Palace, on the 

 eaBt side of the Eose Mount— one of the round beds— it caught 

 my eye directly. Its colour is very bright, and the trusses are 

 absolutely immense. Eor large beds and where a strong and 

 attractive effect from a distance is required, it is the finest of the 

 whole breed. I confess, however, to a weakness in favour of a 

 more dwarf style of growth. If such a truss as Lord Palmer- 

 ston could be obtained on a mere prostrate-growing and shorter- 

 jointed Geranium, I should say that, so far as that colour is 

 concerned, we had reached perfection. Now, Mr. Beaton men- 

 tioned a seedling of his which, as far as my memory goes, was to 

 beat anything— Cybister or The Tumbler was, I think, the name. 

 I want it for breeding from. Now, who has that ? Is it only 

 m Mr. Eyles' or Mr. Gordon's keeping yet ? I do not see it in 

 any catalogues. The Crimson Minimum is the Geranium which 

 Mr. Beaton himself recommended to Mr. Fish in preference to 

 Stella ; and it is superior to Stella in my opinion, because though 

 the colour is much the same as also the truss, the habit is very 

 much shorter-jointed and dwarfer. In the mass, therefore, you 

 would have more flowers. 



T ^l°n \ he nurser 7 t0 which I went for the purpose of getting 

 Lord Palmerston and Crimson Minimum— viz., Messrs. Carter 



and Co.'s, Crystal Palace Nursery, I have received this spring — 

 Lord Palmerston, Spread Eagle, Merrimac, and Miss Parfitt. 

 The last three, especially Spread Eagle, are apparently very 

 dwarf. Can any one tell me if any of these last three is 

 Cybister or The Tumbler? I know nothing about their flower- 

 ing capabilities or their habit of growth ; but they appear, as 

 most of the new Nosegay section do, to have a close relationship 

 to the Crimson Ivy-leaf Geranium. 



And now I have a secret to reveal which, if this should meet 

 Mr. Beaton's eyes, will, I hope, give a fillip to restoring his 

 health. The desire of cross-breeders, in one direction at least, 

 has at last been produced. It may be seen at Messrs. J. & C. 

 Lee's, Royal Vineyard Nurseries, Hammersmith. Having an hour 

 to wait for the train at Kensington, I strolled into Messrs. Lee's 

 delightful nursery. In one of the smaller Bpan-roof houses 

 devoted to bedding Geraniums I saw, I could scarcely believe 

 my eyes, a white variegated Geranium with a white flower. " Five 

 guineas for a plant ? " " No, sir, it is not for sale." — F. M. Adey, 

 The Cell. 



[The Editors will be readily believed when they say that no 

 one feels more deeply than they do the illness which has with- 

 drawn Mr. Beaton from their side. They hope it is only a 

 temporary withdrawal, for Mr. Beaton is better in health, yet 

 some time must still elapse before he can resume his pen. — 

 Eds. J. of H] 



FAILURES IN A VINERY. 



HOT-WATEB PIPES EEQUIKED FOB HEATING A VINEBY 



AND CtTCUMBEB-HOUSE. 

 I sitaxi be obliged by your giving me your opinion on an 

 alteration I intend making in a vinery, and also on the addition 

 of a Cucumber-house to vinery. Three years ago I built what 

 was intended for an "orchard-house" 20 feet long by 12 wide, 

 lean-to, brick sides and ends, fixed roof, ventilation at front and 

 back. Inside the house is S feet high at back, 3 feet in front, 

 with a sunk path in the middle 2 feet wide, leaving the borders 

 5 feet wide. Partly from the ground being raised outside 

 and the house built on very low ground, the surface of the 

 border is quite 2 feet below the level outside, which I believe 

 makes the border cold and damp. In May, 1860, I planted 

 three Black Hamburghs at the end, which is nearly north by 

 west, the house facing south-west. The Vines have made good 

 growth. This is the first year of bearing, and I have about forty 

 bunches. Many of the berries have the spot, and are becoming 

 gangrened, to remedy which I would propose in September 

 carefully lifting the Vines, which are inside the house, and there 

 is no means for the roots to go outside ; to remove the soil down 

 to the stone rubble, &c, at bottom of border, to place a hot- 

 water pipe there, well covering it with rubble ; and to remake 

 my border, and have it as high as the outside ground ; also to 

 make a border outside in front for the roots to run through the 

 arches. I presume the mischief arises from want of root-action. 

 In 1861, at the south-east end, I planted three Muscat of 

 Alexandria Vines, but they have made but very little growth. 

 Would they answer better planted in the centre of border as 

 Sanders recommends ? In the event of my moving them, would 

 it not be best to plant them in front, to do away with centre 

 palh, and to put it at back of house ? 



At the north-west end is a brick pit with six lights, so I can- 

 not allow the Vines to run out there ; and at the south-east end 

 I wish to join the Cucumber-house. The Cucumber-house to be 

 12 feet long by 9 wide, v/ith a kind of hip-back or half span- 

 roof, glass in the front under the eaves, and brick at the back, 

 and glass end at south-east — path 3 feet wide in centre, border 

 on each side 3 feet wide, to be heated by hot-water tank. What 

 size pipe must I use to heat Vine-borders, and how many pipes 

 to heat the house ? Also, what pipes to heat Cucumber-house ? 

 I wish one boiier to do the whole heating, and to be placed 

 at the back of the two houses. Will you be kind enough to 

 advise me ? What I require to heat is not of any extent, and 

 another thing to be borne in mind is that the gardener has never 

 had experience witli hot water. — Edgarley. 



[We do not think that your Vines need have suffered if the 

 ground had been properly drained, though it will be an advantage 

 to have the inside ground equally high with the outside. We 

 should never think of planting Muscats in a mere orchard-house. 

 They could only ripen in a fine sunny summer and autumn. 

 Your Hamburghs may be suffering as much from deficient venti- 



