85 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER, 



[ August i, 1870. 



quite concur in the view of the German ProfeBsor, I have not hesitated 

 to substitute the name of Renanthera for that of Vanda Lowii." 



It was, remarked Mr. Berkeley, a singular fact that the two tawny 

 flowers are strongly scented, while all the others are scentless. The 

 Godetia, shown by Mr. Thompson, of Ipswich, the hybrid Lilium 

 Purity, and the unnamed Natal Orchid from Mr. Wilson Saunders's 

 garden, were nest referred to in highly commendatory terms, and Mr. 

 Berkeley pointed out that the bracts of the last-named are striated 

 exactly like the leaves. Mr. Berkeley concluded by pointing out to 

 the meeting a curious specimen from the garden of Mrs. Lloyd Wynne, 

 of Coed Coch, in which the pigmy Abies clanbrasiliana was seen to 

 be reverting to the common Spruce, thus affording a proof that the 

 upposition that it was a sport of that tree is correct. 



The nest meeting, in conjunction with the Gladiolus Show, will he 

 held on the 17 th inst. 



DIFFERENT ROSES ON THE SAME STOCK. 



I have seven varieties all doing well on the same stock — viz., 

 Gloire de Dijon, Paul Perras, Sir Joseph Paxton, Prince Im- 

 perial, Caroline de Sansal, Charles Lawson, and Madame Charles 

 Crapelet. These are all bndded on a Eose of the Mnltiflora 

 family, white or blush, and are growing on a west wall in front 

 of my cottage. Tour readers will remember the coldness of 

 the weather in April and May, 1869, yet I cut beautiful Hoses 

 from this tree on May 15th, and again on December 25th. All 

 the varieties are thriving, and they had an admirable effect 

 last June when the various coloured flowers were out together. 

 I may add that I had on the same stock General Jacqueminot 

 and a Perpetual Moss, but accidents happened to them, and 

 they were pulled off. — C., Ireland. 



EDIBLE-FRUITED RIBES. 



Tee enclosed fruit, which is of American origin, I have not 

 before observed. It is said to be a hybrid between a Goose- 

 berry and some sort of Currant ; when ripe it is a pleasant sub- 

 acid fruit, is very good for cooking and preserving, and has the 

 great merit of always bearing a heavy crop, even when Currants 

 and Gooseberries fail in the garden in which it grows. — 

 TV. D. Fox. 



[This is one of the many interesting species of Eibes found 

 in North America, we think Eibes oxyacanthoides, although 

 we cannot determine exactly with the fruit only. The fruit, as 

 stated, is not unlike a small Gooseberry, and not unpleasant 

 to eat.— Eds.] 



GLASS WALLS. 



Eveky extension of the use of glass has marked an improve- 

 ment in the science snd practice of gardening. The more glass 

 used in the roof or sides of a bouse the greater the yield, the 

 richer the reward. Gardening lingered long under the shadows 

 of semi-opaque roofs of inferior and dear glass. The emancipa- 

 tion of glass from fiscal burdens marked a new and much higher 

 epoch in cultivation. Within the last thirty years horticulture 

 has advanced more than in three hundred years previously. 

 The chief reasons of this rapid progress are the cheapness and 

 plentifulness of glass. The improvement in quality has kept 

 pace with the increase in quantity, until now good glass, but a 

 few years ago the luxury of the few, has become a necessity to 

 the many. Neither have we reached the limits of its use. The 

 plentifulness of glass has stimulated invention. We are not 

 using enormous quantities of glass for old purposes, but almost 

 daily applying it to new uses. We are roofing our houses and 

 draining our land with glaBS tiles ; applying portable glass to 

 wood and earthenware for the formation of miniature hothouses 

 on the ground or the surface of our walls ; covering the faces 

 of these walls with glass screens, moveable or otherwise ; and 

 last, but by no means least, building the walls themselves with 

 glass. This promises most important issues for horticulture, 

 and will be a substantial boon to every one who grows fruit or 

 flowers against walls. 



Bank any plant up against an ordinary wall, and you weaken 

 it in two ways : You deprive it of motion, and you rob it of 

 light The last is by far the more serious injury. Doubtless 

 the vibration of plants in the open air is a strengthening procesB 

 of more or less power, hut the shutting-out of light is a much 

 more serious and potent cause of weakness than the fixing of 

 plants against walls, for light not only enables plants to assi- 

 milate their food, but to build it up into structure or produee ; 

 it at one and the same time transforms, extends, and consoljr 



dates. By so much as you lessen the supply of light you 

 weaken their assimilating and growing force. It therefore 

 follows that plants on walls will as a rule be much weaker than 

 those not on walls ; and this weakness, born of semi-darkness, 

 renders them liable to diseases, and exposes them to premature 

 death. If, however, by any means plants against walls can he 

 exposed to almost as much light as those in the open air, they 

 will probably become nearly as robust and long-lived. 



Now, by the use of glass for walls each side of the tree, and 

 both sides of the wall, will be more or less fully exposed to the 

 light. Transparent waDs will banish the chilling coldness of 

 northern aspects from our gardens. The sun, that hitherto 

 wasted its strength upon dead bricks, will from henceforth be 

 employed in the nourishment of living trees. Experiments 

 have Bhown that the north side of glass walls is only a few 

 degrees colder than the south side, and there will be but little 

 difference in the intensity of the light upon the two sides. 

 Were the glass perfectly transparent the difference in either 

 light or heat on the two sides would hardly be perceptible ; for 

 though glass bends the rays of light or heat passing through it 

 out of their straight course, it scarcely perceptibly hinders 

 them. But the glass employed in the construction of these 

 walls is rough plate weighing about 2 lbs. to the foot, and there- 

 fore not quite transparent : hence it arrests and retains a 

 certain proportion of the heat, and radiates the remainder back 

 into the air and down upon the ground. There may be some 

 drawbacks incident to the very active radiation of glass walls. 

 Probably they may cool at night faster than opaque walls, but 

 this activity is not an unmixed evil. During hot weather the 

 surface of glass will be cooler than any other wall. The heat 

 that rebounds from this is not lost ; much of it goes to warm 

 the ground and the roots of the trees ; and it seems probable 

 that in practice it will be found the borders at the foot of 

 glass walls will nave a superior mean temperature to those 

 at the bottom of any kind of opaque walls. This reserve of 

 heat stored in the earth during the day, will be slowly given out 

 at night to the protection of the t.vees on the walls. 



The comparative coolness of glass walls during bright sun- 

 shine is also a great cultural advantage. Heterodoxical as it 

 may appear, I am prepared to affirm that we lose more wall 

 trees through an excess of heat than of cold. The sun scorches 

 them on the surface of the bricks or stones with a dry heat of 

 100°, 120°, or 130° ; they succumb, and then we mostly blame 

 the preceding winter. The accumulated force of the sun and 

 the bricks together in nine cases out of ten kills or ruins the 

 trees that die suddenly or become the victims of fatal diseases. 

 On glass walls, not only will the surface be cooler, but the trees 

 perforce must be trained on a trellis from 2 to 8 inches from 

 the glass. So placed, and with such an active radiation behind 

 them, the trees will never be scorched. The advantages will 

 also be wholly on the side of glass in the spring. Our great 

 difficulty through February and March with such excitable 

 subjects as Peaches and Apricots is to hold them back. While 

 the flowers are within the buds they are safe ; once they have 

 come out, they are in danger. The absorptive powers of the 

 brick wall hurry them forth into the cold biting weather. 

 A hot day or two come, and the blazing sun, accumulating 

 its whole force upon the surface of the wall, makes all the buds 

 spring open ; and then frost comes and feasts upon their 

 tender beauty, to the wreck and ruin of our fruit prospects. 

 Glass will act to keep the flowers within their scaly sheaths, 

 where they are well-nigh invulnerable. 



And then, consider for a moment the cleanliness, the ele- 

 gance, and the beauty of glass walls. They hardly afford a 

 hiding place for a thrips ; they seem mirrors for the trees to 

 admire themselves in ; and their beauty, with the sunbeams 

 leaping out and in, and bending down in all directions among, 

 the branches, is a sight that must be seen to be appreciated. 

 Nothing could well be more uninteresting, if not positively ugly,- 

 than our opaque walls, and few things more neat and orna- 

 mental than glass walls ; but they have also utilitarian merits 

 of the highest order. Is space valuable in most gardens ? It 

 is. Glass walls will save about 8 inches out of every 9 occu- 

 pied by brick or other opaque walls. Their strong framework 

 of iron, felt packing, and slabs of glass, with or without a slate 

 base, only occupies about 1 inch of space. They are easily 

 erected, quickly removed, and conveniently portable. They 

 can be had of any height and in any form, as straight, zigzag, 

 square, &c. Being transparent, they may be placed closely 

 together in blocks. By 6uoh arrangements an immense area of 

 wall could be sheltered from spring frosts, and protected from 

 b'rd*, with the smallest possible quantity of canvas or netting. 



