July 19, 1864.] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



51 



case soldered up, and one opened through the wall of the 

 house instead (12 inches square will be ample), leaving no 

 possible means for the gas to escape into the house. One 

 great advantage of heating by gas is, that all the heat 

 generated is available inside the house, none of it is lost. 

 An apparatus such as I describe ought to be set up for 

 about £6. 



I found only one drawback in using this apparatus — viz., 

 t'aat a considerable quantity of water is precipitated by the 

 combustion of the air by the Bimsen's burner (I would say 

 as much as half a pint every night). This water flowed 

 over the floor of the greenhouse, and kept it rather in a 

 mess at that part of it, and I was informed by an eminent 

 gas-engjneer that this water was deleterious. It might 

 lave been the evaporation from it that injured the plants. 

 However, as it will be precipitated altogether within the 

 tin case, an arrangement can be easily made to make it flow 

 off to the outside of the greenhouse by a small aperture left 

 for the purpose. 



I cannot agree with Mr. Wills that it will be better to 

 apply the heat direct by a flue or pipe, at least when heat- 

 ing a conservatory. I think that the circulating hot water 

 is necessary to fix and diffuse the heat through the house 

 and give it out gradually. In the way that he uses it the 

 earth lying on the pipe would produce the same effect as 

 the hot water, but the apparatus must be made of light 

 materials. A friend of mine lately set up one after seeing 

 the result of mine. His gas-fitter would not have the light 

 materials, but used the heaviest four-inch metal pipes ; and 

 when his apparatus was set to work, he found he could not 

 get as much heat with thousands of feet of gas as I did 

 with hundreds. — S. J. H. 



POETEAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWEES, AND 

 FETTITS. 



Macleania speciosissima (Splendid Macleania). — Nat. 

 ord., Vacciniaceae. Linn. Decandria Monogynia. Native of 

 Columbia. A lovely flowering shrub, flowers scarlet tipped 

 with yellow. Requires to be placed on a bracket, in a warm 

 greenhouse, that its branches may hang down.— (Sot. Mag., 

 t. 5453.) 



Dendrobium marginatum (White-edged Dendrobium). — 

 Nat. ord., Orchidaceae. Linn. GynandriaMonandria. Intro- 

 duced from Moulmein by Messrs. Hugh Low & Co. Flowers 

 white, lip spotted with orange ; lower lobe orange, but white 

 edged.— (Ibid., t. 5454.) 



Micranthella Candollei (De Candolle's Micranthella). 

 — Nat. ord., Melastomaceas. Linn. Decandria Monogynia. 

 Native of the Andes at an elevation of from 9000 to 10,000 

 feet. Flowers purple, with very prominent yellow anthers. 

 " Well suited for greenhouse cultivation." — (Ibid., t. 5455.) 



Meconopsis aculeata (Prickly Meconopsis). — Nat. ord., 

 Papaveraces. Linn. Polyandria Monogynia. " We had the 

 good fortune to have this rare and charming plant flowering 

 in the open border in the June of the present year." Native 

 of the Kumaon and other South Indian mountains at ele- 

 vations of from 10,000 to 14,000 feet. Flowers large, pur- 

 plish blue.— (Ibid., t. 5456.) 



Cyhbidium tigrinum (Spotted-lipped Cymbidium).— tfirf. 

 ord., Orchidaceae. Linn. Gynandria Monogynia. Native of 

 Tenasserim Mountains at an elevation of 6000 feet. Intro- 

 duced by Messrs. Low & Co., Clapton Nursery. Flowers 

 cream coloured; lip with short crimson stripes.— (Ibid., 

 4.5457.) * *■ 



Azalea — Souvenir de Prince Albert. White, with centre of 

 each petal blotched with deep pink. — (Floral Mag., pi. 201.) 



Auricula— Lord Clyde. Raised by Mr. Lightbody. Dark 

 maroon, paste rather too angular, but solid. — (Ibid., pi. 202.) 



Ornithologalum thyrsoides. — Introduced by Messrs. 

 Carter from Natal.— (Ibid., pi. 203.) 



Fuchsia— Cloth of Gold. Raised by Mr. Stafford, of Hyde, 

 near Manchester, " a golden variegated-leaved sport of 

 Souvenir de Chiswick." — (Ibid., pi. 204.) 



Wallflower — Graham's Yellow Perfection. Raised by 

 F. J. Graham, Esq., of Cranford. " Pure yellow, large size, 

 good form ; received a commendation at South Kensington 

 as a beautiful, bright-coloured, hardy spring flower, remark- 

 ably sweet-scented."— (Florist and Pomologist, iii. 145.) 



CHICKENS veestjs GEEEN FLY. 



The subjects of which the two parts of this Journal treat 

 —gardening and poultry-keeping — are usually supposed to 

 be antagonistic. Poultry are gardeners' detestation, for they 

 believe that their trim gardens are sure to be spoiled by 

 them. Build up the wall of separation high ; let not the 

 fowls, the awful fowls, into the sacred garden ; they peck, 

 they scratch — in short, "My good sir," exclaims the gar- 

 dener, " don't, please, even name the horrors to me : I shall 

 dream about them, and wake in a fright." 



Now, for some years I have held, up to a certain point, an 

 opposite theory, and carried it out in practice by keeping a 

 few bantams, which have access to every part of my garden, 

 being quite sure that they do more good than harm. As a 

 case in proof: the other day I was walking among my last 

 year's budded Roses, brushing off the green flies with a 

 painter's brush (the best and most efficacious thing I know; 

 indeed, I usually carry a short one in my pocket for the 

 purpose), when some-six-weeks-old chickens happened to be 

 near, and first one and then another tried a green fly or 

 two, and they settled that they were very good eating. I 

 encouraged the chickens to follow me ; so I went from Rose 

 to Rose, brushing the tender shoots and buds, and finally, 

 before leaving each tree, giving a shake of the stem, when 

 down rolled the already-disturbed troublers from the leaves, 

 to which in their perplexity and distress they were clinging ; 

 once on the ground they were eagerly eaten by the chickens. 

 Pleased with my success, I then went to another part of my 

 garden, to my old standards, calling to me another brood 

 of chickens of a similar age. The same scene was again 

 enacted, and in addition I threw every grub I found, green, 

 or white, or brown, to the old hen, which accepted my offer- 

 ings with manifest delight. Thus I managed to dislodge 

 and put beyond all power of re-appearance some thousands 

 of green flies, at the same time giving a treat to my chickens. 



I see that suggestions are sometimes made that poultry- 

 lovers should communicate their experiences, so I send one 

 of mine. — Wiltshire Rector. 



GAEDENEES BENEFITED BY TEAVELLING. 



There is a good old rule in Germany which has not yet 

 become quite obsolete, that every apprentice should be 

 obliged to travel for three years before he is permitted to 

 open business on his own account. I have the honour of 

 belonging to a little scientific society in London, formed of 

 members anxious to study the great natural laws which 

 have brought about the changes in our globe, and which 

 are combined into one universal science — Geology. The 

 President of that society is one of the greatest scientific 

 men of the day, and, at the same time, he is almost entirely 

 self-educated. I attend the meetings of that society when- 

 ever opportunity permits ; and one of the points which are 

 most frequently brought to our notice is the desirability of 

 visiting different parts of our own land for the purpose of 

 personally observing the effects oi these phenomena, and the 

 President is fond of showing us how easily this may be 

 accomplished. Thus the subject has been repeatedly brought 

 before me, and I believe that it applies with greater force to 

 gardeners than it does to the members of any other pro- 

 fession. 



The gardener who has learned and practised horticulture 

 in his native country only has done but very little towards 

 making himself proficient. He should travel as far and as 

 widely as he can, in order to study the different effects of 

 soil and climate, the various artifices which each renders 

 necessary. The system of gardening carried on in a sandy 

 arid country is altogether different from that which must be 

 practised on a tenacious clay. While in one place he visits 

 he will find it necessary to take advantage of every scrap 

 of sunshine with which the spot is favoured, he will find in 

 another that the sunshine is more injurious, and has more 

 carefully to be guarded against than the severest frosts 

 experienced in another place. With regard to cold, again, 

 he will find in one place that a tiffany house will protect, 

 during the winter, plants which require double sashes, straw 

 mats, and all the appliances which can be invented at a 

 place not much more than five hundred miles away. Then 



