148 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 23, 1864. 



Glory of Walden, Rosea pallida, and many other first-rate 

 varieties. 



Mr. Porter exhibited eight seedling Hollyhocks, among 

 which was Volunteer Improved, a nice compact dark ruby 

 flower, and a second-class certificate was awarded for it. 

 Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing sent seven seedling Holly- 

 hocks. Some of these were very promising flowers, but not in a 

 condition for their merits to be judged, having suffered much 

 injury from the thrips. Stanstead Hero, a very fine flower, 

 and others, will doubtless take a high position when seen 

 under more favourable circumstances. A special certificate 

 was awarded to Messrs. Downie & Co. for their collection of 

 cut flowers, some of which were first-rate. We noticed 

 Stanstead Rival, Lady Puller, Joshua Clark, Charles Eyre, 

 Scarlet Gem, Lady de Veaux, Orange Perfection, &c. Messrs. 

 Downie & Co. also sent two fine specimens of Amaryllis 

 reticulata superba, one bearing six and the other five beau- 

 tiful flowers. This plant has been in cultivation for many 

 years. 



Mr. C. J. Perry brought five seedling Verbenas, two of 

 which, Glowworm and Snowball, received second-class certifi- 

 cates at the last meeting. The others were Charles Turner, 

 a very superb flower, large truss, blush ground, with very 

 large rosy purple eye, the finest flower in its class — first- 

 class certificate ; Lilac King, a pale lavender, fine truss, and 

 very sweet-scented, dark eye ; and Queen of the Pinks. A 

 collection of twenty-four varieties also came from Mr. Perry, 

 and it received a well-merited special certificate. The 

 flowers were perfect in size, form, and colour. Among them 

 were Purity, Miss Harvey, Wonderful, Nemesis, Startler, Em- 

 peror, Magnificans, L'Avenir de Ballent, Modesty, &c. Mr. 

 Perry also brought Scarlet Pelargonium Glowworm, pale 

 orange scarlet, small truss. Mr. Bull contributed Verbena 

 Otto of Roses, a flower remarkable for its perfume ; Verbena 

 Merry Maid, bright cherry, a pleasing colour for bedding 

 purposes ; also a collection of Italian striped Verbenas. The 

 Rev. R. H. Charlesley, Ifiley, Oxford, exhibited cut specimens 

 of Verbena Una, a fine flower, but not sufficiently distinct 

 from other varieties; and Mr. Keynes, Salisbury, several 

 seedling Dahlias, some of which were very promising flowers. 

 Among these were Edward Spary, dark plum, first-rate form 

 — first-class certificate ; John Salter, buff ground striped 

 with scarlet, fine form — second-class certificate ; Striped 

 Perfection, a decided improvement in its class, dark maroon 

 on a pale purplish ground — second-class certificate ; George 

 Rawllngs, purplish puce — second-class certificate ; Lady 

 Maude Herbert, a very beautiful flower, pale lemon tipped 

 with carmine — first-class certificate ; and Hamlet, a dull 

 red or velvety crimson, fine form — second-class certificate. 



Mr. Eyles brought from the Society's Garden, Chiswick, 

 specimens of plants recently sent home by Mr. Weir, three 

 of which received first-class certificates — viz., a species of 

 Anthurium, from New Grenada, a very handsome-foliaged 

 plant of the Caladium tribe ; Peperomia species, and Pepe- 

 romia arifolia ; also a new Dieffenbaehia, not sufficiently 

 grown to decide upon its merits, excepting that it is very 

 distinct from any other known Dieffenbachia. 



A fine plant of Peristeria elata, presented some time since 

 by Mr. Bateman to the Society, and grown in the gardens 

 attracted much attention. It is a very singular and beautiful 

 Orchid, known in its own country as the " Dove " plant, the 

 centre of each flower most perfectly resembling a white dove. 

 Fkott Committee. — H. G. Bohn, Esq., in the chair. Mr. 

 John Keynes, of Salisbury, sent three bunches of a new 

 Grape, introduced from Smyrna. The bunches are large and 

 long, and, considering they were grown on a pot Vine, give 

 evidence that when planted out the plant will yield im- 

 mense bunches. The berries are large, ovate, with a thin, 

 tough, white skin, and crackling flesh. They were not quite 

 ripe, and the flavour was evidently not yet developed, so 

 Mr. Keynes was requested to send it later in the season. 

 Mr. Francis Dancer, oi Little Sutton, sent a basket of very 

 large Lord Suffield Apples, one of the largest and most 

 valuable early culinarv Apples. A seedling Apple was sent 

 by Mr. Cooling, nurseiyman, Bath, called Bailbrook Seedlings 

 It was raised at Bailbrook, Batheaston, near Bath, and be- 

 longs to the Irish Peach class, a beautiful and very early 

 dessert Apple, tender-fleshed, with a balsamic flavour. The 

 Committee recommended it as worthy of cultivation as a 

 handsome, early, dessert Apple, ripe in the beginning of 



August ; but the fruit exhibited on the 16th of August was 

 considerably overripe, having already become mellow. 



A seedling Plum was received from Mr. Thomas Ingram, 

 of Frogmore. It is medium sized, mottled with purple and 

 yellow. Flesh yellow, melting, sweet, and richly flavoured. 

 The Committee asked that it might be sent again. Mr. 

 Cooling, of Bath, sent a seedling Kidney Potato of a fine 

 purple colour; but as the Committee could form no judg- 

 ment beyond the appearance, Mr. Cooling was requested to 

 send tubers to the garden for trial. 



EFFECT OF GALVANISED NETTING ON 

 FLOWEES. 



A pew days since a lady in Devonshire drew my attention 

 to what appeared to both of us a very curious circumstance 

 with reference to the effect produced by galvanised wire 

 netting, when placed round a bed of flowers. 



The bed in question contains Carnations — seedlings, which 

 would, properly, come into bloom this summer — but, strange 

 to say, the plants commenced blooming in the month of 

 April, and have continued to produce a great quantity of 

 flowers up to this time. This appears to be contrary to the 

 nature of the plant ; and, indeed, a bed of the same kind of 

 plants close at hand, but without the wire netting, has only 

 bloomed in the regular season. Those within the netting 

 have almost, and in a few cases quite, exhausted themselves 

 with this apparently forced blooming, having made little or 

 no grass, and many plants having actually died. The netting 

 is, I think, 18 inches or 2 feet high, and is plaeed there to 

 keep off rabbits. 



Can any of your practical readers give us any account of 

 similar experiences, or can those who may possess scientific 

 information assign any cause for the phenomenon ? — 

 Decidedly Puzzled. 



A CHEAP GREENHOUSE AND STOVE. 



By any one who has a mechanical turn, a greenhouse or 

 stove can be erected and heated at a less cost than one 

 would think. Having all along had a fancy for the cul- 

 tivation of plants in-doors, I have tried many a shift, but 

 with -poor luck, and the expense of putting up a house to 

 answer my wants was, I thought, out of the question. How- 

 ever, in one of our newspapers, I observed the advertise- 

 ment of a carpenter who wished to dispose of a lot of window- 

 sashes, sound in glass and wood. These I inspected, and 

 finding them suitable, closed with him at Is. 9d. a-piece for 

 the lot. I immediately set to work, and made the frame of 

 a size to fit my sashes, and in a very short time the whole 

 was completed, painted, and made watertight. I may 

 mention, that over the junction between the two sashes on 

 the roof, I nailed roofing felt cut in strips, which costs a 

 mere trifle, and the sash-bars were cut with a saw to allow 

 the water to run freely away. Although I wield the pen as 

 an occupation, still I can also handle the saw and plane, and 

 the use of these one can easily acquire by a little practice. 

 I have seldom met with an amateur gardener who could not 

 handle them to some extent. 



Heating was the next difficulty. I first tried steam, as I 

 was in possession of a small boiler for driving an engine in 

 connection with a turning lathe which I had. This would 

 not do. Steam could not be kept up all night. A stove 

 was next tried. This would have done well enough could I 

 have superintended it personally, but I had to be at business 

 all day, and it was by no means pleasant to come home and 

 find it at a cherry red heat outside. It was keeping up the 

 temperature with a vengeance ; and then the dust from the 

 clinkers, even with the greatest care, would fly about. My 

 patience was at last exhausted, so I resolved to adopt the 

 hot-water system, and purchased one of Riddell's stoves, 

 with a coil of one-inch piping inside. Each end of the coil 

 is brought out of the casing and screwed to fit a coupling. 

 To this I added a foot more of tubing, and connected them 

 with the flow and return pipes going round the house by 

 tapered oak plugs driven up with red lead into the four -inch 

 pipes, and a hole bored in the centre, admitted the screwed 

 end of the one-inch tubing coming from the stove. A better 



