468 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 13, 18G*. 



nothing- of a flue, or liot water, but it is a pity to trust a 

 house of such a size full of bedding plants to the mercies of 

 charcoal, unless, indeed, you burn it in a close vesssl, with a 

 small funnel to take off the fumes. 



We presume you cannot cover the roof of your house 

 thickly ; and if you cannot do so, nor yet use heat, then the 

 best plan for keeping plants in such a house would be the 

 following, which we have several times adopted, when we 

 could get no heat. The plants instead of being set on 

 stages were placed in beds — say 4 feet wide, on the floor of 

 the house, with 15 inches of a passage between the beds. A 

 few sticks or wires were hooped over the beds of plants, 

 which were kept rather dry all the winter. The roof would 

 keep out a little frost. When more than a few degrees were 

 expected, a mat, or a cloth of any kind was thrown over, the 

 hoops, and when the frost became more intense still, a few 

 inches of rough hay, or dry litter was thrown lightly over 

 the cloth or mat. Plants can be much more easily kept in 

 such a house so heated, than in any mere cold pit or frame. 

 If anything like attention is paid, the plants will scarcely 

 ever suffer from damp, and all the attention necessary for 

 them can always be given under cover of the roof. We 

 have no doubt that in an unheated orchard-house, great 

 quantities of plants may so be kept. We thus preserved 

 many last season, and without a cloth, by merely using 

 clean dry litter. If that dry material is turned over fre- 

 quently, it will keep out much frost. All outside coverings 

 lose their protecting power in proportion as they become wet 

 and dense. Once we had a lot of fine plants on stages in 

 such a house as our correspondent's, and an unexpected 

 frost of a three weeks' duration having set in, the plants 

 were saved by being all collected under the stage, and the 

 stage covered round and over with cloths and matting, and 

 when the thermometer under the covering fell to 34^, then 

 4 inches of litter was placed all over. The plants remained 

 thus shut up until the frost was gone, and suffered much 

 less than they would have dene had frost been kept out by 

 pans of burning charcoal. 



As to the time of sowing Cucumbers for fruiting in dung- 

 beds, you may commence directly, if you can obtain dung 

 enough to carry you on. In sowing, you may have a bed fully 

 3 feet in height, and from 12 to 18 inches larger all round 

 than the frame. A one-light box will be as good for this 

 purpose as a larger. The plants will then be advancing 

 whilst you are preparing material for your fruiting-bed. 

 With covering up you should be able to command 70° of 

 temperature. We need not say that the heat must be sweet, 

 which you will know if the condensed moisture on the glass 

 is as clear as dew drops. For a good bed to carry you 

 through the spring and summer, it would require to be at 

 least 4 feet high at back, and 3J feet in front, and to keep 

 the air inside dry and sweet, we prefer banking up litter to 

 the top of the frame all round. Much of the success will 

 depend on having a dry or waterproof covering. When in 

 our young days we used to grow Cucumbers in winter and 

 spring in dung-beds, we liked to have double sashes to use 

 when we wished, and also for the purpose of changing the 

 sashes when they became at all dirty. This was easily 

 managed by having two-light or three-light frames, two at 

 leaBt of one size. It was only during the worst months of 

 the year that we found changing the sashes advisable. In- 

 stead of attempting to clean a sash in use, it was taken 

 off in an instant, and a dry clean one put on as quickly. 

 With plenty of manure, sufficient labour power, and an 

 extra amount of care and attention, Cucumbers may thus be 

 grown early as well as by hot water ; but constant attention 

 must be given to keep up the temperature, and a wholesome 

 atmosphere. 



Tou will not succeed in keeping Coleus Blumei and Ver- 

 schaffelti in your cold house. If you heated the house you 

 might keep them by having a box made in which to place 

 the plants, with a hand-light, or a large square or two of 

 glass over it. By some means you must give a rather dry 

 temperature of from 45° to 50°. We think you may keep 

 them in your living-roorn more easily than in an orchard- 

 house. An amateur kept a lot last season according to our 

 directions. The plants were small, struck in August, and 

 potted in three-inch pots ; others were struck about the end 

 of September, four or five round the sides of a four-inch 

 pot, and were left in the cutting-pots all the winter. He 



had for these and similar things two rough boxes, made 

 18 inches deep, and 2 feet square, a bottom of zinc was 

 placed 5 inches from the bottom of the box, the place 

 beneath had putty placed all round the sides at the joints, 

 and then the whole below the zinc was well tarred, and done 

 time enough to dry well before being used. A simple plug- 

 hole was left at the top and bottom for pouring in hot water, 

 and letting it off when cold. Little bits of wood for placing 

 the pots on were set inside, and the top of the box was covered 

 by two squares of glass laid on. In severe weather the glass 

 could be covered. When more severe still a little hot water 

 from a teakettle would heat the enclosed space through the 

 zinc, and the bits of board free of the zinc prevented the pots 

 being over-heated. Something of the same contrivance 

 would do in the cold house, but, of course, it would be more 

 easily looked after in a dwelling-house. Such little boxes, 

 rough or elegantly made, would also be valuable to amateurs 

 for propagating. — R. P.] 



EOSES SUITABLE to the NOKTH or ENGLAND, 

 IEELAND, AND SCOTLAND. 



The article on pillar Boses for a conservatory (page 110), 

 has been read in Ireland, and acknowledged by a distin- 

 guished countess ; and I have thought that it might be of 

 advantage to the northerns of England, and also to persons 

 living in Scotland and Ireland, if I gave a list of hardy, ex- 

 cellent, free-blooming Boses suitable to their circumstances. 



As their countries are either cold or humid, their summers 

 short, and their winters severe, I advise them to get some 

 of the Boses named beneath, on the hardy, quick-growing 

 Manetti stock. Those in italics are rather for ornament 

 than show. Those to which an asterisk is prefixed may not 

 open well in humid cold seasons, or late in the season, unless 

 they are under south walls. The Boses recommended are 

 equally good for all parts of England. 



SUMMER EOSES. 



White. — Madame Zoutman, Madame Plantier, Triomptw de 

 Bayeaux. Flesh-coloubed. — Mad. Audot. Variegated. — 

 Madeline, Tricolore de Plandres. Rose-coloured. — Charles 

 Lawson, La Ville de Bruxelles, La Volupte, Paul Perras. 

 Dark Crimson. — Boula de Nanteuil, Frederick II., Triomphe 

 de Jaussens. Blush. — W. Tell, Queen of Denmark. Crim- 

 son. — Paul Bicaut, Kean, Napoleon, D'Aguesseau, Chenedole, 

 Brennus. Pink. — Coupe d'Hebe, Charles Duval. Pure 

 Slate. — Schismaker. Moss Boses, Crimson, Laneii, Baronne 

 de Wassenaer. 



Observations. — Have two sets of these. Cut back one 

 set early, and do not remove them. Bemove the other set 

 later in the spring, and cut them back later. This will 

 prolong the bloom. They are all hardy, beautiful, free, and 

 abundant bloomers, and many of them quite distinct and as 

 yet unmatched by autumnals. They will all make pole 

 Boses if desired, and are equally good on the briar and 

 Manetti. Those who give them up " commit (to use an ex- 

 pression of Talleyrand), a blunder worse than a crime." 



AUTUMNAL EOSES. 



White. — *Acidalie, Mrs. Bosanquet, Sombreuil, Mad. Alfred 

 de Bougemont, Mad. Massot. Bose-coloueed. — Anna de 

 Diesbach, Anna Alexieff, Cecile de Chabrillant, John Hopper, 

 Duchess of Sutherland, La Ville de St. Denis, Baronne 

 Prevost, W. Griffiths, Louise Odier, Reynolds Hole, Baron 

 Gonella. Blush. — Caroline de Sansal, *Souvenir de la 

 Malmaison. Very Dakk Crimson. — Prince Camille de Ro- 

 han, Due de Cazes, Vicomte Vigier, Lord Macaulay, Mrs. 

 W. Paul, Alfred de Bougemont, Princesse Mathilde, and 

 Richard Smith. Ceimson, Bed, Scaelet, Purple, or Shades 

 thereof. — Charles Lefebvre, Senateur Vaisse, Jules Margot- 

 tin, General Jacqueminot, Marechal Vaillant, Triomphe de 

 Paris, Geant des Batailles, Pauline Lanzezeur, President 

 Lincoln, Peter Lawson, Madame Boutin, Mrs. C. Wood, 

 Madame C. Joigneaux, *Madame Julie Daran, Professor 

 Koch, Beauty of Waltham, Madame C. Crapelet, *Monsieur 

 de Montigny, Eugene Appert, Francois Lacharnie, Duchess 

 of Norfolk, Souvenir de C. Montault, Madame L. Carique, 

 Mrs. Elliot, Pius IX. Yellow.— Gloire de Dijon. For a 

 South Wall.— Solfaterre, Triomphe de Eennes, Celine Fo- 

 restier, Mdlle. Aristide. Burr. — Bourbon Queen. 



