180 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



an inch or an inch and a half space between the 

 splints, is the most cleanly and suitable. We ha^'e 

 seen Apple-rooms fitted with ranges of shallow shelf- 

 drawers, thus made with bottoms of open lattice or 

 lath-work, so as to pull out singly at pleasure, and at 

 such distances as to allow two or three inches between 

 the tops of the Apples and the shelf next overhead. 

 Where large crops are gathered, such an arrange- 

 ment will store away an immense quantity of 

 Apples in moderate space, all the fruit being per- 

 fectly accessible singly, and with plenty of air-space 

 between. 



The great points in Apple or other fruit stores are, 

 uniformity of temperature and a moderately diy 

 atmosphere. 



All choice fruit should be laid in single file. Com- 

 moner and the earlier Ijitchen Apples, such as Lord 

 Sufi&eld, might be stored three deep. Were space 

 sufficient, however, all would keep longer one deep. 

 The old system of sweating Apples in large masses 

 to hasten and heighten maturity is wholly abolished. 

 It landed myriads of the finest fruit in sheer rotten- 

 ne^^s, and lowered the quality of any that escaped 

 destruction. Not but that extra heat may be apphed 

 to small quantities of j^.pples to hasten maturity when 

 wanted. A warm corner in a kitchen, or other hot 

 place, such as a stable ; the fruit being placed in jars, 

 hermetically sealed, plunged in a hot-bed of 70'^ or 

 80*', or placed in a hot frame or house, may be thus 

 ripened a week or a month before its natural season 

 if wanted. But this should be exceptional, and each 

 fruit, as a rule, should be coolly stored till its natural 

 season arrives. Earth- storage, already referred to, 

 retards the natural season of fruit almost as effec- 

 tually as hot storage hastens it ; and both, and even 

 more extreme cold, may be employed to extend the 

 season of Apples at both ends, and thus the more 

 easily girdle the year round wit'i this, the most 

 popular and useful of all our fruits. 



Lest any should be discouraged from growing 

 Apples by the instructions in general culture here 

 set forth, it may be added in conclusion that few 

 fruit-trees are more able to take care of themselves 

 than the Apple, if planted in good soil and a favour- 

 able site, and that the bulk of our orchard Apples 

 really receive little or no attention in the way of 

 cultivation, and yet go on growing and fruiting for 

 a half, or even a whole century. Still, for garden 

 culture, and especially in the neighbourhood of large 

 towns, where it is most desirable to introduce some 

 of the smaller forms of Apple into every villa garden, 

 all the practical advice here given will be found 

 useful in enabling the petit cultivator to grow and 

 eat as good or better Apples than the grower of 

 acres under more favoured conditions of soil, site, 

 and climate. 



HOT-HOUSE OR STOYE PLANTS. 



By William Hugh Gower. 



Bambusa. — A family of gigantic grasses, mostly 

 natives of tropical countries, several species of which 

 are simply invaluable to the inhabitants of the 

 countries in which they grow ; they are plants of 

 very rapid growth, and extremely beautiful as 

 decorative objects. B. arundinacea is the most 

 common, and at the same time perhaps the most 

 useful, as from it even houses and all domestic 

 utensils are made, and the slender- stemmed species 

 have latel}' become common in this country as 

 bamboo canes, and are used as walking-canes, and 

 for garden-sticks. B. arundinacea attains a height of 

 upwards of a hundred feet, and gi'ows at the rate of 

 six or seven in 3hes per day. Bamboos present a 

 distinct and featheiy appearance, and produce a 

 beautiful contrast of foliage when grown with other 

 plants; and although some species require' to be 

 grown in the hot-house during the whole year, 

 others of dwarf er growth, and from more temperate 

 regions than the species already mentioned, will not 

 only thrive in a cool house, but form beautiful 

 ornaments in the sub-tropical garden in the open air 

 dming the summer months. Bamboos have all 

 more or less the same general aspect, but differ con- 

 siderably in the size and colour of their stems. The 

 most beautiful are — 



B. arundinacea. 

 B. aurea. 

 B. edulis. 



B. Fortimei variegata. 

 B. gigantea. 



B. Japonica. 



B. nigra. 



B. Simonii, 



B. viridi-glaucescens. 



Barringtonia. — This genus is named in 

 honour of the celebrated antiquary, the Hon. Daines 

 Barrington; they are usually placed in the order 

 3Iyrtace(e, but with a few other allied plants have 

 been separated from these, and established as a 

 .distinct order under the name of Barrhigtoniacece. 



Barringtonias are bold-growing, handsome plants, 

 which attain the proportions of large forest trees, 

 and when in flower are extremely handsome ; it is, 

 however, for their majestic appearance as young 

 plants that we introduce them to the notice of our 

 readers. These plants are distributed through 

 various parts of India and the Indian islands ; one 

 or two species extend, to Northern Australia ; and 

 one species has been found in Eastern Africa. They 

 all enjoy strong moist heat, and should be potted ia 

 loam, peat, and sand. 



B. speciosa. — This is perhaps the most beautifiil 

 species in the genus, although B. racemosa is a 

 beautiful companion, with a similar habit of growth ; 

 it attains a height of from twenty to fifty feet, but 

 as a young plant one or two feet high it has few 



