696 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



filled with water, covered with a piece of stout 

 writing-paper having a slit cut out in form of a 

 cross at the centre, and of the length of 3 

 inches or so each way, will act as an excellent 

 pitfall for beetles, if a little sugar or honey be 

 placed over the slit. In attempting to devour 

 the bait, the paper opens, and they fall through, 

 while it regains its former state unless the 

 house be kept very damp, which destroys its 

 elasticity. Great attention should be paid to 

 cleanliness in every part of the house, which is 

 one of the best means of keeping insects away. 

 The best trap for wood-lice is cutting the stalks 

 of beans into short lengths and placing them on 

 the soil or near the plants ; the wood-lice, which 

 feed during the night, will take shelter within 

 the stalk, and may be readily captured in the 

 morning by blowing in at one end, holding 

 the other end over a pot of water. Slices of 

 potatoes, carrots, turnips, &c, laid about, will 

 also make an excellent bait for them as well as 

 slugs, and if examined early in the morning they 

 may be readily destroyed. 



The white and brown scale are only to be got 

 rid of by washing them off with soap and water, 

 using a small hard-brush — an old tooth-brush, 

 for example. 



The aphides are destroyed by means of tobacco 

 smoke, but they are seldom very injurious. 



The great and decisive combat against insects 

 should take place at the time of the general 

 shifting of the plants ; and to render this the 

 more effective, the plants should be all removed 

 to another house for a time, to admit of a 

 thorough cleansing of the walls, woodwork, 

 shelving, floors, &c, each plant being carefully 

 examined before it is brought back. The plants 

 which may not have required re-potting, or 

 taking out of the baskets or from the blocks of 

 wood, should be submerged for a minute or so 

 in a tub of tepid water, which will dislodge any 

 insects that may be lurking about their roots. 

 This process is often necessary at various sea- 

 sons of the year, particularly if insects be sus- 

 pected to be preying upon the roots. The 

 brown ant is also often vexatious, but being a 

 day-feeder is easier detected, and is destroyed 

 by a mixture of loaf-sugar and arsenic mixed 

 together, and laid on broken crocks placed 

 amongst the pots or on the surface of the blocks 

 or baskets. 



§ 3. — BULB-HOUSE. 



Bulbous - rooted plants of great beauty and 

 interest constitute a very large portion of the 

 rich floras of the Cape of Good Hope, Chili, 

 Brazil, Peru, Mexico ; and various parts of South 

 America and Australia, China, the East and 

 West Indies, contribute their share, although to 

 a considerably less extent. The art of man has 

 greatly added to the number of varieties, both 

 in our own country and on the Continent; some 

 of the genera, such as Amaryllis, have been 

 hybridised to such an extent that hybrids far 

 exceed the number of admitted species. Tropi- 

 cal bulbous plants, notwithstanding their gor- 

 geous display while in bloom, have by some 



strange caprice found comparatively few ad- 

 mirers in this country, and hence their cultiva- 

 tion has with few exceptions been greatly ne- 

 glected. Their habits being peculiar may to 

 some extent account for this. Being indigenous 

 to countries so wide apart, and so diversified in 

 regard to climate and other natural circum- 

 stances, it might be supposed that considerable 

 difficulty would attend their cultivation in an 

 artificial state. Such is, however, by no means 

 the case ; and those who have paid even a mode- 

 rate degree of attention to their culture have 

 found this to be so. Three structures are neces- 

 sary for their successful cultivation ; one for 

 their accommodation during their season of 

 repose, another for them while in a growing 

 state, and a third in which a higher temperature 

 can be kept up for growing and flowering those 

 from the warmest parts of the tropics. 



As the great majority of these plants, even 

 when in flower, do not exceed 3 feet in height, 

 lofty houses are exceedingly ill-adapted for them ; 

 and as they for the most part grow naturally 

 under an almost perpendicular sun on the most 

 exposed plains, they should be grown near the 

 glass, and the structure should be constructed 

 so that the greatest amount of the sun's rays 

 may act upon it. No form, therefore, is so well 

 adapted as that of the span or curvilinear mode 

 of roofing ; and no internal arrangement better 

 than flat platforms, on which to place the plants 

 so that their foliage may be fully exposed to 

 light on all sides. The house may be 60 feet in 

 length, divided into three compartments of 20 

 feet in length each, and 1 5 feet in width within, 

 the apex of the roof 8 feet, and the sides (if 

 perpendicular) 5 feet high. A platform 3 feet 

 broad should occupy the centre, having a pas- 

 sage of the same breadth passing round it 

 leaving a space on each side between it and the 

 fronts of 3 feet for side-platforms, under which 

 the hot-water pipes should be placed. These 

 platforms, to be economical, durable, and elegant, 

 should be in part covered with Welsh slate, 

 supported on iron brackets ; and if the platforms 

 be furnished with a neat beading of slate along 

 their edges, so much the better. Or a covering 

 of ornamental cast-iron grating supported in the 

 same manner will be found in some cases even 

 more suitable, as it will admit of a circulation of 

 air being kept up around the plants. During the 

 flowering season most bulbs prefer a moderately 

 humid atmosphere, and during the growth of 

 most of them this is essential. The beading, 

 therefore, will admit of water being kept on the 

 surface of the slate platform, and the pots may 

 occasionally stand immersed to the depth of 

 half an inch or so; or those kinds maybe elevated 

 whose roots do not require the same degree of 

 moisture to that extent, by placing slips of slate 

 under them. It is better humidity be supplied 

 in this way than by syringing the plants too 

 often over the foliage. The taller-growing kinds, 

 and those having long flower - stems, should 

 occupy the centre platform, and those of more 

 humble growth the two side ones. The sandy 

 or alluvial deposits in which most bulbs grow 

 in the tropics, are heated to a very considerable 

 degree by the vertical sun ; and the capacity of 



