137 



shelter and comfort, which was in fall practice at 

 least 2 or 3 years before those of Mr. H. who adopt- 

 ed them; but has not acknowledged where he ob- 

 tained the idea. 



In regard to their being put close together, that 

 is not new : every establishment in Europe, erected 

 for plant purposes, and heated with hot water, has 

 been built in this way for the past ten years. How- 

 ever, either Mr. H. or his engineer has committed, 

 to my eye, a very great blunder in having the hot- 

 water connections outside of his pits, where there is 

 a very great loss of heat, requiring the pipes to be 

 covered with ropes of hay or straw to protect them 

 from loss of heat, which was evidently required in 

 the interior. If those who have so extensively 

 copied him have also copied this outside connection, 

 they have gone it blind. 



"Every alternate sash screwed fast" is the last 

 new idea ; that, to me, is very surprising. The 

 Pits at Col. Wauchobs, of Edmonston, Scotland, 

 were such in 1821. Mr. Dennis, the G-eranium 

 grower, Chelsea, London, were so in 1832. The 

 Pits, (or at least some of them) are so now, in the 

 Wellington Road Nurseries, London. That cannot 

 certainly be unknown to Mr. H. 



The results I cannot confute, not having seen the 

 great crop of Bonvardias; but allow me to say, that 

 thirty inches of more light having been cast upon 

 100 feet in length, is a feat not easily repeated in 

 producing such favorable conclusions where all other 

 things are equal. For winter work in houses, pits 

 and Frames, South or South-east aspects are the 

 best ; an east and west aspect is not so fivorable. 

 To me, and those who have seen the erections at 

 Bergen, Mr. Bisset's idea there carried out is the 

 only thing new in " 0?ir Plan.'^ 



LIMA BEANS AND TILDEN TOMATO. 



BY MR. GEO. THOMPSON, CLEVELAND, TENN. 



"They that be whole need not a physician.'' 

 When I wrote to you on the application of sulphur 

 for preventing and caring mildew in Graperies, I 

 knew of several who were not succeeding in grow- 

 ing good grapes, because of the mildew, — and some 

 who were abandoning grape-growing and turning 

 their houses into greenhouses. For such as those 

 I wrote, and not for such as your Newark, N. J., 

 correspondent, who, I have no doubt, knows all 

 about it. 



But my reason for taking my pen now, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, is to write to you on another subject, — that is 

 growing Lima Beans. In looking over some back 

 num.bers, I see one correspondent writes that he 

 grows them in beds, and lays pea brush for them to 



run on, and he proposes to send j'ou some, to show 

 you that he could beat another wr ter on the subject. 

 Now, I want to know if you ever received the bean^, 

 and who h.id the earliest? as I was cut o{F from the 

 Monthly at the time of ripenimr, and I do not see 

 anything about it in any back numbers that I have 

 since had. 



Now, I will give you a plan that you can grow 

 them from two to four week< e u-licr than you can by 

 planting in the hills at once. Take pieces of sod 4 

 inches square, put them in a frame, grass d<nvn- 

 wards ; make a hole in the cenue of each piece, put 

 one or two beans in each, a d give a light covering 

 of rich soil. Do not put them in more than one or 

 two weeks before the time to plant beans in the open 

 ground, or you will have them too early. The la'^t 

 week in April is the right time at Cincinnati, and 

 put them out when they begin to show the pointof 

 the runner. 



I see there is great difference of opinion about the 

 Tilden Tomato. One says it is worthless with him, 

 and another says it is the best foi- the amateur or 

 marketman that he knows of I grew it last S'lm- 

 mer, and early in the season I thought it wms the 

 best of three or four kind^^, (Lester's, Large Bed and 

 Early Red,) all sown at the same time, and planted 

 out on the same day. 



The Tilden gave a great many ripe at the same 

 time, — but, later in the sea on, I could not get any 

 from them, so that it would not do to depend on it 

 in a private place where they require a succession 

 all through the season ; but it may do for the mar- 

 ketman, as it gave me more in July than any other 

 kind. 



[We have never heard anything of either Lima 

 Bean correspondent. We fear they have been de- 

 voured by the great war dragon, as so many of our 

 friends have b ;en. If any others tried the experi- 

 ment, or, indeed, if the others are still in existence, 

 we should be glad to hear. — Ed.] 



ARE ROOTS INFLUENCED BY THE GRAFT. 



BY D. W. ADAMS, WAWKON, IOWA. 



A few days since I received your favor of 20th 

 ult., querying whether I had not at some time sent 

 you some observations concerning the influence of 

 the graft upon the roots of trees, and asking for 

 further experience. I have no recollection of ever 

 writing out my notes, though at one time I gave the 

 subject much thought, and I spent some time in its 

 investigation. The result of it all was that I could 

 detect a very decided difference in the number, size 

 and vigor of the roots of different sorts of apple trees 

 when grown side by side and gi afted on the same lot 



^ 



