878 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 1, 1863. 
the increasing demand. The best results are obtained from 
imported clumps, and these should be potted as soon as they 
can be had from the nursery in an admixture of light loam, 
leaf soil, and sand, in G-inch and 7-inch pots.-according to the 
size of the clumps. The pots should then be placed on coal 
ashes in a cold pit under glass, and covered with 4 inches thick 
of sifted leaf soil to exclude light and air. About the end o 
November a few pots should be removed to the Mushroom house 
and plunged as before. These, the soil being kept moderately 
moist, will produce their flower spikes by Christmas, when they 
should be gradually inured to light and air by placing an 
inverted flower pot over them at first, and finally arranging 
the pots on a shelf near the glass in an intermediate house to 
prevent the flower-spikes making a weakly growth. To those 
not in possession of a Mushroom house I would recommend the 
pots being plunged in deep boxes and placed under a stage in a 
stove, greenhouse, vinery, cellar, or any similar place, and when 
the flower-spikes have attained a height of 2 or 3 inches they 
should be treated as recommended above. 
A fresh batch of plants—in quantity according to the number 
grown should be taken from the cold pit to one of the structures 
already referred to, at intervals of a week or two, and covered 
with 3 or 4 inches depth of leaf soil, so as to maintain a good 
succession of flowers, and which, by retarding the flowering 
period of a small per-centage of the crowns, may be kept up 
until they come into flower out of doors. However, as tie 
season advances it will not be necessary to introduce the plants 
into heat, at such short intervals, as they will, consequent upon 
their having had a longer period of rest, respond more readily 
to the influence of heat, and as spring approaches the crowns 
will produce their spikes of flower freely enough in the cold pit. 
r i e ' S0 ^ then be removed carefully from the surface 
ot the pots, the latter washed and removed to a house. Home¬ 
grown crowns, selected and packed closely together in boxes of 
sandy loam and leaf soil, then watered to settle the soil about the 
roots, and treated in other respects the same as recommended 
tor imported roots, would y'ield good supplies of flower for 
cutting, thereby leaving tho:e in pots for embellishing the 
conservatory, Ac. My experience of imported crowns of Lily 
ot the Talley during the last few years is that in consequence 
ot the wet autumns they have been inferior to those of previous 
years for early forcing, being small and immature, and crowns 
carefully prepared at home will equal if not excel them.— 
H. W. Ward. 
PLEIONE?. 
These charming little Orchids are now at their best, and when they 
are well grown are invaluable where cut flowers are required. Consider¬ 
ing they are so easy to grow it is surprising we do not see more of them. 
Anyone, possessing a warm greenhouse or stove need not be afraid of 
isappointment. The pseudo-bulbs after flowering should be allowed to 
rest a short time, but never be quite dry. When the young growths are 
about 14 inch long the pseudo-bulbs should be taken out of the pot and 
separated, carefully removing all the old compost from them, cutting the 
old roots to within about an inch of the pseudo-bulb; the portion left serves 
to keep them firm in the pot. They must be carefully washed to clear away 
any traces of scale, to which pest they are very subject, and which is very 
troublesome if allowed to run on the young leaves. The compost I employ, 
and better results cannot be desired, is good fibrous peat and chopped 
sphagnum with a liberal proportion of nodules of dried cowdung and char¬ 
coal, and a good sprinkling of sharp sand mixed well together. Six-inch 
pots half filled with potsherds are employed. The pseudo-bulbs, five or 
six according to the number of young growths, are potted firmly, raised 
above the rim of the pot. Afterwards keep them in a temperature of about 
.’ an ^ keep them damp but not wet until the new roots have reached the 
sides of the pot, then an increase of heat will be advantageous. We are 
a nays careful not to wet the leaves, or they will soon become spotted 
and will decay prematurely. As growth advances the pots are occasion- 
aUy plunged in weak liquid manure up to the pseudo-bulbs. Continue this 
about twice a week until they have swelled; they will then require less 
water and may be placed in a cooler part of the house. In due course the 
ieavns will ripen and fall, and the flower buds appear. 
leione lagenaria, P. Wallichiana, and P. maculata have done well 
under the above treatment, the first-named hardly ever having less than 
lour flowers on a pseudo-bulb, and in some cases five. P. Riechenbachiana 
am growing for the first time, and am well satisfied with it. P. humilis 
oes not do well, with us. Will any of your correspondents who have been 
successful with it state their mode of treatment ? The flowers should be 
puiled and not cut, as a much longer stalk is obtained by the former 
method.— Wm. Plant. 
Heating a Small Greenhouse.—W ill you allow me to ask your 
readers what they have found the best method of heating a small 
greenhouse (mine is 18 feet by 8 feet) to keep out frost 1 I must not put 
up a chimney and make a smoke. I cannot use gas. I have used 
so-called economic petroleum stove, but that is not economic, and the 
work in cleaning it is very unpleasant. I do not mind trouble, nor a little 
expense if it answers its purpose ; but I shall be obliged for some ex¬ 
perience and advice as to coke, charcoal, or anything else.—B ristol. 
PROPAGATION OF TUBEROUS BEGONIAS. 
It is probable that Tuberous Begonias will be much more extensively 
grown next year than at any time hitherto, and in addition my experi¬ 
ence justifies the assumption that they will become established favourites 
for outdoor flower garden bedding decoration, as Zonals are at present. 
Good varieties are still very scarce, and as people become acquainted 
with magnificent fleshy upright flowers 5 and 6 inches across they will 
not be satisfied with puny papery dwarfs only fit for the rubbish heap. 
Good varieties and their propagation, then, become a matter of import¬ 
ance, not only from a decorative but from a monetary standpoint. No- 
better time than the present and onward can be found to think of this.. 
A far-seeing gardener or amateur will be at once turning over in his 
mind how his beds are to be filled next year, and what combinations he 
shall have, the general details afterwards to vary with circumstances. 
I was looking over the invoice of a gardening friend yesterday, who had 
ordered a selection of Begonias with the view of growing them on 
durirg the winter and propagating the following spring as far as - 
possible. None of the doubles were Jess than 5s. each, and they varied 
to 15,?. The singles were as low as 3s. 6d. I admit the varieties were 
the newest and the best, and to be preferred to poor worthless seedlings 
at aDy price. As to seedlings I must explain. All seedlings are not 
necessarily to be rejected. By all means buy a packet of seed from 
some respectable firm that has a reputation to maintain. One word on 
fertilisation. The male and female organs are on different blooms. 1 
have had Begonias with the latter wholly absent, and in a few cases the 
former. Under ordinary circumstances bees do not, as a rule, light on 
them ; there is no fertilisation. It must be done by hand, and several 
firms enclose the thin pods in transparent oiled bags for the seed to 
ripen. As in every flower in the florist’s list, the worthless varieties seed 
most profusely, so that a really good chance seedling is much less likely 
to be obtained than from an ordinary seedsman’s packet of edged 
Auriculas, gold-laced Polyanthus, or flaked Carnation. From many 
years’ experience I cannot say I have succeeded in getting anything 
worth naming in this way. However, it is by no means hopeless. For 
instance, Mr. Lonergan, gardener to George Gough, Esq., Birdhill, near 
this town, has raised some very fine doubles by hybridisation of semi¬ 
double seedlings raised in his garden. The process has an interest and 
zest that will always have an attraction ; but the principle I contend for 
still remains—that really good varieties are “ named,” and must bo 
obtained from those who make Begonia culture and propagation, in¬ 
cluding showing and growing, a speciality. I noticed a house 150 feet- 
long of selected kinds with Mr. JJ. Saunders recently at Cork, not one 
of which was raised on the premises. Having some good varieties, then r 
which is the best method of increasing them ? Increase by seedlings I 
have disposed of, except to say that, when tried, January is to be pre¬ 
ferred to start them in a temperature as near as can be obtained to 65°, 
falling lower as they commence to grow, to prevent long-drawn plants. 
I have bad some hundreds, and a neighbour thousands; all were con¬ 
signed to the rubbish heap, except half a dozen of the more promising. 
The most rapid system of pr< pigation is by cuttings taken off below 
a joint, placed to dry for a few hours if succulent, inserted in thumb 
pots in cocoa-Eut fibre in the stove or on a good hotbed. This process 
has the disadvantage that in many cases the tuber formed from the 
cutting does not start into growth the following spring, which an 
expert with whom I discussed the point attributed to having no eye or 
eyes, though otherwise sound. Probably others have Doticed this. 
The process I prefer as the most certain is division, just as you would, 
a Potato, with this difference—you can see the eye in the latter but not 
the former; division, then, cannot take place until active growth has 
somewhat advanced. I prefer having the shoots an inch or two long. 
I have often then sliced a large tuber into six or eight pieces, and after 
allowing it to dry on a shelf for a few hours, or rubbing the cut with 
silver sand or charcoal, at once started it on its career, and in no. 
instance, even in an ordinary frame, have they even flagged. There are 
other systems of propagation, such as by the leaves, as you would 
Gloxinias, but I cannot see any advantage they present over those 
named. One other point is material—the time to start them into 
growth. In an ordinary greenhouse (unheated, except to keep out frost),, 
they will not start into growth before the end of March—that is, natu¬ 
rally. If put out they will not bloom until June or later. I beg to 
recommend starting in a hotbed in February, hardening off then until 
the time comes for bedding-out, when they commence to bloom right off, 
giving a clear gain of a month or more to the blooming period before 
housing for the winter —a matter of some consideration.—W. J. Murphy,. 
Clmmel. 
FRUIT TREES IN POTS. 
In the Journal of September 27th and October 4th I find Souvenir du 
Congres Pear very highly praised. I can do nothing with it outdoors in 
this locality, where few Pears succeed, hut grown in pots in a cold house 
it does well, being a good cropper and producing very fine fruit. It is 
not unusual here to have fruits of the weight mentioned in the Journal— 
1 lb. to 1^ lb. Brockworth Park is also excellent for pot culture ; I have 
