88 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t February i, ms 
time misspent will arise to trouble them ; and if they 
have above everything else remembered and sought 
after that “good part that shall not be taken away,” 
then indeed happy are they.—E xcelsior. 
GESNERIA CINNABARINA. 
For a number of years I was in the habit of growing several 
varieties of Gesnerias, but the above proving to be the most 
pleasing both to my employers and myself, the rest were dis¬ 
carded to make more room for it. I have often wondered 
why these showy useful plants are not more generally culti¬ 
vated, considering that they bloom in such profusion at a time 
of year when flowers are very acceptable. A cool stove here, 
at the present time and for several weeks past, has been ex¬ 
ceedingly bright with them. I offer a few remarks on their 
culture as followed by myself, and which has for several years 
proved very satisfactory. 
As soon as the plants have flowered they are removed to an 
intermediate house, and the supply of water is diminished 
until the foliage is withered ; they are then placed in a rather 
cool position, and never are allowed to become dust-dry. They 
remain there until the last week in May or the first week in 
June, when they are shaken out, and the tubers are placed in 
pots, one tuber in a 60-sized pot, and three in a 48. The soil 
used at this first potting is composed of loam, leaf soil, and 
sand. If the soil is at all damp no water is given for at least 
a week. The pots are then placed on coal ashes in a cold 
frame—which is kept close—on a north border. Under this 
cool treatment the growths come very strong, and when half 
an inch long they are at once taken to the intermediate house, 
which at this time is occupied with Melons and Cucumbers, 
and they afford a shade for the young Gesnerias. It is sur¬ 
prising what progress they make at this time, and are soon 
ready for the shift into their flowering pots. 
The soil in which the plants are to bloom is made richer by 
adding well-decayed manure, and is used in a tolerably rough 
state, as I find a porous soil is the most suitable. They do 
not like bright hot sun, so this is guarded against by pro¬ 
viding a shady position. Thrips and mealy bug are their 
worst enemies, but good daily sj'ringings keep them free from 
both. As soon as the pots are full of roots and the flower 
spikes begin to appear weak liquid manure is applied twice a 
week. The weak points of this plant are —first, that it is little 
or no use for cut blooms ; nor will the plants do for room-deco- 
tion, especially when gas is burnt, as in either case the bloom 
falls quickly, but for a cool stove or warm conservatory well- 
grown plants have few others to equal them, and none to 
excel in their season.—W. W. B. 
GARDEN STRUCTURES AND VENTILATION. 
I AM always interested in any communication that practical 
men or gardeners make on ihese subjects, as an authoritative 
guide is greatly needed to point out what is right amidst the 
maze of applications for, and instructions how to build, glass 
houses that are received from ladies, gentlemen, and gardeners. 
“ R. P. B.” has missed a grand opportunity of enlightening us 
on this matter (page 21). He speaks of seeing a range of 
houses built within two years, in not one house of which 
plants would grow ; of others in which Orchids, Eucharises, 
and Pelargoniums would not grow ; but since new structures 
have been erected no difficulty is experienced. How easy for 
him, and how useful to others, would it have been to describe 
the faults of the bad houses and the merits of the good ones. 
In nine cases out of ten it is the gardener who is consulted as 
to the erection of the houses, their height, width, pitch, and 
mode of ventilation, and few professed horticultural builders 
would commence building without knowing the gardener’s 
wishes on these points. Why, then, so many failures ? Is it 
tha most gardeners do not really know vdiat is the best kind 
of house, and go on in old grooves, asking for the old style of 
fifty years ago, because they are puzzled with the many patent 
glazing systems ? I have before me letters from gardeners—■ 
one wanting a vinery with heights which make the roof an 
angle of 25°, another for Cucumber house at 70° ; another 
insists on 6-feet front for 12-feet-wide lean-to against 12-feet 
wall, and refuses a 3-feet front and 13 feet wide, with steeper 
pitch and 2 feet longer rafter, though it is exclusively for 
Vines, and the cost is much less than his idea, the expense of 
which is too great. 
A common cause of failure is such a one as I was recently 
called to. A gentleman employed a local man (who dubbed 
himself a horticultural builder because he had made two Melon 
boxes for the clergyman and repaired his greenhouse) to build 
him some greenhouses. After three months one was erected 
and a new gardener engaged, who found it faced N.E. The 
other two houses were then arranged at right angles to face 
S.E. ; but the gentleman insisted on the fronts being heavily 
ornamented and 7 feet high with an almost equal-sided span- 
roof to save building a high wall, and these w r ere to be vinery 
and Peach house, the credit of building which for this purpose 
would afterwards be given to the horticultural builder from 
London. Returning, however, to “ R. P. B.’s ” article, he 
says that “ a Peach house as a lean-to should not be less than 
18 feet wide,” but does not state the height. Now, if the 
majority of gardeners are to be relied on, a steep pitch of 50° 
to 60° is the proper one for Peaches, and such a width would 
thus require a wall over 20 feet high. Vineries are of en 
made 15 to 18 feet wide, and the finest crop I have seen for 
many years was in a house 21 feet wide with 30- feet rafters 
erected nearly fifty years ago ; but old walls suitable for such 
structures are very rare, and it is still rarer for new walls to be 
built as high as 15 feet even. 
As to construction, I would observe that the replacing of 
the woodwork when it does give way (which ought not to be 
for an ordinary lifetime if the erection is “ nearly indestruc¬ 
tible ”), and the taking-out of glass bedded in good putty, 
will not be such an easy matter as “ R. P. B.” seems to think. 
One word on the reference to glass, as it will cause many to 
suppose that Belgian is equal to English. Belgian glass of 
seconds quality is not equal in appearance to thirds English, 
nor so free from blemishes and bubbles that burn the foliage. 
Its so-called weight of 21 ozs. to the square foot rarely exceeds 
18 ozs. ; its colour is bad, and it is so brittle that a 21-oz. 
Belgian pane is often broken with a force that tough 15-oz. 
English will resist. 
“ J. J.,” on the following page, refers also to a most im¬ 
portant, question, that of the right amount of ventilation. Not 
being a gardener I cannot advise as to time for, or extent of, 
opening the ventilators in different houses, but from observa¬ 
tion I am quite convinced that many are radically wrong in 
their method of giving air. Early one bitterly cold day in 
November I was in Yorkshire, after having travelled all night, 
to see some gardens. The gardener had met me at the station 
about 6.30 a.m., and we went into a house to show me the kind 
of structure he wanted. I remarked that it seemed “ stuffy,” and 
observed all the laps of glass were puttied up. He said, “ Oh ! 
we have not opened the ventilators yet,” and instantly did so, 
temperature outside being 34°, and inside 65°. He did not 
require it above 55°, and could easily have kept it above that 
with all laps clear, as they should be to keep up an insensible 
circulation the whole night through. If these had been clear 
there would be no need for admitting air at 30° lower in 
order to reduce the temperature 10°, and there would have 
been no “ stuffiness.” The chief use of ventilators, I take it, 
are in summer or with the sun shining, when the temperature 
under glass increases so rapidly ; in winter the laps of glass, 
with an occasional opening of lights for an inch or two, 
should suffice. Some will tell me, as the gardener above did, 
I do not know the requirements of plants, and that you cannot 
fumigate with open laps of glass, but I fancy that many of 
the causes for fumigating would be removed by a more con¬ 
stant circulation of air. Radiation of heat from hot-water 
pipes will not of itself produce this without means of inlet 
and outlet for air. 
There are fixed rules for judging the best flowers or fruits, 
there are elections as to best Roses, Apples, <£c.; coidd there 
not be instituted a fruit-house and a plant-house election, or 
some general rules for the erection and ventilating such houses ? 
Many of our best gardeners send in reports annually of the 
