JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 1, 1883.] 
fruit crops, &c., at a time when they are very busily occupied ; 
hut the present is a comparatively slack season, and if these 
gentlemen would give their experience briefly in a tabulated 
form as to best early vinery, its internal width, heights back 
and front so as to get pitch of roof, method of ventilating, size 
of glass, &c., with remarks as to whether late vinery should 
be flatter or steeper, there would be some data for others not 
so experienced to work from. Similar tables as to the best 
width and form of plant houses, forcing houses, &c., would be 
equally useful. 
It is easy to calculate how best to catch the sun’s rays on 
an average, or to secure the greatest benefit at any particular 
month of the year, but this is not all that is requisite to know 
to secure successful results. For instance, an angle of 40° to 
45° is the most favourable for receiving the sun’s rays at a 
right angle for the best part of the year, yet houses requiring 
most heat for forcing or for tropical plants are not built at that 
pitch ; on the contrary, as a rule they are so fiat that the sun’s 
rays can never strike them at a right angle. There are some 
reasons for this general selection of a flat roof, though not 
very forcible ones in many cases, and I usually do as I am bid if 
my suggestions are not approved of, though in many cases I know 
the structure is not the best for its purpose. As “ R. P. B.” 
says in his opening sentence, “ the part which glass houses 
[and their heating] play in the success or non-success of gar¬ 
deners has never been taken fairly into account in estimating 
results ; ” if it had the Royal Horticultural Society would 
have compiled tables and given useful advice as to the best 
forms and construction of these, the largest often and most 
expensive portion of the furnishing of a good garden. —B. W. 
Warhurst. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS AS CUT FLOWERS. 
Growers of large blooms of Chrysanthemums suitable for ex¬ 
hibition purposes are very apt to write disparagingly of the grower 
who devotes his time and attention to such plants and varieties 
that will yield the greatest supply of flowers most suitable for 
cutting. What analogy can there be between a bunch of Grapes 
and a Chrysanthemum ? And although a gigantic bunch ©f the 
former is noble and striking in appearance, it is questionable if 
it is as serviceable to those who have to supply the constant de¬ 
mands of a family as a number of smaller bunches. The same 
may be said of large flowers of any of the sections of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, which are individually beautiful where they can be em¬ 
ployed singly in specimen glasses, in which their real beauty can 
be displayed to advantage. I have not one word to urge against 
the cultivation of large blooms, but where light and artistic ar¬ 
rangements are daily in demand these large blooms are useless. 
In this case what an advantage would a gardener reap in growing 
large flowers, say from one to three upon each plant, simply be¬ 
cause they please a section of the Chrysanthemum-loving public, 
and thus be no service to him other than to make heavy formal 
arrangements instead of having them light and elegant? The re¬ 
quirements of gardeners differ widely, and the man who wants 
abundance of flowers suitable for cutting will not long devote his 
time and attention to the production of material unsuitable for 
his purpose. Those who grow for “cutting ” do not find one or 
two flowers on a plant, say of Elaine, as useful and satisfactory as 
has many hundreds, and every flower suitable for the purpose for 
which they are grown. 
The demand upon gardeners at the present day for cut flowers 
is one of the main reasons why they do not produce a few “ fine 
flowers ” in preference to basketfuls of those suitable for “ cutting.” 
What gardeners want who have flowers to provide is a dozen or 
score of good free-branching varieties and in quantity, and not 
150 varieties or more, and one or two plants of each. I think 
there is equally as much credit due to the grower who produces 
plants suitable for decoration and cutting in a high state of per¬ 
fection as to the man who grows one or two fine flowers on a plant 
suitable for exhibition. 
I grow about five hundred plants, some with large flowers, but 
now the majority otherwise, and should therefore be in a position 
to know which of the two are the most serviceable for those gar¬ 
deners situated similar to myself.— Incognita. 
RIBES SPECIOSUM. 
IIibes SANGUINEUM and its varieties are well-known ornaments 
of our gardens, but the species of which a spray is shown in the 
woodcut (fig. 21) is by no means so common ; yet though some¬ 
89 
what less showy than the other, it has sufficient attractions to 
recommend it to all who regard flowering deciduous shrubs with 
favour. The flowers are bright red, both in form and colour being 
suggestive of some of the small-flowered species of Fuchsia. They 
are borne three or four together on short peduncles, and are 
slightly pendulous, thickly clothing the branches, which have 
bright green Gooseberry-like leaves and abundance of rather 
formidable spines. It is a native of California, and is said to be 
also found in Mexico. Seeds were first sent to this country in 
1828. 
Respecting its name Professor Lindsay wrote as follows in the 
“Botanical Register” in 1833 : “By the late Sir James Smith this 
plant was called Ribes stamineum, that learned botanist not 
having discovered in 1819 that it had been described in a well- 
known English work in 1814 under the name of R. speciosum, an 
Pig. 21.—Ribes stamineum. 
oversight not confined to this species alone, but connected with 
others of the same nature, which form part of one of his communi¬ 
cations to the Encyclopaedia of Dr. Rees. It is not surprising 
that these errors should have been copied by M. Berlandier in 
De Candolle's ‘ Prodromus.’ ” 
PINE APPLE CULTURE. 
Under the signature “ J. ” in the Journal of Horticulture of 
December 28th, 1882, are some encouraging remarks on Pine¬ 
growing. I have a friend who has a small hothouse, with bottom 
heat in a large bed, heated by a flue. I should be glad if your 
correspondent could give me a few simple rules—heat required, 
time of planting crowns, compost to be used, and any other hints 
that may be considered fitting.— C. E. P. 
[In reply to the above note it will be well for the inexperienced 
to procure Mr. Thomson’s book on the Tine, which is very valuable 
for aiding anyone commencing to grow this fruit. I may, how¬ 
ever, try to give a few notes of what I have found a successful 
mode of treating Pines. In regard to the propagation, suckers 
are generally preferred to crowns. I have found suckers do better 
