February 1, 1863. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 93 
of J. C. Stevens of King Street, Covent Garden, which are marvels 
of the photographic art. Landscape photography has long at¬ 
tained to high perfection, but the most difficult of all photogra¬ 
phic manipulation was to properly represent flowers. All attempts 
in this direction which we have seen are unsatisfactory ; but 
those that Mr. Stevens has succeeded in producing are of such a 
nature as to be works of art of a very high order. In all the floral 
photographs we have seen there is either flatness or a want of 
definition, and unless all the parts were brought into the same 
plane or focus some of them are foggy while others are sharp in 
their outlines. In these productions of Mr. Stevens’ there is a 
depth and decision which amount to perfection, and no artist 
with his pencil could produce a more faithful representation of 
his subject. What struck us most on examining some of the 
photographs, andjespecially those of Orchids and Lilies, was the 
remarkably faithful representation of the texture of the floral 
segments : indeed so well was this done that even the transpa¬ 
rency was shown, and one could fancy without any effort that 
transmitted light was shining through the substance of the flower. 
In this respect these photographs far surpass the efforts of the 
most skilful pencil artist, and even the best colourists fail to 
convey the effect produced by this style of photography. 
- “Among the rarities in flower at Glasnevin just now,” 
says the Irish Farmer's Gazette , “a little gem deserves special 
notice. This is a diminutive epiphytal Tillandsia, of 
Pine Apple aspect, growing on a piece of wood no thicker than a 
finger, and the plant itself so small that a pill box would cover 
it. The leaves have their surfaces glistening as if beautifully 
frosted with silver, and from their centre rise a slim pair of 
narrow, tubular, glossy purple, Crocus-like flowers, each not 
thicker than a crow quill, and crowned with gold in the shape 
of the yellow anthers, which rise just barely above, and contrast 
strikingly with the colour of the flowers. The plant and wood, 
we fancy, would scarcely weigh half an ounce.” 
- A CORRESPONDENT of the New York Weekly Tribune re¬ 
commends Sweet Briar as a hedge plant when strengthened 
by wire. “ The Sweet Briar has all the merits attributed to the 
Barberry or Privet, the Buckthorn, or the Japan Quince. Cattle 
do not eat it, it is not subject to insect injury, it does not sucker, 
but makes as thick a base as the Barberry and will grow in as 
thin and dry ground. It is equally hardy, its thorns and leaves 
even more numerous, and although the foliage is paler it is only 
the more distinct for that. The fruits or heps are bright red and 
showy. The peculiar and special merits of the Sweet Briar 
as a wire-hedge plant, are that the leaves have a pene¬ 
trating and delightful fragrance, that it soon grows up, and 
that it requires the least trimming of all, as it does not 
exceed in height the stature proper to a hedge, and not sprawl 
about, but grows erect, trim, and full of shoots from the base. 
But its stems are not stiff enough, and did not interlace enough or 
thrust out new growth laterally to fill a gap so quickly as to serve 
as fence against cattle without the aid of a wire.” 
ABOUT WATERING. 
“ How often should it be watered ? ” is a question frequently 
asked by the proud possessor of a small window plant, and the 
surprise is genuine when it is found that no practical man will 
give a simple straightforward answer to the question. Indeed, the 
fact of being practical seems to stultify the power of giving a 
simple answer, and it is questionable if the late Robert Thompson, 
the talented author of the “Gardener’s Assistant,” within the last 
ten years of his life ever gave a simple answer to any question on 
the subject of pomology, and I suppose no other man living then 
knew more about that science practically as well as theoretically. 
But I remember Mr. Barron, the present Superintendent for the 
Royal Horticultural Society, asking Mr. Thompson in my pre¬ 
sence and for my especial benefit (telling me beforehand the sort 
of answer he was likely to get), a simple question as to the best 
means of eradicating insects from a fruit house. 
Mr. Barron had previously put. the same question to me, as he 
had a query from a correspondent on the subject. I gave my 
answer straight without a moment’s consideration, and was aston¬ 
ished that so clever a man as Mr. Thompson should hesitate to do 
so. But such was the case. The question is much easier for any 
of us to answer to-day than it was then ; but although I do not 
claim to have got very far up the ladder on which Mr. Thompson 
stood at the top, I begin to think that what are apparently little 
questions are not so easily answered as I once thought. 
For what purpose is water supplied to plants ? 
The question I know will appear to many readers to be an 
absurd one to ask of those who have a water pot in their hand 
every day, but I must acknowledge my inability to give it a com¬ 
plete answer. I will, however, answer it as far as I can, and that 
will bring me to another question—How and when should water 
be applied ? 
Water is an indispensable plant-food. A large portion of the 
plant itself is water ; a certain amount of supply, then, is necessary 
for building up the plant. But this, it may be said, is only a very 
small per-centage of the quantity it is found necessary to give to 
the roots of the plant. Next, transpiration, or the exhalation of 
moisture from the leaves, is a necessity of a plant’s healthy ex¬ 
istence, which takes place more or less according to the state of 
the atmosphere, the extent of the leaf-surface, and the nature 
and condition of the plant, as well as of the soil in which it is 
growing. In the open air the quantity of water evaporated by 
plants is very large, in some districts it is said to be even in 
excess of the rainfall ; but of this I have no proof, and I am not 
aware that we have any record of experiments to determine the 
relative amount of evaporation from plants in our houses com¬ 
pared with those grown outside, but I should imagine the ven¬ 
tilators will regulate that to a great extent. 
Then we know that a plant cannot extract food from a soil 
which is too dry, even though the foliage should be kept from 
drooping, and a plant when allowed to droop is of course visibly 
suffering, and, with the exception of the actual feeling, may be 
compared to a horse which after a hard day’s work is taken out 
to work all night without its supper ; in other words, forces are 
being used up which ought to be accumulating, and this state of 
things cannot last any more than the business of a man who, 
finding the interest of his capital insufficient, is continually draw¬ 
ing on his accumulated principal. 
There is probably nothing new in what I have said so far 
on the subject. I feel there is much more which ought to be 
said, but I dare not at present trust myself to commit it to paper, 
as I am only beginning to learn a little about it, and should be 
glad to be informed where I may read up the subject in its 
physiological aspect. But there is one point mentioned on which 
I can enlarge somewhat, and I will introduce it by asking another 
question. How is it that if I take a particular plant under my 
especial care with regard to watering, and allow it to share all 
the rest of its treatment with the other plants in the house under 
the charge of an assistant, that my plant is very likely to excel ? 
The answer is to be found in the fact that I should take care 
always to anticipate the wants of my plant. I would no more 
allow it to flag than a careful nurse would allow a patient to cry 
out for the necessaries of existence. I would take to know my 
plant well ; it should never have water when it did not want 
it, and when it did want it, it should have abundance. You 
would never see me running with the water pot after the sun had 
been shining some time. My plant is looked to in the morning 
or in the evening after the sun has gone down, and is prepared to 
utilise the sunshine to its fullest extent when it comes again. If 
it shines brightly all day and the pot is getting full of roots 
probably another supply will be necessary, and if not I shall take 
care that it is always prepared for any sort of weather. Anyone 
wffio will allow a healthy plant indoors to flag, or will give it 
some cold water after the sun has been shining on it some time, is 
not fit to be trusted with one. 
So long as a plant can be kept sufficiently moist the less num¬ 
ber of times it is watered the better, and were I able to attend to 
a houseful of plants myself I would have the pots both glazed 
and without a hole for drainage. I have frequently with advan¬ 
tage corked up the bottom of a pot after it had become full of 
roots, but I have looked after the watering myself. 
There is scarcely a limit to which softwooded plants may be 
grown in a few months if all their wants are anticipated. As an 
instance I may mention that on the only occasion I have shown 
plants, some Fuchsias were struck from cuttings in December and 
exhibited at Dorchester during the first week of the following 
June, several of them being 6 feet through and as much high. To 
t 
