1884.] 
AMEEICAl^ AGEIOULTUEIST. 
65 
leaves are faded, cut them away and place the pots 
in the cellar. Next spring the bulbs may be plant¬ 
ed out in the garden, where they will continue to 
flower for years—not so finely as at first, but the 
flowers will be very useful for cutting, and well 
worth the room they occupy in the flower garden. 
A Window Conservatory, 
Those who cultivate plants in windows, often 
wish to increase the available space. This may be 
secured by constructing a conservatory like that 
shown in the engraving, the sketch for which was 
sent us by Mr. M. R. Thompson of this city. A pro¬ 
jecting frame is built out from the window, the 
front of which consists of a sash, so arranged that 
it may be pushed down for ventilation, to the 
point shown by the dotted lines. The sides are 
inclosed in proper sashes. This arrangement 
allows a fuller exposure to light than can pos¬ 
sibly be had in an ordinary window, and will 
give satisfaction out of proportion to its cost. 
Flower Forcing in the Window. 
Those who have no green-houses, hut whose plant 
culture in winter is confined to a sunny window, 
may enjoy a few flowers without even the trouble 
of growing them, if they are fortunate enough to 
find one of our common evergreen shrubs, the 
Leather-leaf. This is usually one to two feet high, 
with its branches terminated by one-sided clusters 
of flower buds that are very much advanced in au¬ 
tumn. It is common in bogs and sw'ampy places 
in all the Northern States, as far west as Wiscon¬ 
sin, as cranberry cultivators know to their cost, it 
being a most troublesome plant or weed in their 
plantations. Many winters ago we gathered a clus¬ 
ter of these flowering stems, being attracted by 
their beauty even in their undeveloped state. 
These were placed in water, in a window, and to 
our great surprise the buds gradually increased in 
size, and at length were in as fine flower as if they 
had been left on the bushes until spring. These 
are so neat and pleasing, and the flowers last so 
long, that the plants are worth searching for. Be¬ 
sides the name above given, the plant is in some 
localities called “Feather-leaf” and “Gander- 
bush;” its botanical name is Cassandra calyculata. 
Our success with this, suggested trying the “ Trail¬ 
ing Arbutus,” or “ May-flower” {Epigma repens). 
This in a warm room was an utter failure, but a 
dump of it laid in a shallow dish, supplied with wa¬ 
ter as needed, and kept in a room where there was 
no fire, opened its charming fragrant flowers quite 
satisfactorily. We have no doubt that the Par¬ 
tridge-berry (Mitehella) would succeed with similar 
treatment. A shrub from Japan {Fotsythia viri- 
dissima), often called “ Golden Bell,” is one of the 
earliest of all the spring-blooming shrubs, and is 
now quite common in cultivation. The ends of the 
slender stems of this, if cut any time during the 
winter and placed in water in a warm room, will 
soon hang out its golden bells, and give a lively bit 
of color and a foretaste of spring. Amotig the 
willows, the European “Sallow” or “Goat-W’il- 
low” {Salix Caprca) is frequently cultivated. The 
staminate or sterile tree has very large and showy 
catkins, which are produced early in spring, and in 
the north of Europe the twigs are used on Palm 
Sunday as a substitute for real palms. If twigs of 
this are placed in water, the catkins will soon 
bloom in a sitting-room. Some of our own willows 
will probably flower if treated in the same manner, 
especially a very common one, known to boys as 
“ Pussy Willow” {Salix discolor). The forcing of 
plants in this manner offers a field for experiment 
for those interested in such matters, and it is 
probable that the list of those available for in¬ 
expensive home decoration may be much enlarged. 
Forwarding Plants. 
Mr. S. J. Andrews,Clinton, Ont., sends us a sketch 
and description of his mode of starting plants 
eaily, protecting the roots from grubs and insects, 
and giving them a good send-off. Pieces of paste¬ 
board, three by six inches, are bent together in the 
form of a square box or tube, (fig. 1.) three inches 
long and an inch and a half in diameter, the two 
ends of the piece simply coming together at one 
corner of the tube. A box (fig. 2,) one foot deep 
and of any size desired, is half filled at the bottom 
with half-rotted manure. Upon this the pasteboard 
boxes are set in closely together and nearly filled 
will! rich loam, on the top of which two to four 
seeds of cabbage, tomato, etc., are dropped in 
each tube. Over the whole is then scattered a 
quarter inch deep, a mixture of loam, ashes and 
poultry droppings. Mr. A. says: “Thus arranged 
with the aid of the slight bottom heat, the plants 
came up very quickly and made a vigorous growth. 
When a few inches high, I removed all but one 
plant to a tube, and taking off the side of the box 
the tubes, plants and soil were easily removed to 
the open ground, and planted without the slightest 
disturbance of the roots. These plants, along¬ 
side of others set out in the usual manner, showed 
all summer a marked differenee in size and growth, 
and in autumn a much larger crop. I claim for 
the tubes cheapness in material and construction, 
no disturbance of roots in transplanting out, pro¬ 
tection from worms, grubs, etc., while the roots 
are small and tender; and that the fertilized earth 
in the tubes give them efificient help when the 
young roots most need aid to take hold of the soil 
when set out. The soil in the box and tubes would 
need to bo kept moist enough by sprinkling with 
milk-warm water, or supplying it from below. 
These tubes, if of strong pasteboard, can be kept 
for use the next season. A box, a single foot 
square, would hold sixty-four of the tubes for 
as many plants; a box two feet square would hold 
two hundred and fifty-six. Any second-hand 
boxes of various sizes can be used, and the only 
cost will be for the pasteboard. This can be pro¬ 
versions. A Covent Garden market-man has that 
beautiful climber, Stephanotis, as “Stiffer Notice” 
(he must be an advertising agent). But worse yet 
was a label from a gentlemen’s greenhouse that 
read, “Rinkum sperum, Jesse Mindes,”which, when 
translated, stood for Bhynchospermum jasminoides. 
Home-Made Sashes for Hot-Beds, 
Sashes for hot-beds, cold-frames, and green¬ 
houses are manufactured at nearly all sash-fac¬ 
tories, but it frequently happens that these fac¬ 
tories are located many miles from the gardener 
who wants the sashes. If they are ordered through 
the local lumber merchant, his profit and the 
freight charges will make them rather expensive. 
While factory-made sashes are desirable, they are 
not indispensable. We give below an engraving 
which shows how a home-made sash, for hot-beds, 
etc., that has the merit of cheapness, is constructed. 
The frame is of inch-and-a-half pine. The end 
pieces three inches, and the side pieces two inches 
wide. The cross-bar under the center is one inch 
FORM OF THE SASH. 
square. The sash contains sixteen panes of eight 
by ten glass, which is a useful size. The bars of the 
sash are each composed of two laths—one divided 
lengthwise, and one whole. The divided lath is 
fastened to each side of the whole one, and forms 
the ledges upon which the glass rests. When set 
in, the glass is lapped about a quarter of an inch, 
so that it will shed rain. Sashes thus constructed 
have been in use several years, and given as good 
satisfaction as those obtained from the sash-facto¬ 
ries, though they did not cost one-fourth as much. 
Fig. 2.— BOX OF BOXES FOR PLANTS, 
cured and the tubes and the boxes made ready in 
any number during these leisure winter months. 
Hard on the Names. —We thought, when one of 
our Broadway frnit stands exhibited the sign “ Dan 
Joe Pears ” (d’Anjou), that horticultural nomencla¬ 
ture had a hard strain, but the “ Gardener’s Chron¬ 
icle” (Eng.) gives us some still more striking per¬ 
A New Potato. 
Our cultivated potatoes are derived from Sdla- 
num tuberosum, and we have new varieties 
of these by the dozens every year. The 
European journals now announce an entire¬ 
ly new species of Solanum with edible 
tubers, Solanum Oliroudi, so named from 
the person who discovered it on an unin¬ 
habited island at the mouth of the river La 
Plata in South America. This new potato 
has been tried at Brest, in the north of 
France, and appears to have qualities which 
may be of value when it has been 
improved by careful culture. Among 
others, it promises to be hardy, and when 
once established, it remains in the soil 
from year to year. It remains to be 
seen if this is a desirable property. Think of 
a potato becoming a weed, and forcing its tubers 
upon us whether we wish them or not! The 
dwarf habit of the vine, not exceeding a foot in 
hight, its freedom from disease, and its hardiness, 
'all make it worthy of being thoroughly tested. 
On the other hand, the difficulty of rooting it out 
where once planted will make our planters cau¬ 
tious of it, should it be introduced among us. 
