March 7,1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
201 
temperatures and the conditions on which they are based that are to be 
observed in the forcing and other houses. This system has been in 
practice here for several years, and has been attended with very satis¬ 
factory results. Watchfulness on the part of the young men whose 
duty it is to attend to the ventilation being all that is required.” The 
construction I place upon these quotations are first, that Mr. Ward says 
they cannot do it, and secondly that they can do it. Your readers shall 
judge. If all men were raised to the same standard of knowledge, or 
thought alike, there would be no discussion. When all men can be 
made to think |like then will this “chink” of air business be carried 
out exactly as the chief wishes, and not till then. Where he thinks 
there is a little too much ventilation, the man in charge may think 
its just right, hence a difference between the two. 
Mr. Ward complains of not being fairly quoted. He does not blame 
me, but let us see how he treats me in this respect. Lock at the fifth 
paragraph from the beginning, page 135. He there gives me the credit of 
saying, “ Pushing the winter Cucumber p'ants into growth during mild 
weather by giving a night temperature of 60° to 75°.” Mr. Ward 
cannot show your readers where to find any such sentence in my article. 
What I did say is this, that Mr. Coombe advises a minimum tempera¬ 
ture of 60°—that is, if I understand him rightly, the lowest temperature 
he would desire during the coldest and severest of weather. I then 
went on to say that I should fix the maximum night temperature higher 
than Mr. Ward—namely, 75°. This gives a range, according to the 
weather, of 15°. I leave the quotation your correspondent has con¬ 
structed and credits me with for your readers to judge whether it is a 
fair one or not. 
It is clear in what I have written in describing how these tempera¬ 
tures should be maintained, and the examples given were plain enough, 
that they were guided by external conditions —that is, what I term 
natural conditions. What would Mr. Ward call them ? But he 
wants to take me to the natural home of the Cucumber ; and to start 
with, it is not certain that the Cucumber is a native of the warm 
countries of Asia and Egypt, it is merely thought so ; but that makes 
no difference to our argument. Does not the temperature in these 
countries vary ? Are they, then, an exception in this respect Z Perhaps 
Mr. Ward will favour us with the maximum and minimum tempera¬ 
tures of these countries. Am I not justified in varying the temperature 
even for Cucumbers at night from 60° to 75° ? Is this not a safer plan 
than the course followed by Mr. Ward in trying to maintain an almos* 
even temperature, whether the weather is severe or mild ? His:. - 
ment is calculated to bring about red spider, and to obviate this he is com¬ 
pelled to resort to syringing the last thing at night. No such treatment 
is needed when the temperature is regulated according to the weather. 
Hard firing, up-hill forcing, that is so detrimental to plant life, is 
practised by Mr. Ward, and avoided by the temperatures and methods 
of regulating them that I gave. It is even considerate to post up fixed 
temperatures for our young men, but I believe in learning them to think 
and act for themselves. I venture to say without fear of contradiction, 
that the man who thinks turns out a better one than he who is allowed 
to lean upon someone else, and works by rule of thumb. 
My contention is that it is utterly impossible to open the ventilators 
during the winter months without admitting large volumes of cold air. 
It is not necessary to throw the ventilators wide open for the accom¬ 
plishment of this end. However carefully they may be opened large 
volumes of cold air enter, air that may be from 15° to 40° lower than 
the internal temperature of the house. Is this course calculated to 
sustain the plants in health and vigour? Mr. Ward says, “Allow a 
little front and top ventilation on bright mornings as soon as the 
thermometer registers 75°, allowing it to run to 80° before increasing 
the ventilation.” One illustration only need be given to show your 
readers the unsoundness of such advice. If I take the morning of Tuesday 
the thermometer some time during the previous night outside had fallen 
to 5°, thus representing 27° of frost. Tuesday was the brightest day we 
have had this year, and the thermometers in some of the houses ran up 
to 90°. The thermometer during the day outside never rose to freezing 
point. To open ventilators and admit air to such tender exotics as 
Cucumbers displays at a glance the unwisdom of following the advice 
Mr. Ward lays such stress upon. This is but one solitary example of 
what might be cited from Christmas to the middle of April. The air 
during that period is too cold, and those who practise the opening of 
ventilators in their Cucumber houses evidently never consider the 
circumstances under which the plants are growing in the warm countries 
of Asia and Egypt. Even the advocates of ventilation know and prove 
by their own writings, as Mr. Ward has plainly done, that the- air 
externally is too cold to be admitted, and they contrive to remedy this 
by arranging hot-water pipes close to the opening of the ventilators. 
What is this for ? Mr. Ward says to warm the air as it passes in. This shows 
the broken reed upon which all advocates of this practice have to lean. 
After it has passed the pipes I maintain its too cold, as anybody can prove. 
Place the band, say a foot from the pipes, and the cold air can be 
plainly felt. The ventilating system leads to another evil, and that is, 
having to keep the pipes hot to try and warm the air as they admit it. 
The advocates of a close system can stop firing and allow the pipes to 
cool considerably, which is studying in no small degree the health of 
the plants. Mr. Ward says modern houses are constructed on the air¬ 
tight principle. This may be so, but they are not air-tight. He might 
as well try to prove true that they are water-tight if they were dipped 
wrong-way up into the sea. I have never seen a house yet into which 
large volumes of air cannot enter and escape, and this goes on all day 
and night, and which is ample to provide for the wants of the plants 
and keep the atmosphere in a healthy condition. The opening of 
doors to do the necessary work, to see that the temperature is right, is 
an evil rather than the reverse. It is ample, to say the very least, to 
admit air in much larger volumes than is good for the well-being of the 
plants.— Wh. Bardney. 
FUCHSIA SPLENDENS AND F. COCCINEA. 
Your correspondent “ S. P. E. S.” may not be aware that F. coccinea 
of our gardens, and which forms hedges and even good sized trees in 
Cornwall, is not entitled to this specific name. It was discovered some 
years ago that the true F. coccinea was probably a Brazilian plant, 
the date of its introduction being 1788, and that F. magellanica, 
otherwise called macrostema, from the south of Chili, has usurped the 
term coccinea. Mr. Hemsley called attention to this fact (Gardeners' 
Chronicle , 1876, pp. 179, 323), and Sir J. D. Hooker refigured it in 1868 in 
the “ Botanical Magazine,” vol. 94, t. 5740, as it had been originally given 
in Loddiges’ Cabinet (1825), pi. 933. It differs from the common form in 
having hairy petioles, the leaf-blade being cordate at the base, and in 
other particulars. F. magellanica* has several varieties, such as discolor, 
conica, and recurvata, with upturned sepals. F. globosa is also probably 
a variety, having been first shown at the Horticultural Society by Mr. 
Dennis of Chelsea in 1832. It forms a hedge at Lee, near Ilfracombe. 
With regard to F. splendens, this species was introduced from 
Guatemala about 1840. Dr. Lindley remarked it was first thought to be 
a variety of F. fulgens (“ Bot. Reg.” F. splendens, Zucc. 28, t. 67, 1842), 
which came from Mexico in 1837 ; from which a remarkable hybrid was 
raised in 1839 with F. globosa, called F. Standishi (figured in “ Bot. Reg.,” 
26, 2). The woodcut supplied to the Journal of Horticulture (February 
28th, page 169) will show the difference between F. splendens and 
F. fulgens, in that the tube alone of the latter species is more than 3 inches 
in length. The first figure of F. splendens was by Sir W. J. Hooker, 
(Icon. pi. vol. 1, n.s. t. 450), under the name of F. cordifolia, Benth, var.; 
and it resembles that species in the green sepals and petals, but it is not 
altogether unlike F. excorticata from New Zealand, both in the inflated 
and angular tube of the calyx, though the foliage is quite different. 
F.splendens will befound figured in Bot. Reg. 28,67; Bot. Mag. 70,4082, 
and FI. de Serres, 5, 458.— George Henslow. 
EVENING NOTES. 
“ Evening Notes ” afford, I think, such an excellent mode for con¬ 
tributing notes on successes and failures that I have been tempted to 
forward this instalment. 
Earliest Rhubarb Gathered. — It may interest “Vicar” to 
know we have gathered unforced Rhubarb daily since February 20th, 
The variety is Tobolsk. Had we pulled it when 2J inches long we might 
have done so fully a month earlier, as none of the stalks pulled have 
been less than a foot in length. If I sent Rhubarb to the kitchen of 
the length quoted, the probabilities are it would be returned to me with 
a message from the cook more forcible than polite. 
Watering a Vine Border with Liquid Manure.— Not many 
days since I had the inside border of an early vinery watered with liquid' 
manure from the farmyard; hot water was added for the double pur¬ 
pose of warming and diluting it. I went to another house as soon as it 
was prepared, leaving one of the young men to put it on the border. On 
my return ten minutes later the interior of the house was exactly as if 
someone had painted it over with bro vn paint. Syringing would not 
take it off. 1 was in a dilemma. What was to be done ? Eventually 
the whole of the woodwork had, where accessible, to be scrubbed. 
Needless to add, no harm resulted from this little episode beyond 
frightening me. I have many a time used the liquid in this way, but 
never saw, or even heard of, the vapour playing such a trick before. The 
only explanation I can give is that the liquid was stale, having been in 
the barrel for several weeks. Perhaps some more scientific craftsman 
will be better able to explain why the ammonia should act so powerfully 
on this occasion. _ 
Epiphyllum truncatum. —Plants of these on their own roots are- 
seldom seen to the best advantage, owing to their pendant habit. Last 
year I got the idea that if they were hung from the roof of the conser¬ 
vatory they would be more attractive than when standing on the stage. 
The pots were therefore duly wired, and the plants rested in the stove- 
all the summer. As soon as the flowers commenced opening they were 
removed to the conservatory, where they proved a most telling feature 
with visitors. The plants flowered much better than when grown in the 
ordinary. The result was altogether so satisfactory that I am getting 
all the plants suspended this year.— Handy Andy. 
As an advocate for evening notes I thought it better to practise 
instead of preach, so I prepared a few notes which reading of the 
Journal suggested to me. Being a young writer I am greatly 
encouraged to see an elder carrying out the suggestion that was made 
by me, and I hope to see others, especially young men who are to be 
the future gardeners, sending in their notes, thereby making the 
Journal more interesting for themselves. 
* The fig. in Bot. Mag., 3,97, Is not coccinea but F. magellanica. 
