90 
THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
feeds on insects and small snails, and when looking for its prey, it generally 
hangs with its head downwards, as shown in fig. 31. Fig. 32 shows a 
young bird of the same species before the growth of the mustachio-like 
appendages, from which the bird takes its English name. 
Orthosiphon incurvus , see p. 58.—This plant was erroneously stated to 
have been figured for the first time in the Bot. Mag. t. 3847 ; as it appeared 
before in the Botanist for June, 1840, No. 173. 
EXTRACTS FROM BOOKS. 
Flued borders. —The vigour with which mules of the genus Crinum and 
many other plants grow out of doors against the front wall of a stove, 
persuades me that a great variety of plants might, with a little care, be 
cultivated better in the open ground than under glass, if the border in 
which they are to grow were flued under ground, and a tarpauling, or any 
other waterproof covering, placed over them at the times when it might 
be requisite to exclude either rain or cold. The covering might hang on 
the two sides of a strong longitudinal pole, like the two slopes of a roof, 
and be made to roll up either with or without a spring. There are many 
plants which seem to enjoy a cool atmosphere, but will not flower or 
thrive vigorously without the stimulus of heated earth at the root. Having 
chosen a situation where a furnace and boiler could be placed under ground, 
I would carry the smoke flue as far as its heat wrnuld extend on one side, 
and hot-water or steam-pipes in a different direction, as might be found 
convenient, enclosed in a stone or brick flue to as great a length as its 
influence might reach. In such a border, I believe the genus Hedychium, 
and many others, would flower perfectly with the assistance of fire in the 
summer, requiring nothing in winter but a covering to throw off the wet, 
and the heat might be turned into other pipes for the advantage of plants 
which might require the warmth in winter rather than in the summer. 
If in front of a wall, a moveable verandah, which might be either orna¬ 
mental, or made of thatched hurdle, or hurdle-gates, would throw off the 
wet, which is the principal cause of injury in winter, for many shrubs will 
endure the access of severe frost to the head, if all wet can be effectually 
excluded from the base of the stem, and from the root by any sloped 
heading. Under such a verandah, with occasional heat to the flue during 
