88 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
leakage. Moreover, tliere are no connections or joints exposed to tlie action of 
the fire, wliich lias so often proved destructive. It can readily be removed and 
got through any ordinary doorway, and requires for the stoke-hole but little 
more depth than the saddle-boiler. To clear it either of sediment from the 
inside, or of soot from the flues, is the work of a few minutes only. Any of the 
compartments can be renewed or replaced without destroying the remaining 
parts, as the boiler is made in sections, and put together with patent joints, so 
that with a small spanner, two or three ordinary labourers can take down and 
replace it in a few hours. The fire, which can be made to travel any number of 
feet before it can escape, is completely surrounded by iron backed with water, so 
that it presents a very large heating surface directly to the fire, while the damper 
is so constructed that all the heat may be confined within the boiler. It is claimed 
for this boiler that it will heat more water with the same amount of fuel, and 
will keep up the heat without attention for a longer time, than any other. The 
fatal mistake, Mr. Cannell remarks, in the construction of nearly all the new 
boilers of late years consists in the endeavour to cast them all in one piece, and 
in having the parts too complicated.—M. 
CAMAS SI A. ESCULENTA. 
S HE extensive and much-neglected group of bulbous plants furnishes many 
subjects whose beauty has become familiar in select gardens, but which 
f are still not sufficiently known and appreciated by the majority of culti¬ 
vators. Among those to which this remark applies, may be mentioned 
the charming Liliaceous bulb whose name heads this paper, and which possesses 
nearly every quality that is requisite to constitute it a general favourite. It is of 
very free growth ; it is perfectly hardy ; it is exceedingly beautiful; and it is so 
easy to cultivate that no one can possibly fail in growing it to perfection. 
The Camassia esculenta , or Quamash of the American Indians, is a native of the 
swampy plains of the North-Western States of North America, where it grows in such 
quantities as to form one of the principal articles of food of the Indians. It requires, 
therefore, to be planted in a damp spot in order to grow it to perfection, although 
from my own experience I have found it to succeed in the ordinary flower borders, 
and to attain there almost the same dimensions as it would seem, from descrip¬ 
tions, to reach in its native habitats. The bulbs, which are small, produce long 
narrow, grooved, dark green leaves, which generally grow to about a foot in length. 
The flowers are produced upon stems which rise from 12 in. to 15 in. in height, 
and bear each a raceme of from 12 to 20 flowers. The individual flowers are 
frequently 1^-in. in diameter, of a pleasing bluish-purple colour, and appear 
about the latter end of June or beginning of July. It is propagated very freely 
from offsets, and from seed. 
This plant must be considered as one of the most useful and beautiful amongst 
our hardy cultivated bulbs. There is also a rich dark blue variety, called 
