170 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ August, 
THE OLD HAMMERSMITH LETTUCE. 
AD we not sown the Hammersnaith hardy green Lettuce in the open ground 
in August, last year, we should not have had a lettuce out-of-doors this 
spring, almost every one but this having succumbed to the winter. It was 
sown in a row at the bottom of a plum-wall in the third week of August, 
and thinned out so that those left stood in quincuncial order, forming a zigzag 
.row, two inches apart or so. In April hundreds of people envied 
. . . . my row of Hammersmith hardy green Lettuce, for it was a long row 
.of some 120 yards, and we had them in great quantity during April 
and May. Being a dwarf green cabbage Lettuce, a great many can be grown in 
a small space. It is an old-established friend, which I used to be very fond of, and 
this year it was a friend indeed, for I was in need. It is all very good having an 
eye to those big crisp Lettuces from France, but when we gardeners in the 
North find ourselves minus of these, we naturally fall back on our old acquaintances, 
and this is indeed a veritable and faithful one, being the hardiest and most distinct 
type of cabbage Lettuce—one which every gardener would be the better, and 
certainly none the worse, for having.— Henry Knight, Floors Gardens. 
THE ANiECTOCHILUS. 
@ HESE most exquisitely beautiful of all variegated plants would seem 
doomed to die out in this country. The many fine collections that were at 
W one time to be met with—where are they ? If you ask those who grew 
them, the reply almost invariably is, “ They did well for a time, and then 
gradually became diseased, and ultimately died out.” Yet why should these be 
an exception to other plants that we cultivate, that after their requirements, are 
sufficiently understood and attended to, go on continuously, and thrive in most 
cases as well—often better—than when in their native habitat ? When any 
plant or family of plants grow unexceptionably, and also increase, as do these 
Amectochili.^ for a time, and then, without any alteration in their treatment or 
inattention on the part of the cultivator, begin to sicken and refuse to grow, we 
may rest assured that they have existed, as it were, upon their own vitality, and 
that the conditions under which they have been placed, though such as sufficed 
for a time to support them in a luxuriant state, were yet so far opposed to their 
general requirements as to have undermined the constitution of the plants, which 
ultimately has broken down altogether—just as we find with animal life, if we 
place any of our domestic animals under conditions that for a time favour even 
extraordinary development, but which is wanting in some essential, so that health 
after a time gives way. , 
From experience and personal observation, I have come to the conclusion that 
the rock upon which the great majority of growers of these plants split, is the 
want of keeping them snfiiciently cool for a time during the autumn or winter, to 
induce a state of total rest. I can best illustrate my views by stating my own 
