MAY. 
107 
them with great care, pointing the stakes finely, that the roots may not 
receive injury by their being forced into the halls. 
When the plants have done flowering, which, in most cases, will be by the 
first week in September at the latest, it will be necessary to cut them down, 
so as to form a basis for next year’s blooming. Avoid cutting them too 
severely: the younger the wood chosen, upon which young growths are to 
be formed, the better. Keep them rather dry for a time, and until they 
have made shoots an inch or so long, when it will be necessary to pot them. 
This is done by reducing the ball as much as possible without undue in¬ 
jury to the roots, and potting into the same soil as advised above, with the 
addition, however, of rather more silver sand and minute pieces of broken 
pots. They will now require pushing on in moderate warmth, for the pur¬ 
pose of re-establishing them in the fresh pots, the better to stand through 
the winter. Cuttings should be made from the prunings, removing three 
or four pairs of leaves from near the base before inserting them into an 
open, gritty compost. If plunged in a moderate bottom heat they will root 
freely. Do not water them for at least a week after they are put in. Keep 
all in the warm, dry corner of an intermediate-house during the winter, in 
positions where air maybe given upon all favourable occasions. Be careful 
not to make the balls too wet during the duller winter months, and to guard 
them from drips or any other matters likely to cause damp, or to disturb a 
thorough season of rest. Should the cuttings root freely it may be possible 
in fine open autumns to advance them a stage by pinching them back, 
causing them to break, and maturing the growth afterwards in time for a 
winter’s rest. One fact should always be borne in mind, that these plants 
are never better than when flowered only biennially, and upon a constant 
succession of young shoots. 
Dig swell. William Earley. 
BEARD’S PATENT GLASS HOUSES. 
The abolition of the excise duty on glass and the Great Exhibition of 
1851 had each a powerful indirect influence on horticulture. The former 
rendered glass cheap and immensely stimulated production, while the 
palace in Hyde Park proved its architectural capabilities, and the faci¬ 
lity with which art could render it subservient to the production of the 
beautiful. Probably full justice has never been done to the horticultural 
importance of these two events. They may be said to have made glass 
houses, which had mostly been the expensive luxuries of the few, one of the 
commonest and cheapest pleasures of the many. Hence we observe them 
springing up in all directions, till it is now no utopian fancy to expect to 
see curates’ vineries adorning cottagers’ gardens, and tiny conservatories 
embellishing the houses of our mechanics. But while the cheapening of 
glass has thus stimulated the manufacture of glass houses, the very magni¬ 
tude of the demand has scarcely afforded the necessary leisure for the dis¬ 
covery or application of new or improved modes of using it. Hence whilst 
the quality of the glass has improved, and its size been indefinitely enlarged, 
we go on converting it into houses in very much the same manner as 
before. The result is frequently discouraging. Arrangements that might 
answer pretty well for covering a few square yards, are hardly adapted for 
enclosing an acre; and working expenses that were scarcely felt by the 
upper classes, can hardly be borne by those who now either have or wish to 
