October 24.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
49 
Peaches are also grown in the same house; and when 
these opened their flower-buds in spring, without any 
more forcing than was requisite to keep the frost out, a 
little more attention to heat was given; the temperature 
at night, however, being oftener below than above 40°. 
Partly from this little fire-heat and the increasing power 
of the sun’s rays, the Begonias that had been kept dry 
and dormant during the winter began to push up their 
shoots, and show signs of returning vitality. Then 
they received a watering with liquid several degrees 
warmer than the atmosphere of the house; and, if very 
dry indeed, they were soaked in a pail or tub,—the sur¬ 
face-water being allowed to drain away. This and the 
increasing temperature, chiefly from 3olar power, pro¬ 
duced a thicket of shoots and leaves, from six to nine 
inches in length, by the time the vines were breaking 
into leaf; then the plants were shifted. If desirable, 
each pot might then make half a dozen, by division; 
but in the present case all the weaker shoots with their 
roots were removed, and either potted by themselves as 
successions, or put together for being given to those who 
might take a fancy to them. The strong shoots, show¬ 
ing by that very strength that they had a fimd of orga¬ 
nised material to draw upon in the larger tubers, were, 
after slightly pruning the roots and getting rid of any 
that were decayed, re-potted in the same-sized pot, the 
stems all beside each other in the centre; so that what 
was in reality a number of plants were made to resemble 
one ; the tubers and roots being extended outwards 
towards the circumference of the pot, like the spokes of 
a wheel; and well packed in a compost of equal por 
tions of sandy peat and fibry loam, with a little charcoal 
and dried cowdung. After this manipulation a little 
shade was required, and this the foliage of the vines in 
general supplied. If that was not sufficient they were 
shaded in the heat of the day by other means, such as 
tissue paper, thin gauze, &c. As soon as the roots had 
taken hold of the fresh material, they were set in the 
light as much as possible, and well supplied with liquid- 
manures ; not keeping long to the same thing, but 
giving weak manure-water at one time, soot-water at 
another, &c. They were removed to a cool glass house 
in June, well set with flower-buds. “ Oh! but, ” say 
our friends with houses without fire-heat, “ all this is 
Greek to us, for we have no fire-heat whatever to give.” 
No, not quite ! All that has been done in the present 
case may be accomplished as efficiently in a cold house, ' 
or a cold pit, provided you commence a month or six 
weeks later, by allowing or causing the plants to doze ; 
all that time longer—by placing any non-conducting 
medium over them, such as sawdust or moss, and then 
by a close atmosphere after potting; even employing a 
hand-light to set over them at times,—husband and 
make the most of the heat of the sun, which scarcely 
ever comes wrong, because accompanied with light. 
Those who have never tried it would be amazed to find 
how quickly things may be made to grow in a cold j 
house or pit after the beginning of April, by merely 
giving little air, so as to enclose the heat from the sun’s 
rays. It may be dunned into your ears, that you will 
ruin your plants from want of air—that they will get so 
loan and lanky as not to have a leg to stand upright upon; 
because heat expands the tissues—and these, if mois¬ 
ture can be got, will be inflated to bursting point with 
mere watery fluids : mere expansion being a very dif¬ 
ferent thing from solid addition ; and, as a proof of 
your friend’s sincerity, he will point you to his pit or 
house, with air breezing gaily in by back and front— 
even though this air be somewhat nippy to the finger 
points, and then at night he will show you them closely 
shut up,—matted over, with dung linings steaming 
around them, or fires roaring beneath them—and all to 
keep Iris proteges healthy, stubby, and short-jointed ! ! 
Now, though aware that heat, however applied, in dark¬ 
ness, will make plants leggy—unles's in extreme cases, 
which common sense would guard against, either by 
a little air or shading; there can be no such danger 
from heat derived from the sun, because the tendency to 
increased expansion and absorption are counteracted by 
increased evaporation—the decomposition of carbonic 
acid, and the consequent fixation of carbon or solid 
matter. As a general rule, therefore, our new readers 
will bear in mind that the highest temperature should 
ever be in unison with the brightest light. 
Excuse the seeming digression—as I find I shall not 
now overtake what I intended to form the chief part of 
this week’s subject. The remarks, however, will not be 
without profit, as a great many greenhouse tuberous 
plants may be treated in a similar manner, without half 
so much trouble. This plant may be grown in a cold pit 
Or window, in the usual way, but then the specimens 
will not be such as to arrest and rivet attention. I must 
mention that since the plants were removed to their 
blooming quarters, they have several times been surface 
dressed with rotten cow dung. 
However amateurs may cram their small houses iu 
winter, in order to supply their flower-gardens, I think 
that a few plants of a large size would be more pleasing 
iu summer. As one of these, because not obtruding 
itself in winter, allow me to herald this Begonia. As a 
companion, there is the Salvia patens, —a fine thing for 
beds it is true, but apt to be swept of its blooms by any 
wind, after the beginning of September. Treated in a 
similar manner to the Begonia, its azure blue is more 
delicate ; it blooms abundantly and equally long. On 
one side might stand a large yellow Calceolaria, and on 
the other a monster Scarlet Geranium, and by the side 
of the Calceolaria, the Unique Geranium. Luxuriance 
and beauty would make ample amends for the want of 
rarity; not that the latter is not desirable, and should 
receive the greatest attention, but it alone will never 
compete with commoner objects when not well culti¬ 
vated or unhealthy. Speaking of Scarlet Geraniums, I 
may mention that Tom Thumb is capable of swelling out 
to a very giant. The pink Lucea Rosea does in the 
house under glass, as it never can be made to do out of 
doors. In most situations it requires a sheltered shady 
place to do any good, and even then the flowers have 
neither the brilliancy nor the size they have when pro¬ 
tected with glass. I shall say nothing of Mrs. Judy 
nor yet of Mr. Punch as bedders, because I have not 
sufficiently tried them, and the successful raiser of them 
may have more to say of their respective merits; but if 
Master Punch continues to progress witli me as a pot 
plant as he has done this season, he will cudgel every 
other scarlet, kings and queens, and Tom Thumbs’ out 
of the field. In cold greenhouses, to do even such com¬ 
mon things as these -well, advantage must be taken of 
every gleam of sunshine after March, and the heat it 
imparts be made the most of; and, after all, sun-heat is 
alike cheapest and best. R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
STOVE PLANTS. 
Hoya. —In this genus are several very handsome in¬ 
teresting species. Some of the finest being lately in¬ 
troduced, a few remarks upon their culture may be 
useful to such of our readers as cultivate stove plants, 
we shall devote, therefore, this week’s observations to 
the subject, commencing with that old favourite 
Hoya carnosa (Hoya, in honour of Mr. Hoy, a re¬ 
markably clever gardener and cultivator of plants to the 
Duke of Northumberland, at Sion House; carnosa, 
fleshy, -which is the character of the leaves). A native 
of Asia, with bunches of pink flowers.—This handsome 
inhabitant of our stoves for nearly half a century (it was 
