May J 3. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
90 
propagating them, and that, too, by a worthy friend of 
mine, the most successful grower of them, and of other 
plants in England. Mr. Green, gardener to Sir Edward 
Antrobus, who has taken the leading prizes for these 
azaleas for many years, sent a half-standard plant of 
Azalea fvery ana to the rooms in Regent-street for ex¬ 
hibition, which, one would think, judging from the size 
of it, must have taken him at least seven years to grow; 
it was only two years ohl, and hardly that, and there it 
was “ as largo as life,” or, at any rate, as large as a 
good-sized gooseberry-bush, and, as a half-standard be¬ 
sides, the bottom of the stem was as thick as a genteel 
walking-stick; at eighteen inches from the pot, it spread 
out into several good-sized branches, and they again 
divided, so as to make a regular head a yard or more in 
diameter, and this large head was loaded with flowers ; 
it was .the best hit in gardening that I havo seen for 
years. But how was the thing accomplished ? I dare 
say many of the members who admired the plant on the 
spot had no more idea of how the thing was done, than 
1 havo of how the Emperor of China curls his whiskers, 
or whether he has any whiskers at all. It may be set 
down as a curious coincidence, that on the same day, 
and at tho same meeting, an entire new form in the 
flowers of Chincso azaleas, and an equally novel mode 
of getting up plants of them at a short notice, should 
appear simultaneously; but so it was. Now, without 
any breach of confidence, I could tell hero how Mr. 
Green managed his plant; but on a point of honour I 
must not do so. Mr. Green sent a notice to the Society 
along with the plant, saying that he would write a 
paper on tho subject for our Journal, and, goodness 
knows, our Journal wants tnoro brains and spirit, but, 
as we receive it gratis, we put up with it. 
I am delighted with our meetings in Regcnt-street; 
one sees there everything in our way as it comes out, 
from a glass wall to a real Heartsease growing in a pot. 
A few years back, the country was up in arms because 
we offered prizes for roses in pots; but no sooner said 
than done, and that to perfection, almost at the first 
start; and this spring, Mr. Turner, tho great nursery¬ 
man at Slough, sent us a whole lot of Pansies in pots. 
They wero beautifully grown, and as full of bloom as 
they ever can bo in the open ground. By-and-by, all 
the great respectable florists will find out that tho only 
way to regain the confidence of the public to their trade 
is to grow and exhibit specimens of all their skill in 
pots. Then, good-bye to the “ tricks on travellers,” to 
pincers, smoothing irons, and wrauglings on tho part of 
the small fiddle-stick florists, who have kept us in hot 
water ever since our beards began to sprout through the 
skin; then, aud not till then, shall Charley and I join 
the host. Boor Charley ! instead of “ go-carts” and ex¬ 
hibitions, ho had to bend under the hod, with all its 
accompanying drudgery, the whole of this spring; but, 
after all, we never lost sight of our great aim at getting 
in among respectable florists some day or other; mean¬ 
time, I return many thanks to all those kind friends 
who have sent mo curious and rare plants, and to S. P., 
Rushmere, for bis offer to send me the beautiful (Enoihera 
speciosa. It is on my list of promised plants, however, 
from another source. I think the other CEnothera ho 
mentions as having lost, is Cwspitosa, but it is lighter 
than he says; but it is the nearest in habit to speciosa 
of all that 1 know of them, and it propagates from 
morsels of tho roots just like speciosa, and it is more 
tender in winter, and very apt to be lost in wet ground. 
I have not seen it since I left Herefordshire, sixteen 
years ago, and I too want it very much, and would try 
to cross it with speciosa. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE BUILDING AND HEATING. 
“What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well,” is 
an adage that holds peculiarly truo in many of our gar¬ 
dening operations. Those who have any intention of 
investing capital in bricks and mortar cannot set too 
quickly to work. The mortar will sot more firmly now 
than in the very heat of summer, and there will be no 
danger of damped plants and tattered walls which gene¬ 
rally reward those who procrastinate until the length¬ 
ening nights of October. 
We havo chosen this place for meeting tho wants of a 
few of numerous enquirers, that could not have been 
sufficiently attended to in the correspondents’ column. 
And, first, as respects a greenhouse about to be erected, 
tho following are the chief details; the mentioning of 
which will enable our inexporienced readers at once to 
follow us, more especially if they give themselves the 
trouble to mark the principal lines on paper—a plan we 
find it very useful to adopt, when no plan accompanies 
description. 
The greenhouse is to bo placed in the angle of a 
building, open to the south and west; tho walls now on 
the north and east being 19 feet high, it must not be 
nearer the east wall than 3 feet, and not farther from it 
than 20 feet. Among tho plans suggested, preference 
has been given to a span-roofed house, running north and 
south; and, considering the situation mentioned, in this 
wC agree. The house is to be 10 feet wide, and 20 long, 
inside measure; height to the ridge, 9 feet 0 inches ; 
height of side walls, 0 feet. The south end, in the 
middle of which is the entrance, is to be all glass above 
three feet from the ground; the north end and the two 
side walls are to have no glass. Opposite the door-way 
is the centre stage of the house, with a centre shelf 18 
inches wide and 3 feet 9 inches high; and there are 
other two shelves on the cast and west sides, of 12 and 
9 inch width respectively, the lowest shelf being 2 
feet in height. There is a pathway of 3 feet in 
width all round this central stage, the base width of the 
stage being 5 feet. Then, between these paths and the 
boundary walls, that is, on the north side, the cast and 
west sides, and the south side, unless whero cut in two 
by a width of 4 feet for door and entrance, there is 
another stage, the base width of which is 2 feet 6 inches, 
divided also into three shelves, tho highest next the wall 
being 3 feet from the ground-floor, and 15 inches wide ; 
the second 9 inches wide; and the lowest 6 inches wide, 
and 1 foot 9 inches from the floor. Three of the sashes 
of the roof are fixed, and two are moveable. I perceive 
there are also openings in the wall near the ground ; an 
admirable plan for insuring circulation of air. It is 
proposed to use Hartley’s patent glass for the roof, and 
window glass for the south end and glass part of door¬ 
way ; to have vines over the pathways, and to heat all 
by a single line of 4-inch pipe, going right round the 
house 12 inches above the floor, and fi inches from the 
wall, from a boiler, and sunk at the door-way. Now 
upon each and all of theso matters opinion is asked. 
First, then, as to glass. We will neither praise nor 
dispraise Hartley’s patent for the roof, as we have not 
had sufficient experience with it; and we have friends, 
some of whom aro loud in commending it, and others 
who give it but faint praise. I should not hesitate a 
moment in using it for a plant-house; if I have a doubt 
at all, it would bo as respects forcing vines and other 
things. A great portion of light will be thrown on the 
vines over tho paths, not merely from the roof, but the 
south end ; but you may expect those on the west side 
to thrive the best. Indeed, did vines constitute a chief 
matter in detail, I should havo advised the house to 
stand cast and west, with entrance at cither east or west 
end, and then vines might have monopolised the rafters 
on the south side, while other creepors might have had 
