344 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 3. 
[Impatiens glanduligera is easily propagated in summer 
by cuttings under a hand-light or large bell-glass. Plants 
are more easily obtained by sowing seeds in lightish soil, in 
a hotbed in March, covering them merely with as much 
earth as the thickness of the seeds, watering the soil before 
sowing, and covering with soil a little drier. If the seeds 
are good, the seedlings will soon make their appearance, 
when they should be potted in small pots, and put under 
glass where they can have a little heat. By the middle of 
May, or beginning of June, after being gradually hardened, 
the plants may either be grown in pots, or planted out in 
the borders, and if the soil is rich they will become some- 
1 what gigantic in size, and produce seeds freely.] 
GREENHOUSE AGAINST A HIGH BANK. 
“I am about to erect a small span-roof greenhouse 
(eighteen feet by twelve feet), and shall be greatly obliged 
if you could assist me with the information I require. 
“ The back of the house, when finished, would have the 
glass ouly one foot from the ground, and, unfortunately, the 
garden is too small to admit the frames which I require in 
any other spot but immediately behind the house, and I 
1 purpose to excavate a trench to admit them and the furnace, 
so as not to be above the brickwork of the greenhouse. 
“ Can I heat part of the frames and the greenhouse, inde¬ 
pendently, with one furnace and hot-water?—A. Z." 
[There will be no difficulty as respects the sinking of the 
frames, if you can make sure of dryness by drainage. You 
have not told us what direction your house is to be. If 
standing north and south, either side would do for your 
frames, but if standing east and west, and your frames at 
flie back, you could not expect to force anything well in 
these frames, unless they were far enough from the house 
for the rays not to be interrupted. For merely keeping and 
growing greenhouse plants that situation would do. You 
do not mention the height of your house, nor whether that is 
to be sunk in a trench or not; as if wholly above ground, 
and your glass so near the ground, you will want more 
heating power than if either partially sunk, or the walls a 
couple of feet higher. If the house stands east and west, 
and you wish to force Cucumbers, &c., in your frames or 
pits, is there any reason why they should not be sunk at 
the front as well as the back, and thus enjoy all the sun¬ 
light desirable, with means for shading, if necessary ? We 
mention this, because a span-roofed house can scarcely be 
said to have a back and front, the glass being the same all 
round. We just glance at your sketch, and from that it 
would seem your frames are to be at the end, and not the 
back, and if that end stands to the north, your frames 
should look to the east or west. We have seen nice pits 
round a greenhouse like yours, the side walls of the house 
constituting the back walls of the pit. We can hardly 
estimate expense, say five to six pounds for a boiler, and a 
shilling for every foot of four-inch pipe. Three-inch pipe 
would be twopence or threepence cheaper, and with so much 
glass you would want two pipes on each side, and round the 
end of the house, or something like 120 feet in all. By 
having a low piece for your boiler, you can heat any part of 
the pit at pleasure, or by letting the water first to an elevated 
cistern, and taking it from thence by separate pipes to the 
different compartments to be heated.] 
WEIGELA EOSEA AND MYI1TLE PRUNING. 
“ I have a Weigela rosea just out of bloom in the window'; 
what treatment am I to give it? and is it hardy enough to 
plant in a border all the winter, southern aspect ? 
“When is the best time to prune the broad-leaved Myrtle 
: which has not bloomed this season ?—A Novice.” 
I [Your Weigela rosea, probably, will have a number of 
j young shoots growing that did not bloom. Leave these 
I their full length, and cut out all those that bloomed, and 
any small twigs that would prevent the sun acting on the 
young shoots; nip the points of these shoots in the middle 
of September, and next season you will again have plenty 
of flowers. We found this plant perfectly hardy on an exposed 
I east aspect last winter, and densely covered with bloom. It 
i seems to bloom most densely on shoots rising two years 
old. We should prune your Myrtle, if healthy, no more 
| than is necessary to allow sun and air to act on the shoots I 
left, and the sooner that is done, the better for the health 
of the plant and its free blooming next season.] 
CRASSULA CULTUBE.— ANTS v. GEEEN ELY. 
“ Having some nice plants of Crassulas just done flowering, 
what shall I do with them to ensure a good bloom next 
June ? 
“ I have had some Balsams with a good deal of green fly 
upon them. Having no tobacco for a day or two, I was 
obliged to let them go; at last I got some tobacco, and went 
to smoke them, when I found them covered with ants, and 
the green fly gone. Is it usual ?— One of the small fey.” 
[If all the shoots of your Crassula have bloomed, we 
know of no means you can take for getting them to bloom 
nicely next season, as the shoots must have a season’s 
growth before they bloom. If some shoots have not bloomed, 
these will bloom next year; and those that have bloomed 
will be better cut down to within lialf-an-inch of their base, 
and from these you will have shoots in plenty to bloom the 
second season. Supposing that you have no great quantity 
of unbloomed shoots left, your wisest plan will be to let the 
plant get rather dry, prune it then closely back, keep it still 
rather dry ; when the shoots push, give rather mbre water, 
then thin to the desired number; fresh shift into rich, sandy 
earth, with a proportion of lime-rubbish, and keep them I 
j slowly growing during the autumn, and resting in winter. 
| Next spring they may -want fresh potting, or surfacings; 
J keep them fully in the sun, in autumn defend from rains, 
keep them dry in winter, and cool in spring; and, as the 
season advances, the flower-buds will appear at the points of 
j the shoots. 
i We have met with an instance of green fly disappearing 
I before ants, but have frequently found the ants decamp I 
where there were no green fly, or sweet excretions from 
them to feed upon. We have watched the little fellows 
using the fat, green fly much in the same way as the dairy¬ 
maid treats her favourite milk cow—tickling them until they 
discharge a sweetish secretion.] 
CULTUBE OF MIMOSA PUDICA. 
“A Constant Eeadee will feel obliged if the Editor of 
The Cottage Gaedenee will favour her with a few hints 
respecting the culture of the Sensitive Plant. She has pur¬ 
chased two plants, and tried to raise plants from seeds, but 
cannot succeed. The seedlings grew in the hotbed, but 
when removed to the greenhouse died. She is very anxious 
to obtain some plants.” 
[The most sensitive plant generally cultivated, is the 
Mimosa pudica, generally grown as a tender annual. The 
culture was given some time ago in these pages. We have 1 
had it fine in a greenhouse in July and August, in warm 
weather, but any other time, or when exposed to a great 
draught of air, it withers and languishes. Were we near 
you, we could gladly have given you a plant, as there is 
much interest and amusement in showing its extreme sen¬ 
sitiveness. Any London seedsman could let you have a 
number oi seeds for a few pence, and these, if sown in a 
hotbed, under a Cucumber-frame, would be sufficiently large 
to show the sensitiveness in the autumn; but they would 
not flourish in your^reenhouse this season. It must have 
a tropical temperature, coming, as it does, from the hottest 
parts of Brazil.] 
WAS THE CULTUBE OF PLANTS UNDEB GLASS 
KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS. 
“ Does the following extract, published long since in The 
Builder, amount to a proof that the Greeks and Romans 
grew plants in glass structures, and obtained them at un¬ 
natural seasons ? —Ceito.” 
“ Although some sheet-glass has been found in the ruins 
of Pompeii, M. Humboldt Las been of opinion that the 
ancients did not know what we call green or hot-houses. 
M. Dureau de la Malle, of the French Institute, has, how¬ 
ever, succeeded in clearing up this point in dispute to per¬ 
fect satisfaction. The name of ‘ gardens of Adonis ’ men¬ 
tioned by ancient authors, ought to have pointed long ago a 
something uncommon, hidden under this appellation. I’iato, 
mentioning them in his ‘ Pluedon,’ says, that ‘ a gain for 
