72 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 24. 
was mentioned by Schomberg that was 40 feet; while, in 
India, the bamboos were arboreal, and rose to 100 feet. The 
palms, the nobles of the vegetable kingdom, were confined to 
the vicinity of the tropics, but were numerous there, as 120 
species grew in South America. The talipot palm of Ceylon 
towered to 200 feet in the air, while the little chamerops, just 
venturing as far north as the rock of Gibraltar, was in that 
position as unaspiring as our common male fern under a 
hedge. The Hanes , or cordage plants of warm countries, often 
entangle the tropical forest in an inextricable maze—they 
rose to the tops of the highest trees and again descended, 
formed bridges over rivers, and extended for miles from 
their original source. The fern tribe was singularly affected 
by moisture, for while 1,200 species grew in the damp forests 
of the equator, only 144 existed in the temperate zone, and 
in Egypt, where rain seldom or ever fell, only one species 
was known. Nations and countries had peculiar features 
impressed upon them by their plants, and romance and 
poetry were ready to take advantage of the bright imagery 
of nature, which thus supplied pictures of a brighter or 
darker hue, according as sunny or snowy climes, flowery or 
arid regions, presented their lights or shadows to the 
brooding mind. But plants were in many instances so 
limited by geographical considerations, that their localities 
were placed within the narrowest compass. The Arabs were 
accustomed to mark their course across the Syrian Desert, 
by the peculiar plants that presented themselves at certain 
intervals; and in America the compass - flower of the 
Prairies, whose leaves pointed to the north, had been cele¬ 
brated for the aid it afforded the traveller in those boundless 
wastes. The tea-plant, it was well known, was confined to 
the hilly districts of China and Japan; but in South 
America a species of holly furnished another kind of tea 
peculiar to that continent, and equally prized by the natives. 
The quinquina, or Peruvian bark, was confined to a small 
district of the Colombian Andes; and cocoa and chocolate 
were the produce of a plant limited to the warmer regions 
of South America. Numerous other instances of plantal 
limitation might be given, as the cow-tree of Venezuela, the 
tussock-grass ( Dactylis ccespitosa) of the Falkland Isles, the 
hand-tree of Mexico, whose gory flowers were regarded with 
awe, and of which only two living specimens were known; 
and the double cocoa-nut ( Ladoicea sechellamm) of the 
Seyclielle Islands, in the Indian Ocean, which, till those 
islands were discovered, in 1780, had been believed to be 
produced by the sea, and valued as a tailsman at a very high 
price. One more curious plant might be mentioned— 
the Maltese champignon ( Cynomorium cocinium), which 
only grew on the little rock of Gozo near Malta. The 
knights of Malta had a superstitious veneration for it, 
and appointed a custude to guard the spot, and since 
Malta had been appended to England, the salary of this 
custode had been paid by the British government, and 
might be an appropriate appointment for a botanist. The 
lecturer observed that the manners and habits of different 
peoples were much influenced by their vegetable products, 
and the temperature that limited the growth of grain 
also stopped the progress of the human race; where 
sustenance was easily procured by fruits and rice, as in 
tropical regions, the inhabitants were indolent and apathetic, 
and really only exhibited the highest amount of intellect 
where rubi and bitter wild berries offered little temptation 
to a lazy dweller in the woods. Plants, however, were the 
children of the sun, and luxuriated most in heat and bright¬ 
ness, so that when they were transplanted into colder 
regions they must have aditional care and attention, because 
other conditions arose than those nature had originally 
provided for. Mr. Lees concluded with eloquent observa¬ 
tions on the moral bearings of the subject, resulting from 
an investigation of the works of nature, and the elevation 
of thought they iuspired.” 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
VICTORIA LILY IN SMALL TANK. 
In noticing this plant blooming (last vol., page 411) at 
Flitwich House, it will be recollected that Mr. Fish wished 
to know the means, if any, adopted to keep the water in cir¬ 
culation. He is glad to find that Mr. Hewitson, who left 
Flitwich from illness, is now getting better, and has just 
received from him the following note :— 
“ There is a pipe leading into the tank, but no waste pipe 
from it. When I wanted to clear the surface of any slime 
and scum, I turned the water on and let it overflow all 
round. Before the plant got to fill the tank, I watered all 
my plants in pots from it, and then I turned the water on 
and filled it level full. That was all that was done to stir 
the water, and no plants that I have seen bloomed better. 
The Nymphceas were grown in small slate, tanks in the same 
manner, and in the same compost, and bloomed most beau¬ 
tifully.— AAYlliam Hewitson, Speedwell-road, Bristul-road, j 
Birmingham." 
[With Mr. Hewitson’s and Mr. AVeek’s practice combined, j 
this superb queen of water plants will, no doubt, be oftener 
seen.] 
TEMPERATURES FOR VARIOUS PLANTS. 
“ Please tell me the temperature required by the following, 
and their culture; they are not in ‘ Paxton’s Botanical Dic¬ 
tionary:’ —Oalendrinia umbellata, Prinos sinensis, Ccanothus 
papillosus. Lopezia macrophylla I find in Paxton marked 
‘ frame.’ AA'hat is the difference between frame and green¬ 
house ?—T. W.” 
[Oalendrinia itmbellal.a is a neat, low-trailing, rose-coloured 
annual, that requires merely to be sown in light soil in the 
first days of April. Prinos sinensis we have not the pleasure 
of knowing, but with fi w exceptions all the tribe are hardy 
deciduous shrubs. Ccanothus papillosus will do well in 
in a cool house in winter, or planted against a wall. It will 
lose its leaves in winter. It requires a mixture of peat and 
loam, and when established to he pretty freely pruned-in 
every spring, or rather spurred-in, as it flowers on the young 
shoots of the current summer. Lopezia. macrophylla; we 
do not know the species you name, but all the kinds known 
to us are best treated as tender annuals; to be sown on a 
slight hotbed in April, and transplanted in May. To keep 
them alive in winter they would require the protection of a 
frame. The difference between the frame and a greenhouse 
is chiefly this : that in a frame you depend upon the glass, 
and coverings, if necessary, to exclude frost; and in a green¬ 
house you depend on fire-heat. A frame and a cold-pit are, 
therefore, synonymous. AA’e may shortly allude to this more 
in detail.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
Tnt Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London.’’ 
Ivy and Roses against a Wall. —A correspondent, signing him¬ 
self The Cottage Gardeners’ Friend, writes to us thus :—“As I know it 
gives you pleasure to find that your recommendation and advice have 
proved useful to your correspondents and subscribers, I beg to state how 
greatly I have benefited by both. I have a wall some twenty yards long 
and ten feet high, against which, in accordance with the instructions in 
your pages, I planted the Irish Ivy and Roses; among the latter, are 
Bourbon, Hybrid Perpetual, and some few China. The wall has a 
direct eastern aspect, and nothing can be more satisfactory than the 
result. The Ivy forms an admirable background, which sets off the 
beautiful bloom of the Roses to great advantage; both were planted at 
the same time, so that they have had fair play; and I look upon my 
Ivied wall as one of the most interesting things in my garden.” 
Degeneracy of Plants (G. J. Bell). —The Artichoke will not dege¬ 
nerate into a Cardoon ; nor do we believe that Wheat, Barley, Oats, and 
Rye, will, by any treatment, degenerate into one original. It is gene¬ 
rally supposed that Cabbages, Brocoli, and Cauliflower, are varieties 
sprung from one species, the wild Brassica oleracea. We know nothing 
of the book you name. 
Fuchsias ( R. T. R.). —They were squeezed so flat and so shrivelled 
that no opinion could be formed of them. 
Fuchsia ($., Devonshire).— Sepals scarlet and extraordinarily fleshy; 
corolla, crimson.purple, apparently of handsome Globosa-like form, but 
flowers much larger than those of Globosa. The flowers were badly 
packed. 
All Florists’ flowers sent for an opinion should he packed in damp Moss, 
or in pieces of Cabbage-leaf, and enclosed in a box stout enough to resist 
the post-office stamp. 
London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, of Church Hill, Walthamstow, in the County of 
Essex, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ¬ 
church, City of London.—October 24, 1854. 
