NoVEMBRR I t. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
131 
we would make, would bo to change 10 to 18, and 18 to 10; 
then 17 and 18 would bo of the same height and colour, 
which is very desirable in front beds like those; then, 15 
and l(i ought to be of the same plant, or same colour. Wo 
would have the two Heliotrope-beds next the house, and the 
two Petunia-beds in 8 and it; but if you like it better, the 
Heliotropes may bo in 8 and 9. The off group, from 1 to 
0 is uncommonly well managed ; it is nearly as the “ Dol- 
1 phin Garden,” at Shrubland Park, which used to be planted 
J exactly on your plan, though not always of the same colours, 
No. 3 being the “ sliot-silk bed.] 
SOWING AUSTRALIAN SEEDS. 
“ Having received a few wild flower seeds from a friend 
I in Hobart Town, I am at a loss what to do with them. 
| They were collected, for the most part, on Mount Wellington, 
I in the neighbourhood of the town. I take it for granted 
I that they must lie over till spring, and then be sown in a 
| hotbed, or some artificial heat; but, perhaps, you may be j 
I able to suggest the most eligible means for growing them. 
—W. B.” 
[You will be very likely to raise some good greenhouse 
plants from the seeds from Mount Wellington, but nothing 
new to our collections. If you have a greenhouse and a 
Cucumber bed next spring, you might sow these seeds at 
the end of January, in one-half peat and the other half of 
any light garden soil, and just cover them and no more with 
' the same soil; then water them, and put the pots into the ■ 
! frame, and when the seedlings look as if they were growing 
too fast, remove them to the greenhouse, and put a hand- 
i light over them on the stage, for the first ten days, so that 
the change from the hot frame will not be too sudden or 
I severe. Without some such good accommodation, the middle 
1 of March will be soon enough to sow them. When lots of 
| seedlings want amateur attention, we repudiate the nursery¬ 
man’s plan altogether; he puts every tiny morsel in thimble- 
J like pots, and he has skilful hands and eyes to know how 
many times a day these pots want water, shade, and atten¬ 
tion ; and before you could say whether they would live or 
die, his customers begin to buy them, and then see how 
convenient it must be to have them all in single pots ; but 
you and we do not want to part with onr seedlings, neither 
can we give up our calling to attend to so many little bother¬ 
ations; then, to save time and trouble, we transplant a 
dozen young seedlings into one nursing pot, and the dozen 
will not require one - fourth the attention of a single 
seedling in a thimble or thumb pot, for the next six weeks, 
and by that time, those seedlings which grow fast will bo 
big enough for another shift into single pots. The way 
we used to deal with seedlings from the temperate parts 
of the world was this—sow part of them the moment 
they arrived, if that was before August, and keep the rest 
till the spring; if many came up of a sort, we made choice 
of 4, ft, or 0, of the best of them, and put the rest, “three 
ami three,” into small pots, for turning out into the open 
! borders by the end of next May. Strange seedlings tell 
; what they are likely to be much sooner by this planting-out 
than by keeping them all in pots ; meantime, some one may 
call, and know what the seedlings arc when he sees them 
: growing so naturally; and if some of them happen to be 
very good, we used to take them up and pot them early in 
September, but, first of all, the roots would be cut round a 
i week or ten days before taking up, and if the leaves drooped 
! from too much cutting, a good watering or two would restore 
them. However, it was for the purpose of pointing out the 
vast trouble of first putting seedlings into thumb pots that 
we took up this subject at such length.] 
j PROPAGATING THE'EVERGREEN OAK AND 
CYDONIA JAPONICA. 
j “ I should be glad if you could inform me which is'tlie 
best way of increasing the Evergreen Oak. I have several 
stumpy trees which have made a nice lot of young shoots 
this summer. Can I strike them from cuttings, layers, or 
how ? I should also be glad to know the best way of in¬ 
creasing the Pyrus japonica. I have an old plant of it, and 
am anxious to raise some young ones.— Ralph Cameron.” 
[You can only increase your Evergreen Oak from acorns, 
in the usual way, by sowing them now or in March. 
The Pyrus, or rather Cydonia japonica, is easiest increased 
from cuttings of the roots in February—pieces six inches 
long, and as stout as a pen holder, make nice plants ; cut 
them, top and bottom, with a square cut, and plant them in 
any good garden ground, and let the top of the cuttings be i 
just level with the surface, and no more. Some put an inch 
of sand along the top of these cuttings, and then wash it into 
the soil among the cuttings with a rose water-pot—not a 
bad plan, certainly. Of course, you know that all root- j 
cuttings ought to have the earth pressed close to them, as I 
much so as if they were cuttings from the branches.] 
HEATING GREENHOUSES BY A FLUE. 
“ I havo a small greenhouse, twelve feet by five, built of 
wood, except the back wall, eight feet high. Last year I 
tried to keep my plants with a patent stove, but that cooked 
most of them. So this spring I built a small furnace and 
flue, having only the top on a level with the floor for about 
nine feet, so that there is not much heating surface exposed. 
T, however, thought it would be quite enough, till the other 
night. When I tried it the temperature was 10° inside; j 
the fire raised it to 50°. The outside temperature was 38°. j 
Query, would the same heat keep it at 45°, or thereabouts, 1 
with an outside temperature of 15°, or so? 
“ Alongside the greenhouse is a frame five feet square, 
with one side opening into the greenhouse. Will the 
heat that it will draw from the greenhouse be sufficient 
to keep out the frost without covering ? 
“ I do not know if there is anything new in my way of 
keeping Fuchsias; I make a box two feet square, and 
fourteen inches deep; I fill it up about six inches with 
broken bricks and rubbish; over that a layer of shavings. 
I then take the plants from the border, or wherever they 
may be, with the earth about their roots, and pack them as 
close as they will go. My box holds about forty. Last 
winter several in pots died, but not one in my box, which 
goes under tho stage, and takes up very little room.—T yro.” 
[1. Greenhouses built of wood are quito as warm as 
those made of brick, provided the wood is thick enough, or 
there is a vacuity between two layers, and that filled with 
sawdust. 
3. Your flue we presume will be sufficient. As to elevating, 
there is little necessity for that, as in such a a narrow space 
it would be in the way. Cannot you have hollow spaces at 
each side of the flue, either communicating with the atmos¬ 
phere, or the tiles, with which we presume your floor is 
covered ? 
3. A similar boat will not keep your house at 40°, when 
the outside is at 15° ; but a similar heat long continued 
might do so. Hence, in severe weather, you might want a 
fire for two thirds of tho twenty-four hours, instead of for 
an hour or two, as we presume you tried at, and obtained 
50°, when the external temperature was at 38°. For green¬ 
house plants, wo would not advise continued fire-heat, if we 
had the outside long at 15°, so as to keep up 45° at night; 
but for reasons fully explained some time ago, we would 
prefer a little covering of some sort or another. 
4. Wo presume the frame would also be sufficiently heated, 
and more especially if you divided the opening into two 
equal spaces with a board, above and below, as that would 
give you a rapid circulation. Here, also, we would throw on 
a mat in a severe night. 
ft. There is nothing new in tho modo of managing 
Fuchsias; but it is a very useful plan for keeping such 
plants with little trouble.] 
BEST MODE OF HEATING A GREENHOUSE. 
« What is the best mode of heating a greenhouse of about 
thirty-three feet long ? I have read all the different plans 
in your publication, until I am quite puzzled at the various 
plans, quite contradictory, therein advocated. You would be 
doing great service to the generality of your readers, if you 
would give your opinion as to the best and most approved 
plan; or, perhaps, some of your correspondents would do 
so.—J ohn Richards.” 
[However puzzling, we hardly think there is anything 
contradictory in the plans suggested and advocated in our 
