January 16. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
301 
practice in every garden; which I am quite sure it ought 
to be; and I wish I could make my voice heard from 
John o’ Groat’s to the Land’s End. I would proclaim, 
with all my might, the important fact, that gardens 
need not be annoyed or injured by the smoke arising 
from the necessary fires. I asked how this long Hue 
could bo cleaned ; and the answer was, such was the 
draught that no soot accumulated, or was deposited; 
but if it should, a provision had been made by covering 
it over every thirty or forty yards with a flag-stone which 
could be lifted up, and the flue cleaned very easily. 
The Pine-stoves here are all low buildings, and are 
half-span-roofed; that is, the south-side lights are the 
longest, in fact, twice or more the length of tho back 
lights. It is justly thought here, that there is as much 
pleasure in seeing the Tines grow as in eating them; 
hence the paths are widely commodious, the entire back 
slope of the roof being for tho walk. To render this 
more interesting, the back walls are covered with flower¬ 
ing plants. At this season (January), of course, there are 
not many in bloom ; but I noted a fine specimen of 
that good old plant the Emnthemum pulchellum. It was 
five feet high, and covered six feet of the wall lengthwise; 
the flowers were larger, and the spikes longer than I 
ever saw them ; also, the Euphorbia jaequiniflora was 
very splendid, with its bunches of bright scarlet blos¬ 
soms. In summer, 1 was told, that these walks are 
covered overhead with all the best stove-creepers. 
The Pines grown here are chiefly the White Providence 
and the Montserrat, with a few Queens and Prince Albert. 
The latter, a rather new and scarce variety, though a 
very excellent summer fruit, growing to a great size and 
good flavour. It is a long Pine in the style of the 
EnviUe. The system of Pine-culture followed here is 
that of planting-out in a bed of soil, and the quick- 
fruiting method. After the fruit is cut, the old leaves 
are shortened in, and the suckers encouraged to grow 
by watering freely, and occasionally with liquid-manure. 
As soon as there is room for them, and they have 
become of a good size, they are taken off the old stool 
and planted-out at once, and there they remain till they 
fruit. I saw suckers of Montserrat so treated, that had 
such broad leaves that I could scarcely credit their being 
that variety. I certainly should have taken them for 
Providences. Six of the Prince Alberts were showing 
fruit, and most extraordinary shows they were. I counted 
one of them fully sixteen pips deep; they must make 
splendid fruit when fully swelled up. 
The Pine-stoves were as clean as possible ; every stone 
was scoured by a woman as clean as if in a dwelling- 
house. In fact, it was quite a pleasure to walk through 
them, and see the healthy Pines on the one hand, and the 
flowers on the wall on the other; and, indeed, this was 
the case in every house; all were as clean as though the 
Queen was expected, and yet the family teas not at home. 
In the new Plant-stove I noticed a fine plant, six feet 
high, of that new and charming winter-flowering plant 
the Thyrsacanthus rutilans. It belongs to the Acantha- 
cese, or Justicia-like tribe of plants. The leaves are 
broad and as long as the common Laurel; the flower- 
stems spring from the axils of the leaves, and hang 
down almost perpendicularly. The flowers themselves 
are of the brightest scarlet - crimson, and were so 
numerous in this specimen as to clothe the stem en¬ 
tirely, so that it had the appearance of a scarlet column 
of flowers. It reminded me of an old favourite plant of 
mine, the Russellia juncea, only the flowers are of a deeper 
colour. As a winter-flowering plant it is invaluable, 
and ought to be in every collection. I wrote, lately, 
about Franciscea confcrtijlora.. In this stove I was 
pleased to meet with two plants of it better grown than 
I ever saw it anywhere They were about one-aud-a- 
half feet high, and as much through; nice, healthy, 
bushy ( plants. I counted more than twenty heads of 
flowers on each, just ready to burst into bloom. In a 
month's time they will be a pair of really beautiful 
objects. There was, also, a noble specimen of the 
Medinilla speciosa, with its fine racemes of rose-coloured 
flowers and purple fruit; also AEschynanthus speciosus, 
very well grown and finely in bloom ; besides many 
species of that useful tribe of plants the Begonias, and 
a good specimen of the old Strelitzia regina, with its 
noble leaves and tall spathes of orange and purple 
blossoms. All these, the reader must remember, were 
blooming in a stove only fiuished last August. In the 
same house was a platform of Roses, of the Perpetual 
tribes, in full flower, and another, a second batch, to 
succeed them. 
I see I have a note about Vines planted in a pit for 
early forcing. There was something about these which 
I must attempt to describe. The house was in a similar 
form to those I have described in which the Pines are 
growing. The rafters are eight in number. There is a 
pit inside the length of the house; this is filled with 
good soil, and two Vines had been planted two years 
ago in it. The peculiarity consists in planting the 
Vines close to the path at the back of the house, and 
training a main stem from each to the front, then stop¬ 
ping the shoot, and causing two eyes to break and form 
two shoots, which are trained right and left; from these 
shoots four other shoots are trained back again up the 
rafters, and thus every rafter is furnished. In this, 
Mr. Taylor’s idea, that the farther the Vine travels the 
finer will be the fruit, may be seen carried out; and, 
certainly, the roots will be certain to travel to the front, 
and thus fill the pit with roots, and thus extract all 
the nutriment out of the soil to feed the Vines. Had 
they been planted close to the front the roots would not 
have been so sure to travel backwards into the pit. My 
space is quite full, or I might have mentioned many other 
good points of garden-culture carried out here; especially 
a fine crop of Mushrooms, and excellent Strawberry 
plants for forcing. I have said enough, I think, to prove 
that this is a place well worthy of a visit, and a close 
inspection of the gardening operations. T. Appleby. 
FORCING DWARF KIDNEY-BEANS. 
In places where there are a number of forcing-houses 
of every description, with abundance of heating material, 
both in the shape of fermenting matter and fuel, French, 
or dwarf Kidney-Beans, like Cucumbers, may almost 
be had at any time; but as this is not the case every¬ 
where, and in many instances the forcing department is 
. overcrowded with objects all claiming attention, it 
becomes necessary to make such a selection as will 
enable the cultivator to command the articles most 
wanted at the most fitting time; and as this principle 
will, of course, vary with the wishes, or wants, of the 
interested party, it must rest with the superintendent of 
works to give the requisite attention to the “ particular 
one,” which its position, in the eyes of the family, seems 
to deserve. Some vegetables have a universal interest. 
Peas and Potatoes are always acceptable, while, perhaps, 
some will be giving a preference at certain times to 
the article forming the subject of the present chapter, 
and though it is herewith brought prominently forward 
as one deserving of notice, I deem it necessary to 
caution the amateur who has but vory limited means 
against engaging in it without duly considering the 
cost; for though he may derive a good deal of pleasure, 
and a lively interest, in the production of a small 
quantity of forced bulbs in pots, which might stand 
altogether on a small tea-table, yet he must not expect 
his appetite gratified to any extent with the produce of 
French Beau plants occupying a like space. I deem it 
necessary to mention this, because some unsatisfactory 
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