April 3. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
5 
heat by this apparatus are one and the same degree. 
The exact principle on which the bottom-heat is applied 
has never been in use for gardening purposes, as far as 
I am read in the mysteries of the craft. It is on the 
tank system, however, but the principle of the circu¬ 
lation of hot-water is departed from. There is a tin- 
box of hot-water, about six inches deep, resting on 
supports, so as to raise it four inches from the very 
bottom of the hox, or bottom of the drawer in a writing- 
desk ; there is a little space about one-and a-half inch 
between the hot box and the wooden-case, all round, 
and that space is rammed with dry sawdust, at present, 
but pounded charcoal will be the best non-conductor of 
heat; then an inch of white sand is put over the hot 
box and sawdust, and that part is complete. But how 
the heat is got, where from, or how applied, is yet a 
mystery ; there is nothing visible to indicate anything of 
the kind ; but open a small slide in the front, and you 
see the bottom of the hot box standing up four inches 
from the bottom of the case, as I have just said; a small 
tin-funnel, turned upside down, is attached to the bottom 
of the hot box, about the centre of it, and a small lamp 
just under the funnel, the flame of which is swallowed 
up as fast as it comes, but where it goes to is a second 
mystery ; it heats the water in the box, however, to 80° 
or 1)0°, at a cost of twopence for the four-and-twenty 
hours; when placed in a greenhouse, less or more would 
be needed, according as the apparatus was placed in a 
warmer or cooler place; but all the details will be given 
soon with an engraving. 
BANK GROVE. 
I was anxious to see the effects of such a long-con¬ 
tinuous hard frost on half-hardy plants, particularly on 
our more recent importations from milder climates than 
our own; and the only place round here which I know 
of, where I could see this to the best advantage, is Bauk 
Grove, near Kingston, the beautiful seat of W. Byam 
Martin, Esq., to whom 1 am indebted for a “standing 
order ” to see his whole collection, inside and out, 
whenever or as often as I like to call. They were 
making great alterations and improvements at Bank 
Grove since I was last there in the summer of 1853. 
The kitchen-garden has been removed to the farthest 
side of the flower-garden, and a new Pinetum is now 
planted on the site of it; new hothouses have been 
erected, and many other improvements. When all this 
was going on, it was not very proper for an idler to 
bother them with formal visits, so I never called till 
the whole coast was clear again. I found the huge 
plant of Camellia reticulata very much improved in size 
and shape; it was once accompanied with two other 
large plants of Camellias in the same bed ; when these 
were removed, the reticulata was not so well balanced as 
a specimen plant of the present day is required to be; 
but Mr. Henderson, the active manager, has remedied 
all this by a judicious system of training, so that the 
plant is all but perfect in shape, and that it will bring 
tiOOO blossoms, of the largest size, to perfection this 
very month, as was stated last week, is, of itself, a proof 
of its high and healthy condition. Whoever sees this 
plant next week, or the week after, will certainly see 
the finest specimen of the art of gardening now in 
existence. 1 have had as good opportunities of knowing 
the state of our craft all over the world as auy man 
living, and I do not hesitate to say, that this specimen 
of Camellia reticulata, as it now stands, is the most 
luxuriantly-beautiful specimen on the face of the whole 
earth. The worthy gentleman who sent it first over to 
England, John Reeves, Esq., is still hale and hearty, 
and is as fond of plants and flowers as any of us. I 
hope he will be able to come and see it this season 
when it is in bloom. This reticulata is considerably 
later than others of the old Camellias under the same 
influences; there is a large plant of Althaaflora trained 
against a wall behind reticulata, which had 257 blooms 
open when I called in the middle of March, and 
all over the establishment most of the Camellias 
were in full bloom; the most conspicuous of which 
were noted as follows : the best reds were Imbricata, 
Werleyanum, Ohiensis, Marchioness of Exeter, Venere 
(fine form), Conspicua, and Lady Grafton. Light 
rose-coloured were Prattii, Byasanthus (very good), 
Queen of England, and Hendersonii. Dark rose, Frederic 
le Grand (fine), Hampsteadii, and Ccelestina. White, 
Fimbriata (the best), Old Double White (next best), and 
Ochroleuca. Striped and mottled, Duchess of North¬ 
umberland, Duchess of Orleans, Colvillii, Queen Victoria, 
Albertus, Gillesii, Triumphans, Doncldaari, and Tricolor. 
The following are growing against the back wall of 
the conservatory in slate tubs ; they look as strong and 
healthy, and as full of bloom as the above, which are 
large bushes planted out in the bed of the conservatory; 
Imbricata, Lady Hume's Blush, some of the flowers of 
which are as regularly hexangular (the flower six- 
quartered as it were,) as if they were so stamped. I 
recollect the time when Camellia hexangularis, known 
to us only by Chinese drawings, was as much a puzzle 
as the philosopher’s stone; at the same time we had it 
in abundance, Lady Hume's Blush being the true Hex¬ 
angularis ; but it must be iu the highest state of health 
to show the angles distinctly ; here, i<t is in the bed that 
it is best angled. Monarch is the next strongest, both 
in the bed and in the slate boxes, after reticulata. 
Chandlerii is so very healthy in slate tubs, that it has 
lost the original variegation altogether, and now looks 
like Coralina. There is one plant of it in the con¬ 
servatory, next the door into the drawing-room, with the 
most shining leaves of all the leaves in the world ; the 
highest French polish could not glisten them so much. 
Sweetii, Woodsii, and Franlfortensis, are also in these 
slate tubs. I mention the tubs particularly, because 
there was a foolish prejudice against slate tubs till very 
recently; but glass pots, china and zinc vases, and all 
kinds of hardware goods, will grow plants quite as well 
as the softest garden-pot, when one knows how to treat 
them in a proper manner. Woodsii, like the La Heine 
\ Rose, never opens its immense buds with some people ; 
j but here, a plant of it as big as an ordinary Portugal 
Laurel opens them freely. One large plant of Fimbriata, 
in the bed of the conservatory, could not have less than 
! 700 open flowers on the day I called. Elegans, which 
ought to be numbered with the best Rose kinds, has the 
j largest flower of all, except reticulata. One particular 
| plant of Doncldaari was the richest thing, in its way, I 
ever saw; there might he from 300 to 400 blossoms 
open, and there were hardly three of them exactly alike 
in size, or in the ground colour, or in the way that they 
were blotched. You might pick a dozen flowers off this 
plant, and pass them off as twelve new Camellias to 
Mr. Chandler himself. 
In the Azalea house, which joins that which is occupied 
by reticidata, are the following Camellias, also in slate- 
tubs; and I should say they would be iu good bloom by 
the same time as reticulata, so that visitors may judge 
I how far I am right in my estimate of the plants iu the 
i conservatory — Doncldaari, Chandleri, Bealii, Florida, 
Fimbriata, and Elegans. Just ask to have Bealii pointed 
out to you, and see if your eyes can stand the dazzle of 
it in the sun. It was the best of the highest-coloured 
ones in the conservatory; the following were, in their 
) ways, almost as good, King, Coralina, Elegans, Lom- 
bardii, Incomparabilis (single), Carswelliana, Rosa 
sinensis, and Eximea. The old double-striped, with 
Lady Grafton, Colletii, Henri Favre, Laudretldi, and 
some others, were the most conspicuous of those in pots. 
The front stage of the conservatory was loaded with 
