202 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 19. 
even, from November to March, for Scarlet Geraniums, 
unless you had plenty of room and light for the latter, 
and then they would not mind it. In making use of such 
a house for the flower-garden, much of its usefulness 
would depend upon having a cold pit of some sort, into 
which the Calceolarias and hardier things could be 
transferred by April, to be sheltered a little for a time, 
which would leave more room for other things to be 
potted, pricked off, &c., and they to be hardened again 
in their turn. 
As an assistance to the kitchen-garden, such a room 
would be most valuable. There is Mustard and Cress 
in winter; Mushrooms might also be grown on the floor, 
if desirable, if the highest temperature, 50°, is main¬ 
tained in winter; and Sea-kale and Rhubarb might also 
be forced; Potatoes and Beans and Peas could be 
started in pots and boxes previously to their being 
planted out-of-doors. Vegetable Marrow, and ridge 
Cucumbers, Capsicums, and Tomatoes, and numberless 
things, too numerous to mention, could be forwarded in 
such a place, gradually hardened off, and then exposed 
to the open air. 
Then the summer residents of such a house might be 
exceedingly varied, according to the wishes of the pro¬ 
prietor. For instance:—supposing that the out-door 
residents are all out by May—a fine summer display 
might be made with Fuchsias, and florist’s Geraniums, 
or with Achimenes, which would require a little more 
heat or moisture; or if the eatables were more a con¬ 
sideration, and it was desirable to try Melons and 
Cucumbers, both could be successfully grown in large 
pots or boxes, the plants being raised in a small hotbed, 
and introduced to their fruiting pots or the house by 
June. These could be all removed, the house cleaned, 
and made ready for its winter residents, by the end of 
October, or earlier. So that there is no end to the 
pleasure and profit which may be derived from such a 
house. 
“ J have another room unoccupied, over a smith’s shop, 
seventeen feet by fourteen feet, with a span roof also, 
six feet high to the lowest point of the roof; and I could 
have about thirty-five to forty square feet of window in 
the south gable; but should have no other means of 
warming this, than a gas or Arnott’s Stove.” 
’Jhis also might be a most useful place; but not equal 
to the other with the glass roof. Care should be taken 
that plenty of air can be admitted by the windows, and 
also that ail cuttings and growing plants should be kept 
on shelves or stages near this glazed end. Succulents 
and roots may be preserved at the darkest end, as indi¬ 
cated above. it. Fish. 
A Princess turned Farmer. —Princess Murat ha 3 
recently purchased a residence in the vicinity of Cin¬ 
cinnati, which she is improving and ornamenting ac¬ 
cording to her own taste. She lately sent to the editor of 
the Florida Sentinel an Irish potato, weighing fifteen 
ounces, as a sample of her crop. We rather suspect, 
however, that this is over an average specimen. The 
Princess Murat, is widow of Achille Murat, son of 
Marshal Murat, King Joachim of Naples. She is a 
Virginian lady, daughter of the Hon. Bird Willis. 
MEETING OF THE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY, REGENT STREET.— June 5tii. 
On the Tuesday following the Crystal Palace Exhi¬ 
bition there was a Meeting of the Horticultural Society, 
in Regent Street; and although I had enough on hand 
as it was, I could not resist the temptation of running 
up to town to see old friends and new faces. 
On reaching the Rooms, in Regent Street, the first 
things which caught my eye were the cream from the 
Crystal Palace Show, and the first of that were the 
clear, yellow, shining Rhododendron, from Borneo, and 
the lovely Meijenia erecta, from the Messrs. Itollisou ; 
the Embothrium coccineum, and the yellow Rhododendron, 
from Mr. Veitch. Meantime, the yellow Rhododendron 
has been named after the Rajah of Sarawak, Sir James 
Brook, Rhododendron Brookianum. The Meyenia was 
not enclosed in a glass case, as at the Crystal Palace; 
and I could examine the new Embothrium at my 
leisure. Regent Street is by far the best place to meet 
new plants; as, if one is in a fix about them, a good 
authority is at baud; and there is the library up-stairs, 
and enough of practical are on the boards to finish off 
one’s instruction on the spot. 
Below-stairs, Mr. Ferguson, of Stowe, had 6,000 
Peaches and Nectarines laid out, with a tally, to say they 
were the mere thinnings from trees which never bore 
well till they were covered with glass—an Orchard- 
house, in fact. ’Two days after this, I saw the old Rose- 
house, at the Society’s Garden, turned into one of these 
Orchard-houses, where Mr. Gordon, the major-domo of 
the Society, has been doing wonders for the last niile 
months. The house is full of pots from end to end, 
and every pot is full of fruit from top to bottom, except 
the Willow-leaved Peach, which Lord Hardiuge sent 
home from the North of India. 
The Roses in the new Rose-house are Roses indeed, 
and worth going miles to see. The scarlet Rhododendrons 
of the Tree breed have stood the winter there per¬ 
fectly—splendid acquisitions are up aud potted oft’ from 
Mr. Skinner’s foraging in his native elements, round 
about Guatamala, and the fruit crops are abundant; 
but I dislike sending out foreigners to collect plants for 
the Society with our English money, from my old ex¬ 
perience in the same line. But this is neglecting that I 
am in Regent Street, where the Messrs. Veitch aud the 
Messrs. Rollison stood face to face with collections of 
the most lovely Orchids ; but how the prizes went, I did 
not hear. Mr. Henderson, of Pine-Apple Place, had a 
large collection of stove and greenhouse plants there; 
and as he did not show at the Crystal Palace, I shall 
run over his names— Medinilla magnijica, in full bloom ; 
a large white Grinum, called Giganteum, had seven 
open flowers, aud some buds; Phryniurn sanguineum, the 
purple Cauna-like plant; Boronia Drummondi, anew one, 
and one of the best of them, with bright rose blossoms, 
and an excellent close habit, aud small leaves; this is 
a sure addition to the exhibition plants ; Fabricia diver- 
sifolia; Grevillea sanguinea ; Boronia tnolina, another 
good one, with large, lilac flowers; and several others, 
but well-known kinds. 
From the Garden of the Society we had the two new 
Viburnums, macrocephalum and plicatum, in full bloom. 
The first has large heads of pure white flowers, of a size 
half-way between a good Guelder Rose and a Hydrangea; 
and Plicatum is not quite so large aud more close; 
Sclieeria Mexicana, a G esnera-mollis Jooking plant, with 
blue G7oa-'/»ht-looking-flovvers; and others, with cut flowers 
of Fortune’s tree Pceonias ; the white Glycine, and the 
double-yellow Datura ; and a dozen of pots of Strawberries 
from the said Orchard-house, most interesting on accouut 
of their history. Small runners were potted, last Sep¬ 
tember, in 60-pots, and after that into 48-sized pots, in 
which they now fruit, without forcing, as large as natural 
size, Keens' Seedlings, fit for table; Princess Alice Maud, 
very nearly so; Prince of Wales about the same ; and 
British Queen, only in a green state ; all from the same 
treatment. 
Her Majesty sent us, through Mr. Ingram, a large 
bunch ottlie tops of Paulownia imperialis in full bloom; 
