THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 9, 1860. 
and kills it. What would be best to train on a wall eighteen or 
twenty feet depends upon what country or kingdom it is in, and 
often on what part of either. 
There is no white Calceolaria good for beds or for anything 
else. Recollect, however, that Stamfordianum will not grow two 
feet high in some countries, or in many parts of Her British 
Majesty’s dominions. Why then do the sons of men write to us 
from nowhere, to know what should be done there ?] 
STOYE ORCHIDS. 
(Continuedfrom jiage 5.) 
Shading-. —The house for Orchids being put up, the next 
thing to think of is how to shade the plants from the burning 
beams of a summer’s sun. At that season of the year the leaves 
are young and tender ; and if a drop of water is on any one leaf 
and the sun strikes it, the lens formed by the water becomes a 
focus, and on that place a burn or scald will take place. To 
prevent such a mishap the glass should be shaded. Some put 
on it a covering of whitewash or some other daub, which is 
certainly effective and saves trouble; but the objection to this 
mode is, that the shading being permanent, on dark days the 
plants suffer from want of light to ripen the pseudo-bulbs: this 
is a great evil. 
Undoubtedly the best shade is one that can easily be drawn 
off whenever the sun is clouded. Perhaps the best material for 
this purpose is the one named Shaw’s tiffany; it is quite stout 
enough to intercept the rays of the hottest sun. To apply it so 
as to save trouble, procure a pole, about two inches diameter, 
rather longer than the length of the house. At one end fix a 
wheel six inches diameter. On each side of this wheel nail 
round boards projecting two or three inches beyond it. When 
this is.done a kind of groove is formed; and in this the cord to 
let down and draw up the shade is coiled, one end being nailed 
to it. The shading material is then nailed to the pole, it having 
been first sewed together the size of the roof. The pole with 
the canvass nailed to it should then be laid on the roof. A 
fiat, long, narrow piece of wood should be nailed firm to the 
I highest point of the roof; then stretch the canvass, and nail 
the loose side to this flat piece of wood. Use some kind of 
binding to this edge, and nail through that binding. Then take 
hold of the other end of the cord, pull at it, and the w heel will 
turn round, and, of course, the pole turn round also, wrapping 
up the canvass neatly as it rolls up to*the top or apex of the 
house. The rope may be wrapped round a kind of fixed button 
in a handy place, and tied there till shade is needed; then loosen 
the end of the cord, and let down the shade gently to the lowest 
part of the glass, where a few' stops of iron or wood shoidd be 
firmly fixed to prevent the pole rolling off the house and tearing 
off the canvass from the flat piece of w'ood. To make this 
canvass last longer, let a weather-board be fixed on the top of 
the house ; and when the shade with its pole is drawn up, it will 
be under this weather-board and be protected from wet. In 
winter, when no shade is required, the canvass may be unfixed 
and put away in a dry shed till spring. 
Mode of Giving Aik. —When the thermometer indicates a 
temperature too high it may be lowered by giving air. In 
spring the external air will be too cold to be admitted direct to 
the plants : hence it is desirable to let in the fresh air just over 
hc.t-w r ater pipes. To accomplish this make openings in the wall, 
and fix to these opening sliding shutters. When these are 
opened the air rushes in, and becomes not only warmed but also 
charged with moisture arising from the tanks placed on the 
ascending pipes, and is then highly beneficial to the health of 
plants. To allow of the escape of the heated air, a few openings 
should be contrived at the highest part of the roof. In summer, 
when there is no heat in the pipes, the outward atmospheric ah’ 
is so warm that the air when admitted wdll not injure the plants 
in the least. 
Arrangement oe the Plants. —The central stage may 
either be a succession of steps or one broad platform. In either 
case it is desirable to make each into a shallow watertight cistern, 
to be filled with small pebbles ; or, if kept empty, place in them 
broad pans just high enough to be above the level of the sides. 
These cisterns are intended to hold water during the growing 
months, and thereby supply moisture to the air, and also protect 
the plants from the destructive cockroaches. 
Around this central stage runs the walk, and on the side next 
the wall a platform may very conveniently be placed. The 
surface of this platform may be formed exactly like the central 
stage ; and on it many smaller plants may stand, and also any 
that may go earlier to rest than the general collection. 
Suspending Plants. —These require hooks, or large-headed 
nails, driven into.the rafters to hang them to; or a strong iron 
rod kept well painted may be suspended over the walks, and at 
proper intervals hooks made in the shape of the letter S placed, 
upon the rod, and to each of these hooks a basket or a block 
containing a plant is suspended. There is this advantage of 
having these plants hanging over the walk—namely, that when 
watered or syringed, the surplus water falls into the walk and 
not on the plants.—T. Appleby. 
(To be continued .) 
BLOOMING OF RHODODENDRON 
FALCONERII. 
Can you inform me if Rhododendron Ealeonerii has bloomed 
many times in this country ? I have a good plant with a bloom- 
bud upon it, winch I think is caused by my keeping the plant 
pot-bound, and subjecting it to sudden and severe changes of 
temperature.— John Stevens, Gardener, Malvern Rail, Solihull. 
[It has not bloomed often to our knowledge. The first time 
it bloomed was in 1856, with Mr. Standish, and with Mr. Fairie, 
near Liverpool. The flowers are greenish-w'hite.] 
KEEPING HARDY BULBS, 
AND SOWING ANNUALS IN A COLD CONSERVATORY. 
“ Kate” proposes,instead of planting the bulbs named below 
in the ground at once, to plant them in pots, and keeping them 
in a cold conservatory for the winter, and to turn them out in 
the borders in April. Will it answer for Ixias, Sparaxis, Gladioli, 
Alstromeria chilensis, Antholyza, Babiana, Camassias, Tritoma, 
Yallotas, and Watsonia ? The ground is damp, and “ Kate” 
finds the roots are injured or disappear after the first season. It 
has struck her she might succeed by not turning them out till 
the spring. They would not be forced, as the house is very large 
and airy. Would annuals sown in boxes be likely to live through 
the winter in the said house, and to be turned out in April, in¬ 
stead of sowing them in the open ground ? The situation is 
twenty miles west of London. 
[All the bulbs in your list would do better in a cold frame, 
with the lights entirely off every fine day till next April—that is, 
better for turning out. The Camassias are quite hardy. Tritoma 
the same, and Yallotaand Watsonia just all but hardy. Any of 
the rest will be very liable to fail in the dry atmosphere of a large 
house; but if “ Kate ” is so good a gardener as to perceive the 
first symptoms of distress or disturbance in the grow’th of her 
bulbs, all the kinds from the Cape, and all half-hardy bulbs could 
be kept in the house. While in cold frames, if they get suf¬ 
ficient air and the frost is kept from them, anybody could 
easily keep all such bulbs without a grain of knowledge of plants. 
It is just the same with annuals—it all depends on the skill of 
the person who attends to them ; and any one who can manage 
Mignonette seedlings through the winter could grow every one 
of the annuals in that house the whole winter. A very good hit 
indeed.] 
HYACINTHS FOR WATER-YASE AND POT 
CULTURE. 
The following are six first-class Hyacinths for water, all single 
(doubles do not succeed well) :—Grand Lilas, azure blue. Baron 
Van Tuyll, dark blue. Elfrida, creamy blush. Grand \ idette, 
pure white. Norma, pale waxy pink. Robert Steiger, bright 
crimson. e , 
Add for a dozen (for water) :—Madame Hodgson, fine pale 
pink. Mons. Feasch, pale pink, changing to almost scarletTthis 
Hyacinth lasts in bloom longer than any other). Grand Yam- 
queur, pure white. Grandeur a Merveille, pale blush. Charles 
Dickens, greyish blue. Prince Albert, black. 
A first-class dozen for pots :-*La Tour d’Auvergne (double), 
pure white. *Odmp'te de St. Priest (double), light blue. Duke 
of Wellington (double), rose. Prince of Waterloo (double), pure 
white. Blocksberg (double), marbled blue. Laurence Coster 
(double), indigo blue. Prirts Yan Saxe-Weixnar, dark blue. 
