THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Octobeb 9, 1860. 
next growth. And as to what to do with bulbs when they are 
at rest, why do just as you would do with your own children—do 
not disturb them till they awake naturally, and see the sleeping 
apartments are neither more cold nor less hot than is natural to 
them when they are up and doing. Above all, see they are not 
in damp sheets. Very small bulbs must be treated like “ Our 
baby.” If they happen to go asleep in very large pots, they are 
like babies slumbering on their mother’s bed, and both must be 
very gently removed to little cots, or something like them—that 
is, to small pots. Again : “ Choice Gladioli” to be done exactly 
as first-rate early Potatoes in every particular, save cutting for 
“seed.” Keep the same, sprout them the same, increase them 
the same, plant them the same, take them up the same, and 
store t hem the same. The lancifolium Lilies to be kept in the 
same pots and stored like Potatoes till the end of Pebruary, from 
then to damp the mould and keep it from drying; and when the 
shoots are six inches long, if the pots are not big enough, give 
them a shift; and when you want to divide them, let tl at be 
done in November, and let each size of bulb be put in the dif¬ 
ferent sized pots at once, and let the soil not be quite dry the 
whole winter. Calla, or Richardia sethiopica, treat exactly like 
the lancifoliums, only that March is the best time to shake them 
out from the balls when one wants to increase them. Your 
gardener’s plan is still the same in principle as ours; he would 
pit them like York Regents, that is all.] 
GARDENING AMONG] SMOKE. 
Dttbino- the latter portion of 1859 I erected a greenhouse 
sixteen feet by six feet; height at front six feet; at back nine 
feet. I have four shelves for plants. For ventilation I have 
two side lights, and one at the end, upon swivels, but no move- 
able top light. The front of tho structure faces to south-west. 
I am situated in the very centre of a dense manufacturing town 
in Lancashire, where the tall chimnies daily belch forth thick 
smoke and soot on every side of my tiny glass-house, which 
stands on rather elevated ground. When I tell you my position, 
you will, I am sure, pity me. On the west I am annoyed by 
smoke from a publican’s brewhouse at least three times a-week. 
On the north by that from a dyehouse every day in the week ; 
and on the east (or back) I am nearly smothered by filth from 
an iron foundry: all which compel me to drench my plants very 
frequently to keep them clean. 
Of plants I have *Fuchsias, ^Geraniums, an *Erica, Hoya 
carnosa, Habrotliamnus, # Cacti, Azaleas, ^Camellias, ^Veronica, 
* Petunias, and some other minor plants. But I have been 
much disappointed with the Fuchsias and Geraniums. The 
former put forth their flower-buds ; but when about half grown 
most of them dropped off. What is the cause of this ? 
My Geraniums grew vigorously, but the blooms, although 
good, were exceedingly small. They were carefully potted in a 
mixture of loam, a little decayed manure, and sharp sand, and 
carefully watered previously to and during the blooming period. 
How do you account for my non-success ? 
I hare now several vigorous plants of different sorts of Chrysan¬ 
themums standing in a somewhat closely-confined yard, where 
they do not get much sun. Would you recommend me to 
house them now ?— One oe Yottb Readers. 
[We should be more than glad to help you out of your diffi¬ 
culties, but fear we can be of little service to you, unless in 
directing your attention to one or two minutiae. We believe the 
circumstances, as respects your most unenviable position, are the 
chief causes of your disappointment; though want of sun and a 
neglect of watering, or too much of it in such dull weather, 
might also contribute in making the blooms of the Fuchsias to 
drop. The same impure air might be the chief reason why the 
flowers of the Geraniums were so small; but as they grew vigor¬ 
ously we would just suggest whether growing in large pots, rich 
-.compost, and potting so late, that the flower-buds were be¬ 
ginning to open before the pots were filled with roots, might not 
also have something to do with it. Fuchsias will also suffer 
when flowering from a deficiency of air, and we have just thought 
that you would be better from having an opening for air at each 
end, and thus require to open the door only when necessary. 
Now, the great secret of success in your case, we take to be 
ability to give your plants plenty of pure air without letting in 
the smoke. For this purpose we not only approve of having 
your roof fixed, but we would as much as possible make it air- 
* Those I have marked thus (*) .bloomed, 
proof, by close glazing, and allow no air to come in except at the 
regular Ventilators; and over, or inside these ventilators we 
would either have fine wire screens, or good book muslin, that 
woxdd let in air and keep out soot. These would get so soon 
dirty, that you would require to have two sets, as after they 
were well blacked the air would not get well through them. . In 
hot weather, if you do not shade, you might want more openings 
for air, but with such openings thus guarded, you may pretty 
well defy all the chimnies, except in so far as you may have to 
wash the glass oftener. By using muslin or anything of that 
kind you would have to slide your ventilators, or open them on 
a hinge ; but’ that can be easily done. We shall be glad to hear 
of the result of the trial. Your syringe will also be useful in the 
growing season, and so will the sponge. In the summer, if the 
chimnies cease smoking at night, you could give extra air then, 
and the plants would need less during the day. We have also 
had our troubles with smoke in our time.] 
COEFEE AND CHICORY. 
To ascertain if coffee contains chicory, fill a glass with water; 
when it is full throw some of the coffee supposed to be mixed on 
the surface of the water. If the coffee is not mixed, it rests on 
the surface ; if on the contrary it is mixed, the chicory absorbs 
the water, immediately falls to the bottom of the glass, and 
colours the water brown. It will be observed that this pro¬ 
ceeding is founded on the different textures of the two products, 
which absorb water in different periods of time. If the powder 
which falls to the bottom of the glass is examined, it will be 
seen that it has not the consistence of coffee, and that it is soft, 
which is not the case with the coffee, which should remain on 
the water.— {La Maison ae Campagne.) 
GROWING CUCUMBERS IN A GREENHOUSE. 
I have a greenhouse heated by an ordinary brick flue. I 
want to try and contrive out of it a bed to grow Cucumbers, &c., 
in the winter; and my idea is this:—to put up boards adjoining 
the flue the whole length of one side, enclosing a space two feet 
wide, and to the height of eighteen or twenty inches ; covering 
the top of the flue and bottom of the enclosed space with cinders 
and crocks, &c.; to put the soil on top of this, sloping inwards 
slightly from the glass. I want to know to w T hat extent I ought 
to cover the flue before putting on the soil, and what depth of 
soil would be sufficient, also what bottom heat I should have to 
maintain. Would there be any objection to forcing Strawberries 
in the same house and with the same means ? and when ought I 
to begin forcing them ? You will see by the plan that the bed 
would be about fifteen feet long by three feet six inches broad, 
including the width of the flue; and that there are just twenty 
inches between the top of the flue and the bottom of the front 
lights.—D. B. B. 
[What would be more important under the circumstances for 
us to know would be the height of these front lights before they 
joined the roof lights, as showing at once the head room for the 
Cucumbers. The end section of the roof, and whether the house 
is span or lean-to, and especially if the end opposite the doorway 
be of glass, would also be important; as, if that end were glass, 
the Cucumbers would* have the best chance of heat there, being 
nearest the fireplace. Your enclosed space is pre^osed to be on 
the side, and consequently beyond the hottest end of the flue. 
Now, whether such a house can be made to grow Cucumbers will 
depend on the strength and width of the flue. Heated by one 
fireplace and one flue, it will be impossible to grow in it Cucum¬ 
bers and the usual greenhouse plants. This could only be done 
by dividing the house by a glass or other partition, and returning 
the flue in the hot division, and having openings there to let out 
the heat into the greenhouse when desired in frosty weather. To 
commence Cucumbers and Strawberries in such a house simul¬ 
taneously would also require such a division ; for, though Straw¬ 
berries when set would swell in the coldest part of a Cucumber- 
house, the placing plants there at once would lead the most of 
them to come blind, and either not show their blossom or not to 
set it. If by the mode proposed you can keep up a temperature 
in the soil of from 70° to 80°, and in the house of from 60° to 
67° in dull weather, with a rise of 10° or more from sunshine, 
you may turn all the house into a Cucumber-house; the enclosed 
space over the flue being chiefly for bottom heat, and the other 
part of the flue being chiefly for top heat. If that is not your 
