380 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Maech 26, 1861. 
cannot command natural bottom beat for such experi¬ 
ments like our friends in tlie far west, we ought the more 
to adopt some of the suggestions about geothermal culti¬ 
vation which have stood on our books for the last quarter 
of a century, and are now again revived by M. Naudin’s, 
(of Paris), pamphlet on that subject—to every syllable 
of which British gardeners would put their seal and 
signet, save the one clause by which the French author 
would heat the borders from below to keep the frost 
from the plants growing on them and rudely protected 
over them. Perhaps a few lessons from Paris and from 
New York will be the means of stimulating us on in the 
good work. But Mr. Weeks has done more than his 
part already. His one-boiler system should be sufficient 
to heat one acre on the geothermal or underground plan; 
and he has flowered the Victoria regia in a pond out 
of doors ; and he loosed one of the hardest knots in our 
domestic botany when he bloomed for the first time in 
Europe the then Acnostis sinnuata. The Ivy-like plant 
mentioned above is much used in Germany and Russia 
in the same way as our correspondent proposes to employ 
it in New York, is a native of South America, and was 
amongst the first contributions from the new world to 
our gardens. It was figured by old Plumier in some of 
his works; and soon after that some douslerswivel of 
Fatherland charmed it with the evil eye, and it has never 
flowered since. In 1837 I had five or six new hothouses 
to cover with climbers to shade Orchids, Camellias, and 
Primroses ; and not knowing a faster-growing plant, or 
one which was at home in the stove, in the conservatory, 
and in the cold pit than the German-Ivy plant, I gave 
orders to Mr. Low,, of Clapton, to get me over some 
plants of it. He did, and all my glass was soon shaded 
with the best of all shading—a light green. In like 
manner it served my first turn at Shrubland Park till 
flowering climbers drove it from the wires. Since then 
I lost sight of it till, some three or four year3 since, some 
of Mr. Walton’s family were up the Rhine and brought 
over cuttings of it, and the plants stood on a back shelf 
over the Walfconian Case ever since. It is the Ivy-leaf 
Convolvulus, or Ipomsea hedersefolia, the fastest-growing 
plant in a moist stove heat I ever saw. It would soon 
cover a conservatory also, if it were planted in a rich 
border, and the same treatment as for Tom Thumb will 
keep it safe enough in winter. It roots faster than a 
Willow or sooner than a Strawberry-runner if a joint 
touches the soil, and, no matter how or where it is grown, 
no insect troubles it. But then, after all is said, that 
spell is yet on it, and no art of man can make it flower 
in England. It will be invaluable as a summer Ivy 
in America, and many parts of Australia, and similar 
climates. Pray let us often hear from the Experimental 
on Long Island. D. Beaton. 
where they will have plenty of air, and water occasionally as they 
may require. 
They will not need moving from that shelf till hi flower, and 
then only to put sticks to them. 
A little weak manure water sometimes while flowering is very 
beneficial. The plants will be in flower during February, March, 
and April.— W. Weight, Gardener to Sir H. G. ‘Cotterell, 
Bart., Garnons. 
[L ou have done the planting entirely to our liking in the plan 
you enclosed, save the front row of variegated Alyssum which 
will not do at all save for a shift, till you can get enough of 
Flower of the Day Geranium to take its place. The reason is the 
great difference in height between the first and second rows, even 
if you train down the second, which would spoil the balance 
between the second and third rows.] 
CULTIVATING MIGNONETTE IN POTS. 
Having many inquiries from different people as to how I 
grow my Mignonette for flowering in pots, I write to state that, 
in the beginning of September I raise some young plants, self- 
sown, with tv good ball if possible ; if small plants that are self- 
sown are not to be had at that time, I take some from seed sown 
at the latter end of July or the beginning of August—those from j 
the open ground will do. 
This plan I prefer, because the plants are stocky, which is 
one of the most important things to watch through the whole 
of their growth. If they are allowed to draw they never will 
bloom well. 
My compost is strong turfy loam, with decomposed Mush¬ 
room-bed, and a little sand in it, and a moderate drainage. Size 
of pot six-inch. 
I beat the soil firmly into the pot, and place only one plant in 
a pot, and not to be shifted. 
The potting done, I place them in a cold frame, kept close till 
the plants begin to grow, then I give air, and in a short time 
place them in a greenhouse on a shelf near to the glass, and 
NEW BOOKS. 
The Okchakd-house.*—W e have so frequently bad 
occasion to notice tbis excellent work of Mr. Rivers’, that 
nothing is left us to do on tbe appearance of a new edition 
but to call attention to tbe new matter tbat bas been in¬ 
troduced. Much bas been said of late about wbat is 
called “geothermal culture,” but which Mr. Rivers with 
a greater appreciation of good Anglo-Saxon calls “ earth- 
beat culture.” In speaking of tbe effects of securing the 
application of earth heat, he says : — 
“I have now, however (February 1860) [qy. 1861], the great 
satisfaction of stating that Orange and Lemon trees and Ca¬ 
mellias may be grown in pots in any common orcliard-house 
without fire heat, by the very simple method—and how simple 
are all good gardening practices—of taking advantage of earth 
licat (terrestrial radiation), which is done by laying the pots on 
their sides on the earth-borders of the house in November or 
December, but not till the approach of severe frost, and covering 
pots and trees first with mats treble in thickness, and then with 
a coating—say 1 foot thick, of dry refuse hay, leaves, or straw, 
giving the plants some water before they are laid down. If the 
weather should be mild in the whiter months, as it often is, the 
covering, which is easily removed, may be taken off and replaced 
as soon as frost approaches, and suffered to remain on even if 
the frost lasts some weeks. About the first week in March, if 
the weather be mild, the Camellias may be placed upright and 
have water, as their flower-buds will be swelling, they will then 
bloom all through April; some of their flower-buds may, 
perhaps, drop off, but not to any extent, for the plants will he 
in a better condition than they often are after being wintered 
in a greenhouse exposed to heat necessary to keep out frost, and, 
consequently, to a dry atmosphere. 
“Towards the end of the month of March, or earlier if the 
season be mild, the Orange and Lemon trees may be placed 
upright and have water, which should be given sparingly the 
first fortnight. They will then blossom and bear their fruit in 
the house all the summer and autumn. If any sudden severe 
frost should oceur in March or early in April, all the trees must 
be promptly laid down and covered with mats till it has passed. 
The radiation of heat from the earth is so constant and powerful, 
that when thus intercepted by a thick dry covering, no fear of 
injury even from the most severe frost need be apprehended. I 
write with confidence on this subject, having for many years 
kept tender evergreens in pots from frost, by merely laying them 
down on the soil in the open air and covering them with mats. 
The application of the system to Orange trees in orchard-houses 
is, hov T ever, an idea only a few days old, and was brought to 
mind by the following incident. 
“ On the 19th of December, 1860, the frost became severe, 
and some young Lemon trees for stocks winch it was thought 
would not he wanted, and, therefore, not housed, yet too valu¬ 
able to be thrown away, were covered with mats two or three 
thick, and then with a coating of straw. On the 21st there was 
a considerable fall of snow; they were forgotten and not un¬ 
covered till the middle of February. On taking off the mats and 
straw the leaves of the greater part were found to be discoloured, 
but their stems and roots all alive and fresh, although they had 
* The Orchard-house, or the Cultivation of Fruit Trees in Pots under 
Glass. By Thomas Rivers. Ninth Edition, enlarged and improved. 
London : Longmans. 
