THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 2, 1857. 133 
cold, frosty air to supply the place of that already heated 
in a hothouse. The consumption is certainly considerable 
amongst plants; still there is always some which finds 
its way inside, by the door or other outlets, sufficient in 
very cold weather to keep the interior sweet, that it is not 
necessary to admit more unless the structure he small 
and very much crowded, in which case fresh air must 
he given, taking care to warm it first by making it pass 
over the heating apparatus. 
Much more might he said on this head, hut I will 
here merely sum up with a direction to the inex¬ 
perienced in building hothouses to make openings at the 
lowest part near the pipes or flues for the admission of 
fresh air, which, being heavier than when warm, rushes 
in rapidly, and, having to pass over the heating 
apparatus, becomes warmed ere it circulates amongst 
the plants. Observe, these openings must be lower than 
the pipes or flues, for if higher the probability is that 
the heated air would escape, instead of the cold being 
admitted. A small opening of this kind might exist 
with advantage in all hothouses, and at all times; for 
even in midwinter it might be opened, and the heated 
particles would find their way out without opening the 
lights at top, for few structures are air-tight at top, 
neither ought they to be so. J. Robson. 
NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT.—No. 4. 
BERLIN. 
There is an old saying which tells us that “ ’tis an ill 
wind that blows nobody good,” and we may, with truth, para¬ 
phrase it and say, it is indeed a bad soil that is not adapted 
for the growth of some tribe of plants; and so we find that 
in the dry, hungry sand about Berlin, in which a gardener 
would at first despair of growing any plant to perfection, the 
Hyacinth and other bulbs grow and thrive. My attention 
was first drawn to the fact by the number of these flowers 
which have for the last few weeks been exposed for sale in 
the markets, and the cheap rate at which they were sold. 
A good bunch of various colours could be obtained for less 
than an English halfpenny. I soon found that beds of 
them were cultivated in every little nursery, and Berlin 
abounds in small florists’ gardens, although there are none 
that can be said to stand in the first rank, such as that of 
Yeitch or Van Houtte. Many of these gardens are situated 
just outside the town, through the Frankfort Gate ; they are 
separated from the road only by a low hedge, and in many 
cases there is not even that, so that a person walking in 
that direction has a good view of them. It was a beautiful 
warm day when I went. The singing of the larks over¬ 
head, the perfume which filled the air, and the great beds 
of bright colours of every shade, from pale pink to deep 
crimson, from sky-blue to purple closely bordering upon 
black, with the brilliant yellows and scarlets of the Tulips, 
combined to make it one of the pleasantest walks I ever 
enjoyed. There appeared to be among these bulbs no 
novelties which are really better than those at present grown 
in England; but I fancied the whole of them seemed 
brighter and their colours more fully developed than I ever 
saw them in English gardens, w r hich was no more than 
might naturally be expected. 
Berlin claims the honour of having originated that taste 
for fine-foliaged plants which has added such a distinct 
feature to the exhibitions of late. Whether this claim be 
legally founded or not, certain it is that comparatively less 
attention is paid to flowering plants, and more are grown 
for the sake of their foliage than in England. Hence the 
popularity here of all the family of the Palms, many of the 
Draccenas, the New Zealand Flax (Pkormium tenax), some 
of the larger-leaved Aroidaceous plants, and the like. In 
every little florist’s or nursery garden, however small, you 
are certain to see a few plants of some of the commoner 
species of Cham£edorea and a few Date Palms, while a dark 
corner is always filled with the large and curiously punctured¬ 
leaved Philodendron pertusum, or the no less noble P. pinna- 
lijidum. This taste appears to be shared by all classes of 
the people. It not only characterises the conservatories of 
the rich, but also the window gardening of the poor. The 
plants most commonly seen in cottage windows are not 
Geraniums and Fuchsias, but Ivy trained over a trellis, 
Dracaenas, and the India-rubber plant (Ficus elastica). It 
is worthy of remark that Rhubarb is grown here, in most 
cases, simply as an ornamental plant, and without the least 
reference to its edible qualities. 
One of the prettiest bouquets I ever saw was one which I 
noticed here the other day. It was made upon what is here 
called the Parisian plan, that is, circular and quite flat. In 
the centre was a white Camellia; then came a circle of 
purple Hyacinth flowers (these blossoms were striped from 
the stem, and each attached to apiece of fine wire); between 
each of these flowers was a very small sprig of the delicately- 
scented and Heath-like foliaged Diosma cricoides; then 
came circles of crimson, white, and pink Hyacinths, each 
treated in the same way, with the sprigs of Diosma between 
each flower. The whole was surrounded by that most 
delicate and graceful of all the Ferns, Adiantum cuneatum, 
lying upon each frond of which were a couple of spikes of 
the bright blue Scilla bifolia. 
In every fruit stall in Berlin, among the oranges and 
apples, is to be seen a basketful of the dry, sweet pods of 
the St. John’s Bread, or Locust tree (Ceratonia siliqua ). 
They are imported from the Levant. I believe no other 
use is made of this fruit in England than that of fattening 
cattle, for which purpose it bears a high character.— Karl. 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROPAGATION OF 
BUNT (Uredo Caries, D.C.), MADE WITH AN 
ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE POTATO 
DISEASE. 
By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S. 
It has been known for many years that the principal 
diseases of cereal plants, such as rust, bunt, mildew, &c., are of 
vegetable origin. Unger attempted to overthrow this notion, 
and to prove that they were mere exanthemata, analogous to 
eruptive diseases in animals. The observations, however, of 
Corda, Leveille, and others, have now completely established 
the fact that the productions in question are not mere mo¬ 
difications of the cellular tissue, but that they spring from a 
distinct mycelium, and are as certainly vegetable as any 
other fungi. It was long since also ascertained by Bauer 
that one of them, viz., bunt, could be propagated with 
certainty by rubbing the grains of wheat with the spores, 
and the practice of steeping wheat previous to its being 
sown, whether founded on more or less correct notions of 
the nature of the disease, a practice seldom neglected with 
impunity, is in accordance with his experiments. As regards 
the mode of propagation of these diseases the most vague 
and ill-founded notions have prevailed, the more general 
opinion being that the reproductive organs themselves were 
absorbed by the spongy tissue of the roots, or by the stomata, 
and so traversed every portion of the plant by means of the 
intercellular passages, or rooted in the tissue at the base of the 
stomata. It has not in general been understood that those 
bodies which, as far as has been observed, are the only ones 
destined to produce mycelium, are far larger than the inter¬ 
cellular passages, and frequently than the individual cells,, 
or even the stomata themselves. The figure given by Bauer 
of the contents of the spores of Puccinia graminis is not 
correct, as may be ascertained by actual examination, or by 
comparison of Corda’s admirable figure. The spores, in 
point of fact, contain merely a grumous mass, with one or 
more oil globules, and by no means distinct sporules, as 
supposed by Bauer. 
Now, whatever may be the cause of the disease in Potato 
tubers, I look upon it as matter of absolute certainty that 
the destruction of the aerial portion of the plant is due to the 
development of Botrytis wfestans. The notion that it is a 
mere consequence of a previously diseased condition is, I 
firmly believe, quite untenable. It becomes then matter of 
interest to ascertain, if possible, the conditions under which 
such parasites are developed. Probably from the lateness of 
