4 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 6, 1857. 
| trees, such as mimic rockworks that some like to have on 
j their balconies. 
Sempervivum tectorum.— The common root Houseieek 
j will grow with almost as little attention and less soil than 
the Sedum acre. Its thick leaves enable it. to absorb as 
much as it perspires. I have seen it occupying most of a 
decaying stump of a tree on a balcony with fine effect. 
Perhaps the best for the window would be arboreum 
varieqatum, aureum, Smithii, and tortuosum. They like light 
! sandy soil, and the chief care, as with other succulents, will 
be to keep them from frost and from having much water 
! in winter. 
Sensitive Plant {Mimosa pudica ).—This cannot be 
managed well in a window; but if you or a friend has a 
! Cucumber box you might have it easily by sowing seeds in 
April. Such plants hardened by degrees will stand in the 
ivindow from the middle of June to the middle of Septembei, 
j and will be a source of much pleasure and inquiry to all 
young people. I have been told by several different 
! parties that the extreme sensitiveness of this plant was the 
means of imbuing them with a great sympathy for the 
happiness of all organised creatures, and a strong desire 
to become acquainted with the phenomena of natural history. 
Senecio elegans flore-pleno rubra. —The best .of the 
Groundsels. Propagated by cuttings, and delighting in rich 
sandy loam; will do best outside the window after the 
middle of May. 
Silene. —All pretty low-growing Catchflies, biennials and 
annuals, if sown early in spring in pots under a pane of 
glass, will bloom early in summer. Speciosa is a little 
tender, but would suit a window. Ocymoides, procumbens , 
j repens, and Schafta are pretty little plants for a box or vase 
i on the balcony. 
Sollya heterophylla.— A pretty, compact, blue-flowering 
shrub, easily raised from seeds or cuttings, growing in 
loam and peat, and requiring to be kept from frost in 
winter, and rather dry then. In some seasons it would 
stand trained to the outside of the window. 
Sparaxis. —For treatment see Ixia. Bicolor, versicolor , 
and the varieties of tricolor are, perhaps, the best for 
windows, and flower generally in the beginning of April. 
Sprengelia incarnata. — A pretty, flesh-coloured, Epacris- 
lilce plant, that, to do Well in a window, must not be too hot 
or too close in winter. Plenty of air and a temperature 
| from 35° to 40° will suit it. Soil, peat and loam well 
drained; to be pruned back when done flowering in May and 
June, kept close for a little, and then placed in a sheltered 
spot out of doors until the end of September. Propagated 
by cuttings of short, stubby, young side-shoots under a 
j bellglass. 
j- Stapelia. —I can hardly select from among these fine 
neighbours for Mesembryanthemums and other succulents, 
and with very pleasing flowers if kept at a distance from the 
nose. They should not when in bloom be kept in living 
rooms. Sandy soil, lime rubbish, and a little cowdung grow 
; them admirably. They cannot have too much sun, nor 
scarcely too high a temperature in summer, and watering 
pretty freely then; towards autumn lessen, and then refrain 
from watering whilst sun light and sun heat exert all their 
powers. In winter, unless the atmosphere is very dry, give 
no -water at all, and keep at from 38° to 50°. 
Statice. —I have seen imbricata and pseudo-armeria in 
windows, but in general they require a more regular change 
of air than can be given in windows. Propagated by 
1 cuttings and divisions, and grown in light sandy loam. 
Stocks. —For flowering early in spring outside the win¬ 
dow sow Ten-weeks in August and September, and Inter- 
I mediate Scarlet at the end of July. Keep protected after 
being potted, so as to keep severe frost from them ; and plant 
in boxes about April, using light rich soil well drained. 
Tiiea viridis. —There is nothing very enticing in this 
farther than that some might wish to be able to show a Tea 
plant to their friends. Treatment much the same as the 
Camellia and Orange. Keep the leaves clean ; grow in peat 
and loam lightened with sand; give a temperature of from 38° 
to 48° in winter; and put the plant in a place sheltered from 
the full sun out of doors from the middle of June to the 
! middle of October. 
Tigridia.— Splendid Iris-like flowers, but more fitted for 
the flower garden and balcony than the window. Each bloom 
generally lasts only half of a day or so, but plenty succeed. 
The bulbs require to be kept in a state of rest and from 
severe frost all the winter, and to be planted in April. 
Tritonia.— For culture see Ixia. Pretty bulbous flower¬ 
ing plants from one to two feet in height. They are all 
beautiful. Aurea , concolor, jlava, odorata , and rosea may be 
used as a selection. 
Trop-Zeolum. —For balcony railings and hanging from 
baskets and vases nothing is more beautiful than the varie¬ 
ties of majus and peregrinum (the Canary plant). Sown at 
the end of March where they are to bloom, and in soil not 
over rich. For festooning the sides of a window outside— 
for being planted either in a large pot or border—few sum¬ 
mer climbers would equal pentaphyllum (polyphyllum of 
some), with its myriads of reddish green flowers. If in a 
pot it should be sheltered from frost in winter; if planted 
out protect the tuber with a heap of coal ashes and a little 
moss during the winter months. Propagated easily by the 
young tubers. Tricolorum would be a beautiful plant for the 
inside of a window rather airy in summer. The tubers 
should only be potted when the tiny shoot begins to move, 
and placed then in their flowering pot at once, giving water 
very gently until the pot fills with roots. Sandy, fibry loam 
and heath soil will grow it well, with a rich surfacing of 
fine old cowdung \ when growing away nicely. When the 
flowers and leaves begin to decay refrain from watering, and 
when dead give no water until the tubers begin to move, and 
after they are potted. They are easiest kept removed from 
the pot a month or so after the foliage has got yellow, placed 
in silver or other sand, and kept in a cool place free from 
frost until they begin to grow again. 
Tulips (see Bulbs). —For early blooming in windows 
they should be potted at the latest in October. The Van 
Tliols and Bex Rubrorums are still among the earliest. 
Veltheimia. — Intermedia blooms in spring, and viridifolia 
in autumn. Bulbs, growing freely in sandy loam, requiring 
plenty of water when growing and blooming, little when 
the foliage begins to decay, and none when decayed until 
they begin to grow, during which time they must be kept 
from frost. R. Fish. 
(To be continued .) 
GRAPES GROWN UNDER PECULIAR 
CIRCUMSTANCES. 
(Continued from page 407.) 
I mentioned at page 407 that the Grape houses were 
generally low structures, certainly not remarkably so, 
but possessed in themselves no particular feature but 
what we meet with everywhere. The Vines were planted 
inside, but the roots had full access outside, and it was 
from the outside border that they derived their sole 
nourishment. The construction of that must, therefore, 
be regarded as the key to the whole question; and, 
believing this to be the case, I at once thought the 
border might be made out of those open nondescript 
materials which of themselves are almost useless as 
feeders, but which form good receptacles to receive and 
give out that nourishment so conducive to the well-being 
of the plant. In fact, I thought it might be an example 
of what could be done on Clement Hoare’s principle, 
so much advocated at one time, of letting the roots 
ramify amongst a bed of stones or other inert sub¬ 
stances, and regularly supply them with liquid manure. 
This conclusion I thought not unlikely when water 
formed so important an element of their ordinary diet; 
but I was mistaken. The border was not an open mass 
of stones, bones, and brickbats, neither did these sub¬ 
stances enter much into its composition, the border, in 
fact, being nothing more than a mass of the ordinary 
earth of the place, which had been turfy sods, dug and 
but very little worked amongst prior to the planting of 
the Vines. 
Some drains there were in it to carry off any super¬ 
fluous water that might accumulate in ordinary times, 
but altogether useless in times of great floods like the 
