231 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 12, 1858. 
house in the distance. I was glad to find this greenhouse 
I of the dark days, when light was taxed, very properly in the 
j hands of the moderns: and let us see what Mr. Henderson 
! says of it, which I would advise our teachers in horticulture 
i to note. 
“The greenhouse is eiglity-eight feet by thirty-two feet. 
I have had the old opaque roof taken off, and a glass one 
substituted. It is a span-roof, composed of light iron ribs, 
each alternate one being fixed a trifle lower than the oilier; just 
so much, that the condensation on the lower surface of the 
glass runs into a copper gutter, fitted to the lower rib, which 
carries it off without dropping on the plants. It is a great im- 
I provement; and the plants are even already exhibiting marked 
! effects from the improved light.” 
In a corner I saw a huge healthy plant of the Cycas revo- 
luta , a connecting link between Mr. Henderson and Mr. 
Alcard, late of Stratford. Who would not be a cultivator of 
plants when they can be turned to such account ? In and 
around this house I saw very healthy young Orange trees, 
good specimens of double-white Camellias, &c., well-set with 
i flower-buds, and other appropriate plants for such situations; 
and among them Ferns, of course. 
Near this spot is an extensive aviary, some 358 feet in 
length, seventy-six feet of which are glazed. One thing I 
observed had a pretty effect, which was a large Mountain 
Ash, beautifully covered with berries, and protected by a huge 
cage of wire.—D. Ferguson, Stoive, Buckingham. 
DR. LINDLEY’S BOTANICAL LECTURES. 
During the Christmas holidays, Dr. Lindley is giving a 
course of lectures on Elementary Botany to the Fellows of 
the Horticultural Society and their friends, at 21, Regent 
Street. Three of these lectures were delivered during the 
past week to respectable audiences, which chiefly consisted of 
ladies and young persons. The first was on the Seed, and 
the Root of plants. The second on the Stem, and the third 
on the Leaves; and the subjects were treated in a manner so 
clear and simple, as that the smallest comprehension could 
not fail to miderstand what the lecturer meant. The lectures 
were illustrated by specimens of seeds, roots, stems, and 
leaves themselves, and by well-drawn and characteristic dia¬ 
grams of highly-magnified parts of the subjects under con¬ 
sideration. The audience was highly gratified, and evidently 
much instructed; although we suspect some of the terms made 
use of were not sufficiently suggestive to fix themselves on the 
minds of such as constituted the audience. For instance, the 
learned lecturer, when speaking of the seed, said, that the word 
cotyledons had no English equivalent, and, therefore, that was 
the word he used; but we would suggest that seed-lobes is 
quite as good a word, more simple, and would certainly be more 
suggestive to the minds of the audience. Again, in speaking 
of under-ground stems, he spoke of the rhizome , which might 
as well be called root-docJc in addressing such listeners. The 
lectures were, nevertheless, sufficiently clear, highly instructive, 
| and quite free from any of the more difficult and abstruse 
: subjects, which too frequently tend to bewilder and disgust 
beginners, and those who have not patience to investigate the 
subject. The lectures will be continued to-day (Tuesday), 
Thursday, and Saturday, during the present week. 
SCARLET GERANIUM PYRAMID. 
I Send you the following method of planting the Scarlet 
Geranium—a method which has been practised by me with 
good effect; and may, perhaps, prove interesting to some of 
your readers, who are contemplating new arrangements in the 
flower garden. 
Having provided a quantity of thick wooden stakes, with 
the bark on, about two feet six inches long ; and selected a 
situation where the pyramid can be viewed from a distance— 
and if well backed by evergreens, so much the better—I 
proceed to mark out a circle, eight feet in diameter, and drive 
the first; row of stakes close together, leaving them one foot 
above the ground. This is then filled in with common earth, 
and well trodden. A second row is then driven in a circle, six 
inches less than the former one, which six inches form the 
space for planting in. This circle is again filled up with earth, 
and well trodden; adding, but diminishing the circles till the 
pyramid is finished, which will be about six feet high. 
The pyramid looks best on grass. The one here has a 
verge six feet wide round it, which is surrounded by a gravel 
walk. The first planting circle, which is on the ground-level, 
I leave one foot wide; which gives room for an edging of 
Alyssum variegatum , and has a very pretty effect. I intend 
planting it next season with the variety called Brillian t , which, 
with me, has turned out a profuse bloomer ; and being of 
dwarf habit, and having a small foliage, will be well-adapted 
for the pyramid. Crocuses or Hyacinths might be planted 
in the circles, with an edging of Snowdrops for spring flower¬ 
ing ; and in the depth of winter small branches of evergreens 
may be stuck round the circles, which will keep fresh for 
several weeks, and give it the appearance of a large evergreen 
pyramid.— William Adderley, Gardener , Yotes ’ Court. 
[We shall be glad to have the article on Ox alls Boiviei .— 
Ed. C. G.] 
The Winter in Devonshire.— Dining on Christmas- 
day with a friend whose house is situated close on the con¬ 
fines of Dartmoor, a bouquet consisting of the following 
flowers, all of which were gathered from the open garden , 
stood on the table:—Fuchsias, fine; Tom Thumbs; Age- 
ratum; Nasturtium, fine ; Mignonette ; Salvias ; Periwinkle ; 
Polyanthus; Yerbenas, &c.—J. Nicholes, Tavistock. 
ON A PECULIAR FORM OF MILDEW IN 
ONIONS. 
By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S. 
Few crops more frequently disappoint the expectations of 
the cultivator, than Onions. Wet and dry seasons are alike in¬ 
jurious, and there are few years in which they do not suffer 
more or less from mildew; and this not merely under a bad 
system of cultivation, or in indifferent soil, for highly-mil dewed 
crops occur in the most favourable situations, and where the 
management of them is best understood. The fields at Sandy, i 
in Bedfordshire, where perhaps, the best Onions in England 
are grown, are extremely subject to mildew, as can scarcely 
have escaped the notice of any one avIio has been in the habit 
of travelling year after year along the road from St. Neot’s to 
London. Neither is the mildew of one kind only, or confined 
to one particular organ or portion of the plant. Whole beds 
are destroyed in an early stage of growth by a parasitic Fungus 
which attacks the leaves, and is nearly allied to Botrytis 
infestans; but which, instead of being white, is of a pale 
reddish grey, with spores far more elongated, and flocci quite 
destitute of the nodules which are so characteristic of the 
Potato mould. Sometimes the crop seems for a time to be 
healthy; but gradually, after the formation of the bulb, acquires 
a sickly hue, which rapidly increases : the leaves wither ; the 
roots decay, and are covered at their junction with the bulb 
with a filmy mucedinous web ; the bulb itself ultimately 
becomes loose from the destruction of the roots, and as the 
mould spreads, entirely decays. In other instances, a pla- 
centsefonn Sclerotium is formed at the base of the bulb, of 
greater or less size; while in other instances, again, the whole 
substance of the bulb and neck is impregnated with mycelium, 
in the midst of which appear multitudes of little black seed¬ 
like grains, which have been described as Sclerotium Cepcc 
Lib.; and specimens have been published under that name in 
the fourth Fasciculus of British Fungi. Still other forms of 
mildew ocour ; but it is to this latter that my attention has 
been more especially directed. 
The dry summer of 1847, was, in many districts, extremely 
injurious to the Onion crops. Whole breadths at once became 
dry and withered, frequently not from the presence of any 
disease, but from mere lack of moisture; and the bulbs were 
extremeJy small and insignificant. Mildew also was very 
prevalent, and various examples were forwarded to Dr. Bind¬ 
ley ; some of which, and amongst them the form under con¬ 
sideration, were placed in my hands for examination. I 
happened at the time to be staying at Margate, where my 
friend Mr. G. II. Hoffman, with the assistance of a good com¬ 
pound microscope, had been making some observations on the 
f 
