THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 9, 1858. 
i densely bushy. There is in this house a very good 
' specimen of the curious Venus’s Fly-trap ( Dioncea 
muscipula). It is grown in a pot in peat and moss, 
and the pot is placed on a bed of moss, kept moist, 
j The plant was not covered with a bellglass, as it 
: usually is, yet it was very strong and healthy. 
Beyond this stove there is a low-roofed house, entirely 
: occupied with that interesting tribe, the Ferns. The 
! collection is very select; the aim being to grow the 
neatest foliaged species, rather than the large coarse 
ones. I noticed several beautiful plants of the Gold 
and Silver Ferns, and also Chelianthes lendigcra and 
macrophylla. 
There' are here a Camellia house, an Azalea house, 
i a Heath house, and a New Holland plant house. All 
; these are kept separate, which is the best plan by far ; 
for all of them require different treatment, or have 
such very dissimilar foliage, that they do not amalgamate 
i well together. In all of the houses where the plants 
stand, each plant has its due share of light and air: 
| hence every plant is a perfect picture of health and 
form. Mind this, ye young beginners in plant grow¬ 
ing ! Do not crowd your plants. You had far better 
i throw away half your stock than have them so thick 
i that all will be rendered unsightly. 
In the New Holland house I noted, as being par- 
| ticularly good, Acrophyllum venosum, Eriostemon 
intermedium, El. pulchellum, IE. scabrum, and E. buxi- 
folium ; Boronia serrulata, B. pinnata, and B. te- 
tranda ; Aphelexis macrantlta purpurea, and A. spe- 
ciossissima; Phcenocoma prolifer a; Pimelea specta- 
bilis ; Poly gala cordata, and many others. 
In a lean-to house, which is used as a vinery in 
summer, there are young specimens of most of the 
above plants, and others of more recent introduction. 
These are receiving the necessary training and stop¬ 
ping, to make them fit to remove into the other houses 
when the large, old plants become unwieldly and un¬ 
sightly. 
There was pointed out to me the mode of training 
Azaleas. They choose to have them all with short 
stems, above the soil, stating they are far handsomer 
so managed than if the lowest branches were near the 
earth. The small-leaved kinds, such as variegata and 
lateritia, are worked by grafting on stronger-growing 
varieties. These stems are generally about from nine 
inches to a foot high. To prevent suckers, all the 
lower buds of the cuttings are picked out, much in the 
same style that Mr. Beaton recommends for Bay trees, 
intended for standards. 
Though it is commonly set down as an incontro¬ 
vertible fact, that Heaths do not,'or, rather, will not, 
I thrive near a large town like Manchester, yet it ap- 
1 pears there is no rule without exception. Mr. Evans 
so manages his Heaths here, that I have seen very 
few that surpass them. I was informed, however, that 
there are some species, such as Erica aristata and 
E. Massoni, that are beyond his skill: they will} not 
live in a smoky atmosphere; but there are, as is evi¬ 
dent here, plenty of sorts that will, with good manage¬ 
ment, thrive very fairly. I noticed a fine specimen, 
two feet through, of Erica mutabilis in full bloom, 
even at this season of the year. 
| . My description of these plants gives but a faint 
idea of the good management bestowed upon them, 
and the effect of that culture. To be able fully to 
estimate them as they deserve, they must be seen. 
All soft-wooded plants, such as Geraniums, Calceo¬ 
larias, Cinerarias, &c., are kept in pits heated with 
hot-w T ater pipes. The gardener, and his master too, 
argue that such plants have no business in houses till 
they are coming into flower. The Geraniums, in con¬ 
sequence of being close to the glass, and plenty of 
air given in fine weather, are low, bushy, healthy 
plants, which must make a splendid show in due j 
season. 
The structures devoted to growing these fine plants 
consist of three double houses; that is, with a division 
of glass in the centre, each forty feet by twenty feet, 
and two, without division, of the same size, all span- 
roofed, and the lean-to house referred to above. There 
is, also, a good propagating house, and some excellent 
pits. 
In the open ground I noticed a large space in¬ 
closed by a skeleton frame: this, I was informed, is j 
covered with canvass in summer, under which the best 
specimens are placed. The canvass is fixed to rollers, 
and can be drawn up in suitable weather. 
The lean-to house is placed against a lofty wall. 
Before it was put up, that wall was covered with a large 
Jargonelle Pear tree. Mr. Micholls was unwilling to 
destroy this tree, and, therefore, he had it carefully 
taken up, and planted in the kitchen garden, and j 
trained to a strong lofty trellis. It grew, and is now 
just recovering, and forms a very singular object. 
On the lawn, I was shown a splendid specimen of J 
the Fern-leaved Beech, perhaps the largest in Great 
Britain. It is nearly forty feet high, and spreads its 
branches symmetrically all round. Rhododendrons 
thrive here—as they do all round this part—very 
finely; and, therefore, they are the principal ever¬ 
greens cultivated. T. Appleby. 
NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 
IIoya CINNAMomieolia. Lindt. Nat. ord., Asclepiadaceac. 
—Native of Java, and introduced into this country by Mr. 
Win. Lobb. Stem robust, twining, brandling, round and j 
smooth. Petioles opposite, short, thick. Leaves acutely 
ovate, broad at the base, thick, slightly coriaceous, smooth, 
five-nerved; the three central boldly developed, the two 
lateral less* so; margins entire. Inflorescence axillary, um¬ 
bellate, on short peduncles. Corolla pretty large, divided into 
five broad, acutely ovate segments, pale dusky yellow. The 
organs in the centre of the flower surrounding the stamens 
dark purple. 
A very pretty species of Hoya, but it cannot be entitled a 
free bloomer. The period of flowering is July or August, 
and it lasts pretty long. It seems to thrive best in a compost 
of about two parts nice friable loam, and one part peat, j 
roughly chopped up together, with a fair portion of sand. A 
liberal drainage is very essential, for if the soil is allowed to 
become sour, from stagnant water, the roots quickly die and 
rot away ; and it is extremely difficult to recover a plant once 
thus affected. Will root freely enough from cuttings of par¬ 
tially ripened wood, in moderate bottom heat under a glass. 
Senecio Petasites. Dec. Nat. ord., Composite. — 
Native of Mexico and Brazil. Stem shrubby, much branched. 
Petioles long, slightly hairy. Leaves nearly orbicular, five 
or more lobed, covered with a soft down; nerves numerous, 
and strongly developed on the under side, fight green. In- 
floresence corymbose. Peduncles and pedicels bracteated. 
Scales of the involucre few in number, green. Florets of the 
disk numerous, small, those of the ray five, or more, oblong, 
bright yellow. 
This plant is old, but scarcely known. As a winter- 
flowering conservatory plant it possesses great merit, the mass 
of bloom being very great, and the foliage fine. It would, j 
probably, do well planted out in the conservatory, but it 
succeeds admirably cultivated in a pot, and blooms freely 
from the beginning of January till the end of February. 
It, is said to be very effective bedded out in summer, as a 
plant of fine foliage. The readiest way to propagate it, is by 
seeds. They may be sown as soon as they are ripe, and the 
plants grown rapidly during the summer, and allowed to rest 
in the autumn, before being brought into bloom. It also 
propagates by cuttings. 
Cantu a pyrieolia. Juss. Nat. ord., Polemoniacece .— 
Introduced into this country by Mr. W. Lobb, from Peru. 
