46 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, AritiL 26, 1859. 
make up their minds to knock on the head, and destroy 
at once, all young plants that do not promise a fair 
start, and to cast away old plants as soon as they be¬ 
come foul with insects, or have fallen into had health 
through other means, gardening would not be such an 
expensive luxury as it too often is by clinging to an 
opposite course. 
Every stage of Geranium-growing here has a house for 
itself; and by the system indicated, every plant in each 
house seems as if it were cast in the same mould—all 
strong and stocky; and when you draw the hand over the 
even surface of the leaves, a rustling like that of new 
silk is heard. A well-kept Holly hedge would give the 
same kind of sound. 
There are six of the houses united in one block, and 
each is fifty feet long ; the width varies from twelve to 
fifteen feet; they are span-roofed; stand north and 
south ; have no side lights, aud all the roof lights are 
fixed; air is given by a hinged board on each side of the 
ridge piece above the end of the lights, and by the door¬ 
way at one end only. The uniting consists of the sides 
on one side of each pair of houses resting on one wall, as 
some pit-houses are done at the Botanic Garden in the 
Regent’s Park. On the tops of these division-walls are 
zinc glitters, which empty into tanks inside. This is the 
most economical plan of building for young stock, for 
low plants, as Hoses aud Geraniums, aud for propagating 
and nursing all sorts of plants, and for forcing flowers. 
A pathway three feet wide runs down the centre of each 
division; and a platform of solid slate, three quarters of 
an inch in thickness, runs down on each side of the path, 
and high enough to allow crinoline and shot silk to pass 
and repass without the least danger of sweeping down 
the pots and plants on either side of the way. There are 
two errors for which hothouse builders ought to be sent 
to Coventry,—the one is very old, and the other of recent 
introduction. The old error was, to have the houses inor¬ 
dinately hot; and the new' error is, to have the passages 
so narrow, and the stages so low, that no lady can pass 
without the risk of an awful crash of crockery and broken 
plants. 
The first house in the said block of houses is full of 
the fancy Geraniums, and not a stick or any kind of 
training could I perceive; and if I did not know the con¬ 
trary, I might conclude that all the plants were of one 
kind, and all the cuttings had been of the same size and 
strength. When this, or any house full of Geraniums, or 
rather the plants, are to be shifted, every plant is watched 
for a week before the potting, so as to bring the whole 
into one uniform state of moisture in the balls about the 
roots—into that happy state which we call neither wet nor 
dry. That is a grand secret, where the right kind of 
loam can be had ; and the next is, the new mould for fresh 
potting is to be exactly in the same state. The plant is 
allowed to begin to want watering just as it is potted; and 
the old and new soil being in the same state, take the 
water uniformly throughout. 
In November, when Geraniums are first put on their 
winter allowance of water, a change in their juices takes 
place. They begin then to be more palatable to the fly, 
and some come from nobody knows where ; but being not 
expected, and the season, or, rather, the warmth, being not 
enough for them to breed, they may go a long time un¬ 
observed under the young leaves, and play a most 
dangerous game, which is not made known for months to 
come: even philosophy itself has endeavoured, in vain, to 
account in the spring and summer for ravages committed 
in November and December, Therefore, make it a rule 
after this to fumigate the “ varifiint ” twice in November, 
and as often in December and January, with the self¬ 
acting Fumigator, which has just come out as if on pur¬ 
pose lor this very thing. 
The second division was full of bedding, variegated, 
and scarlet Geraniums—the finest-grown plants in small 
pots I ever saw. So many of each kind of variegated 
were set in front, for edging and for exhibiting a com¬ 
parison of sorts ; Lady Plymouth seemed to me the best 
for edging a show-house. Wellington Hero was pointed 
out as one of the newest and best scarlets with a white 
eye: I heard before it would make a splendid bedder. 
Ileidii, an old one, is, perhaps, the next best white-eyed 
scarlet. Orion is also a very fine free-blooming scarlet, 
with a large truss. King of Nepanl; Mons. Paul Lable, 
a rich rosy scarlet ; F. Chardine, rosy orange; and 
Fraserii, bright scarlet and large truss, were said to be 
superior kinds. 
The next was the Bosc-house—a splendid selection of 
kinds, and all the new ones, with something new about 
llose-growing after all, aud here it is:—In the dead of 
winter, new, or scarce, or any kind of Bose, may be 
grafted on Manetti stocks, just as Camellias are grafted 
—tied, and not clayed or mossed. The stock is cut back 
to five or six inches; and the graft has only two buds. 
A slice is cut down on the face of the stock near the pot. 
The slice is cut across at the bottom, and the graft rests 
on that notch. Three, four, or five rounds of matting are 
all the tie; and nothing more is done to it. The pots are 
then put into a close case, in a heat of from 50° to 60°, 
and get llose-forcing treatment till the grafts have nearly 
finished the first growth; then they get no more heat 
than greenhouse plants till the middle of May. By that 
time each graft is a full-grown Bose plant, with two shoots 
of a length, according to the kind. At this stage, or by 
the middle of April, every eye on each of the two shoots 
could be grafted. What was new to me is, that suppose 
you wanted to plant out the new' Bose in May with the 
two shoots, and they very nearly ripe, they are to be cut 
back, as in autumn or winter pruning, to two, three, or 
four eyes, and the next start is sure to bloom w’ell in the 
autumn. Then, by that plan, graft at Christmas, prune 
and plant out in May, stop the shoots, or the strongest of 
them, early in Juty, and expect a full bush in bloom in 
September. Or, graft when you can in the spring, let 
the shoots attain their full length; but as early in May 
as six inches of the bottom are ripe, you may prune, 
plant, stop, and expect a like result. Of course, a Bose 
from a cutting differs not the first year from a grafted 
one. 
The best new hybrid perpietual Boses of last year, arc, 
or were, then in bloom, on grafted plants as above. Ori- 
flamme is one of the best, a large, very high-coloured, or 
carmine. Anna de Piesbaeh, another splendid thing; a 
magnificent bloom of a lighter shade of fine carmine. 
Anna Alexief salmon ; large and very sweet. Countesse 
de Chabrilland, another rosy or salmon-coloured; of 
great substance and beauty. Virginal, a clear white, 
finely formed, and very double ; the whitest hybrid per¬ 
petual I have seen. Ardoise de Lyon, one of the Uniques, 
with a bright red centre, and the outer pc fills a lavender 
shade. Armide, a florist’s Bose ; salmon-coloured, and 
very beautiful. Peaute de Royglieim, another unique, 
shining glossy Bose, white edged and striped; a fine 
thing.. The only Bourbon Bose I marked was Octavie 
Fontaine, a white flower of florist form. Amongst older 
ones, but still new to many, Triomphe des Peux Arts is 
quite as high as Grant des Patailles, and more double 
than. General Jacqueminot, a splendid forcer. Also, Marie 
Thierry, a large rosy carmine. Louis Chair, another 
large rosy kind, and Puke of Cambridge, a fine dark 
red B-ose. If all the new Boses hold on so well in the 
summer out of doors, we shall have another feast of 
Boses in St. James’s Hall. 
The next house of this size is brimful of Chinese 
Azaleas. The next with Ferns, Fuchsias, Gloxinias, 
Verbenas,. Dahlias, and bedding plants; and the sixth 
and last is a forcing-house, fail of miscellanies. The 
rarest to me here was Anopterus glandulosus, a fine New 
Holland plant, which one seldom sees. It is of the 
Escallonia order, and flowers in spikes, like Andromeda 
floribunda; but the flowers arc twice the size of those 
