48 
i'llii CUltAGK GAltUENElt AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, A run. 2(3, 185'J. 
breeze, in fall bloom. This easy bulb lo grow, is one of 
the oldest and scarcest in the country, and always a 
favourite with children. 
A thunder-shower in the afternoon prevented a stroll 
out of doors. D. BeAton. 
OUTLINE OF FINE CULTUBE — VINES IN 
PINE-HOUSE — bTOVE PLANTS IN PINE- 
HOUSE. 
So little lias been said of Pines of late, that a few pro¬ 
minent ideas may be useful to others besides “ A Con¬ 
stant Header.” I would wish to hint to him, however, 
that the mere width and length of a house, without the 
height of the ridge-board and the side walls, and the height | 
of the tank in its centre, do not furnish the means of 
judging of the fitness of suen a house for a definite pur¬ 
pose. I shall consider that all these arrangements arc 
Satisfactory. vVs the four-feet tank is in the centre, I shall 
suppose that there will be a pathway all round it, and a 
shelf of from twelve to eighteen inches wide at the two 
side walls, which would take up the width of eleven feet. 
For suiting a variety of purposes, and enabling the pro¬ 
prietor and operator to get among and examine their 
plants in all weathers, there could hardly he a better 
arrangement. Were such a span-roofed house to be used 
for l’iues alouc. and the enclosed space lo he made the 
most of, then I would have divided the tank so as to 
equalise the heat, covered the space over from side to 
side, turned the plants into the soil, or plunged the pots iu 
tan; having in either case a layer of rubble over and be¬ 
tween the tanks, and tlic side walls so low outside—say 
two feet—that there would be little difficulty in examining i 
the plants from the two sides. Under the present supposed 
arrangement I should also object to plants in their pots 
standing at once on the slate covering of the tank ; and 
especially in cold weather, as then the roots near the 
bottom of the pots would be extra dried and heated. The 
shallower the tank, and the nearer the water was to the 
slate, the greater the danger would lie. If the slate 
covered a deepish chamber, with the tank at the bottom, 
the danger would not be so great. To keep such a span- 
house at from 00° to 65° in a cold, frosty night in winter 
and spring, the surface of the tank would be too hot, for 
tlie bottoms of pots to come in direct .contact with it. 
This may be avoided by many simple modes, such as 
covering the tank with rough pebbles, or elevating the 
pots on other pots or bricks. Now to the questions. 
1. “ Will stove plants flourish in such a house P ” Un¬ 
doubtedly. Even if tlie centre platform is occupied With 
Pines, there will he the side shelves. Some time ago I ( 
described a tauk-hcated bouse where Vines, Melons, On- j 
cumbers, stove plants, Ferns, Ac., were all at home. The ' 
centre could also be used for plants when not filled with ' 
Pines. The more tropical the plants selected, the better 
would the Pines and they agree, as respects temperature. 
2. “Could Grapes be grown in the same bouse P” 
Some of the best Grapes have been grown in Pine stoves. 
It requires, however, considerable tact to manage them 
so as not to interfere injuriously with each other. Except 
“ much variety in little space” is required, it is best to 
have everything in a different place b^ itself. The best 
plan woidd he, to keep the Pines at one end, and the 
Vines at the other, and the latter in large pots and boxes, 
so as to bo easily moved in or out of the house. I pre¬ 
sume, however, our correspondent refers to Vines planted 
out in the usual way, and to be trained, at least partly, 
over the Pines. Some say the Pines are the better for 
a little shade, and so they arc at times ; but the Vines 
shade continuously during their whole period of growth ; 
and Vines, unless in extreme cases, never need shading 
at all -. and if, for a particular purpose, you shade for the 
Pines, you also darken the house for the Vinos. Besides, 
so long as it was considered that Pines could stand un¬ 
injured a comparatively low temperature in winter—say, 
averaging from 40° to 50° in cold weather, then Vines 
could be rested in the same house ; or if the tops were 
taken out, they could be gradually excited again as extra 
heat was gradually given to the Pines ; and thus the buds 
would be regularly swelled and expanded. If the \ incs 
were cither kept constantly in a tropical temperature, or 
brought into it all at once, there would be great danger 
in tlie hands of those not greatly experienced of not 
resting the Vines sufficiently, or getting the Vine-stems 
to swell their buds very irregularly. In such a bouse, 
two Vines on each side, planted near the respective ends, 
would be quite ample; and each of these might be trained 
along about where we have supposed the pathways to be, 
until it met its neighbour in the centre. Each Vine 
would, therefore, be twelve feet long inside the house. 
By a moveable piece in the ends of the bouse, there 
should be no difficulty in putting the plants in and taking 
them out of the house. 'This M ill secure, so far, a resting 
and even a thorough ripening of the n ood; and protection 
in severe weather could easily be given by wrapping 
them up. But, still, if the whole house were kept at a 
high temperature, there would be a difficulty in gradually 
exciting the Vines. 
A gentleman in similar circumstances got over this 
difficulty, and supplied himself with a nice pit for bedding 
plants in winter, and alpines, &c., in summer, in the 
following manner:—Between his span-roofed house and 
the walk round it, u as a width of three feet as a border. 
His side M alls M ere two feet and a half in height outside ; 
and every four feet in the middle of that height M as a 
sliding ventilator six inches deep by a foot in length. 
Instead of Box edging separating the walk and the 
border, a double row of slabs M as placed a foot in height 
three inches apart, and the space between filled nith 
san dust . Above tlie ventilators on the side m alls of the 
house a strong fillet of wood Was placed, and on that and 
the slab wall, uooden covers of a suitable width Mere 
placed ; and thus a pit was formed, useful for many pur¬ 
poses—so useful, indeed, that in a year or two.the slabs were 
removed, a wall and plate of similar height erected, and 
long, narrow, glass sashes substituted, instead of the board 
covers ; the covers being still retained to cover the glass, 
whetL necessary, in very severe n calher. Here bedding 
plants, Ac., are safely kept; and shortly after the Vines 
iiave done fruiting, they are brought out of the house 
and placed along this little pit, to thoroughly harden their 
M ood. The house has a glass division, and the pit lias a 
brick one; so that one end of the house lias the Grapes 
forwarder than the other. When it is desirable to start 
the Vines in one end gradually, they are moistened with 
the syringe, and an increase given to the temperature of 
the pit by opening partly, and regulating, the ventilators 
in the separating Mall. Unless for this purpose these 
ventilators are seldom opened in winter, except in extreme 
eases, to keep the plants in tlie pit safe. In opposition to 
the dogma that heat always ascends, it is found in prac¬ 
tice that tlie heat gels into these little pits well enough. 
There is, therefore, no necessity for placing the Vines in 
the house in a fine day, until the buds have fairly broken ; 
and after that the extra heat M ill not injure them so much. 
The Vines trained longitudinally along the house just 
over the pathways did so well, that the gardener had a 
third Vine to go under the ridge of the roof; but the 
last time I heard of them, the question M as debated, 
whether to leave that Vine alone, and get another place 
for Pines, or remove it; as, since the three Vines Mere 
placed longitudinally in a tu clvc-feet-wide house, the 
Pines bad not done so well, which n'as attributed to the 
shade being too much for them, as was keeping the atmo¬ 
sphere rather dry nhen the Vines were ripening their 
fruit. Previously, from the position of the Vines the 
Pines could be syringed, and even the surface of the 
bed kept moist without much interfering with them. 
But it M T as different when there were Vines in the centre 
