THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 4, 1859. 
been permitted to obtain the upper hand, the trees have been 
tilled by it alone; consequently, we cannot help thinking, with 
all due respect, that Mr. Waterton is mistaken on this point.] 
LAPAGERIA ROSEA CULTURE. 
I want some advice about that exquisite climber, the Lapa- 
geria rosea. I saw it planted in a conservatory border at Mr. 
Yeitch’s, of Chelsea, and I have also seen it blooming beauti¬ 
fully over a trellis in a pot about twelve inches wide, and the 
same in depth. 
I have read what Mr. Beaton says at pages 126 and 226, of 
the seventeenth volume, and I confess I do not see how the 
drainage he speaks of as being so necessary is to be had in a 
pan two feet wide and three inches deep. I bought lately a 
“strong seedling” plant, which I find as follows:—It is in a 
pot about six inches wide, and seven inches deep, with fully two 
inches of crock drainage, and the soil is almost entirely black 
peat. On turning out the ball, two whitish roots only, about 
one-eighth of an inch thick, without any fibrous appendages 
(something like the roots of the Agapanthus) are visible, and 
they are not coming to the surface (as your description above 
referred to seems to say), but have passed through the drainage 
to the bottom of the pot. 
The plant consists, above ground, of three stems ; the first is 
very slender, about four inches long, without leaves, and brown 
at the tip; the second, somewhat stouter, is supported by a 
stick, and may be nearly three feet in length. The point of the 
shoot appears to be still growing, but the leaves nearer its base 
are turning brown. The third is just pushing through the soil— 
it is, perhaps, an inch high, but thicker than the other two put 
together. 
I cannot plant it out, as my conservatory has no borders; but 
I can give it a north rafter, or a south rafter, or a place on the 
back wall (south aspect), or a trellis of any kind over the pot. 
Whicii do you recommend ? Shall I repot now, or in the 
spring, and what size of pot or pan shall I use ? 
A day or two since I met with the Scolopendrium, of which I 
sent you a frond lately, in the collection of a friend. It was 
labelled Suprasoriferum, and I find that name in some cata¬ 
logues, but not in Sim’s.—A Country Subscriber. 
[The Lapageria you refer to was one that was planted against 
the back wall of the old half-hardy Fern-house at Kew. The 
house was altered, and the plant had to be taken up and potted. 
The natural way of the roots suggested the flat shallow pan; and 
fiat pans of any size can be drained as freely as a cinder-sifter. You 
saw the one at Mr. Veitcli’s, which we described the week it was 
planted, and you might have told us how it did and how it 
looked. The best Lapageria we have seen is the one we described 
three or four years since in the Heath-house at the Pine Apple 
Place Nursery; it was a planted-out plant. No doubt but some 
of our best plant growers will do this plant in pots, but second- 
rate gardeners never will; and a child might grow it in a 
border in any side or aspect in a cool house. But for the first 
three or four years of good growth Lapageria may be grown in 
a pot as well as in a border, as some extra heat can be thus 
given it for two or three months in the spring, as we have re¬ 
ported from the nurseries. Plants of Lapageria rosea , which are 
as hardy, if not more so, than a Cape Heath, were reported by 
Mr. Beaton last spring as being in the stove along with Alaman- 
das in the Messrs. Fraser’s Nursery, at Lea Bridge — the best 
plant growers in the trade. The plant referred to by our cor¬ 
respondent is still in active growth; a young shoot just rising. 
There are some few fast-growing climbers, which, if they were in 
this condition at the beginning of October, ought to be fresh 
potted even then, but they are few indeed. On the other hand, 
this Lapageria, as compared with our hedge Bindweed, is an 
extremely slow grower; besides which, its roots are very different 
in their power and formation from those of most other climbers, 
save such as are related to Smilax. Indeed, Lapageria is a kind 
of extreme southern Sarsaparilla, with the flowers of the most 
gorgeous of the Peruvian Bomareas ; therefore, very distinct in 
its natural habits from all ordinary climbers. The plant, there¬ 
fore, should not be potted under any circumstances later than 
the middle of August, nor be kept in artificial heat later than 
the middle or end of September. In ordinary cases, however, 
this plant ought not to receive artificial heat after the summer 
sets in warm enough to dispense with fires in stoves and drawing- 
rooms. Keep the frost from it in winter, and at the end of 
February introduce it into stove heat, if there is a stove ; and, 
after six inches of fresh growth are made in heat, pot it afresh, if 
it require it, and keep it in this heat till the end of May, by 
which you will gain two more months to the summer as it were. 
A north rafter in a. conservatory-house will suit it best; but as 
to pole, pillar, trellis, or chains, they are ail the same to all 
climbers. As to the size of the pot or pan, that depends entirely 
on the quantity of roots. One would need to be endowed with 
the spirit of prophecy to be able to tell the size of a pot, pan, 
tub, box, vase, or basket, for any plant without seeing it turned 
out of the pot it is in. Once it is fairly in good growth, Lapa- 
j geria rosea requires an enormous deal of water— say four times 
J more than a Passion-Flower. 
What an odd idea that climbers cannot be planted out in con¬ 
servatories that have no borders, but are paved all round! Why, 
that is just the very best kind of house in which to plant out 
all climbers and trainers—as Camellias, Oranges, &c. 
There are about seventy varieties and sub-varieties of Scolo - 
pendrium vulgare , and your specimen might have been one of 
them; but it was S. vulgare and nothing else.] 
HEATING BY COAL versus GAS. 
The writer is desirous of knowing the comparative cost of heat¬ 
ing a water apparatus by gas and coal. The house is thirty feet by 
sixteen feet, and his object is to keep up a gentle heat night and 
day during the winter and spring months. From the position 
of the house a smokeless fire is desirable. 
What are the best varieties of the Clematis and Passiilora 
tribe for a conservatory ?—A Subscriber. 
[For a house of the size specified, there can be no question 
that coal would be the cheapest, unless the gas were obtained on 
peculiarly easy conditions. The smoke could be avoided being 
seen by lighting the fire early in the morning, and late in the 
afternoon, and using broken coke instead of coal for fuel. There 
would hardly be any smoke after the fire was fairly lighted, the 
fire clear, and the damper placed in, so as to secure a small 
amount of draught. A small hole below the damper in the 
chimney, or even a small opening in the furnace door, would 
help to consume the little smoke made. 
Clematis Sieboldii, and Car idea grandiflora, and Lassijiora 
car idea, raccmosa cosrulea, Colvillii, and edulis. The flowers 
of the latter are not showy, but the fruit is considered a delicacy 
by many.] __ 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
| Glazed Upper Surface of Leaves ( Young Botanist). —The glazing is 
a resinous substance soluble in alcohol, but not in water ; consequently it 
is unpenetrated even by the heaviest rains ; such glazing is not needed 
usually on the under surface. 
Tree for Middle of Lawn (An Old Subscriber). —Without knowing 
the arrangement of the ground, the surrounding trees, the soil, and the 
place where, no one can give reliable advice upon such a point. Added to 
which, tastes differ so much in their admiration of forms. Some admire 
upright growths, others drooping growths. We are of the latter class, 
and if only one tree were admissible, should plant a Cedrus deodar a ; but, 
if not impossible should prefer a group of three, with some Laurustinuscs 
[ around them. 
i Seeds of Pampas Grass ( F. E. C .).—The Pampas Grass is one of those 
j which have the sexes in different plants. We know that the two sexes 
; are in this country ; but we doubt very much whether, supposing the two 
were brought in contact at the right time, our winter season, or our late 
autumn weather, would allow the seeds to ripen. At all events, an acre of 
j Pampas Grass plants all of one sex will not furnish a seed. 
| Twenty Excellent Hoses (E. Mag).- — Hybrid Ferpetuals 1, General 
Jacqueminot; 2, Gdant des Batailles; 3, William Griffiths ; 4, Souvenir dc 
Reine de l’Angleterre; 5, Souvenir de Leveson Gower; (1, Loid Raglan ; 
7, General Simpson ; 8, Baronne Provost; 9, Auguste Mie ; 10, Madame 
Laffay; 11, Madame Masson ; 12, Jules Murgottin ; 13, Duchess of Suther¬ 
land ; 14, Triomphe de l’Exposition. Bourbon .•—15, Souvenir de Mal- 
maison; 10, Armosa; 17, Queen of Bourbons. Yellow ;—18, Gloiro de 
Dijon, tea; 19, Opliir; 20, Devoniensis. 19 is the yellowest and best 
bloomer as a standard. 
Various (A Constant Leader). — Your plant is Sagina procumbens, or 
Procumbent Pearlwort, and would not do as a substitute for Spergulu 
pilifera. The ventilation of your greenhouse is not sufficient, having two 
windows opening in front, and only two small openings at the back near 
the top. All the windows in the front, and four such openings at the back, 
are required. Even then, and with the door open, as the house has a 
south aspect, it will often he too hot in summer. 
Herbaceous P.eonies (Paul Bicaut).— Herbaceous Paconies do not and 
will not all bloom at once. The end of October is the best time in all the 
year to make a new plantation of herbaceous Piconics; and after ten days 
of line weather in March the next best time. The third best time is from 
October to April; and the fourth best is when the tops are six inches high 
in growth. There are six very good ones and no more, unless you take 
1 seedling varieties, of which wc know very little, and we never recommend 
