THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December £7, 1859. 
1S9 
will apply it just to that degree which will save the plants 
b 
e no 
from being drowned and no more, for there can 
doubt about their liking much moisture at all stages of 
their growth, or about their being naturally marsh plants ; 
and we know that all the water and marsh plants from 
the Cape of Good Hope, are more hard)'' than the land 
plants of the same latitudes, but they do not require the 
same kind of soil as they grow in at the Cape. 
T "allota purpurea grows in sheer boggy peat at the 
Cape, and is naturally a marshy plant; but our peat is 
next to poison for it under cultivation. In strong, rich 
loam, and in large pots it does without saucers of water 
during the summer months ; but in small pots, and in old 
exhausted soil, it does far better if it is allowed a constant 
suction from a saucer of water under the pot, and I 
should think either way would suit these Tritomas ; but 
we must keep our eyes and ears open, and learn how Mr. 
Marsham succeeds with his 12-iuch pots. He is nowin for 
it, and he must put us all on the right scent, unless, 
indeed, we shall buy up all his plants, seeds, and seed¬ 
lings. 
Last autumn I said I had some of my flowers of 
Tritoma under experiment for seeding, but I only ripened 
two seeds ; but that was owing to my kind, glaucescens, 
being not a seeder, which I did not know then. I still 
think the plan will be more sure than chance seeding, 
and here it is :—The flowers are disposed on the stalk, or 
scape, in rows, corkscrew fashion, from top to bottom ; 
and the flowering parts of my spikes were about fifteen 
inches long. One-half of this length I cut off when the 
bottom flowers were ready to open—that is, as it were, 
I stopped a shoot to get more strength in the lower buds, 
the lower ones being the strongest and the first to open. 
I then picked out the flower-buds, as I may call them, of 
every other row all round the stalk, that would give ad¬ 
ditional strength and room to the rest. When the flowers 
were ready, I dusted them with their own pollen, which is 
easily done, as both the male and female parts are longer 
than the flower—that is, the stamens and pistil are exserted, 
as the botanists would say ; but all the kinds of Tritoma 
have not the stamens thus exserted—they stand inside the 
tube, or flower, iu some kinds. The point, or pistil part, 
in uvaria is as sharp and slender as the point of a cambric 
needle; it hangs down perpendicularly, and there is a 
large secretion of honey, which drops or trickles down 
and drowns the pollen. Then the first thing to do is to 
shake the stalk sharply every morning, when a shower of 
honey flies about; and after that to blow against the 
pistils to clear off the honey from them ; and in two hours 
after that, they are sufficiently dry not to drown the pollen, 
and so on for weeks, as long as the blooms are fresh. 
All my blooms seemed at first to take, and the seed-pods 
to swell, but that was soon over and they shrivelled away. 
The short of it is, that kind is all but quite barren. A 
whole teacupful of their honey might be gathered every 
morning at Kew, if their flowers were charged as mine 
were ; but mine had ten times more water at the roots 
than theirs, and that may have increased the secretion. 
It will be a grand thing if the different kinds w ill cross. 
Notwithstanding their being so much alike, the effect of 
high cultivation is sure to tell on the size of the flowers 
in the long run; and as there is a punii/a, or very dwarf 
kind among them, the chances are that we shall have 
them of all heights, from a foot to seven feet high. But 
where am I to look for pumila, which is said to be very 
scarce P I must have it, however, if it should come from 
the highlands of Cumberland or Northumberland like 
the true Cyclamen vernum, which came to me from those 
parts. 
k I shall watch the progress of the seedlings with great 
interest; but unless something very different from what I 
modes of treatment. If I ge% them all under my thumb, 
as I hope to get them this next spring, I shall spare no 
pains in trying their powers of cross-breeding; but let no 
one refrain from experimenting on them on that account. 
There is no secret about crossing flowers now, nor any 
nicety or difficulty about performing on these Tritomas ; 
but if any difficulty present itself to any young beginner 
in our family, let him or her write to 162, Fleet Street, 
London, where all difficulties and pleasant dreams are 
welcome, and receive true explanations, for the use and 
guidance of all comers. D. Beaton. 
ORCHAED-HOUSES. 
I have read with attention the remarks of Mr. Errington 
in your last number on orchard-house culture; because, owing 
to his age and experience, all that he, says should be attended to. 
In the case he mentions, the failure must be entirely owing to the 
imperfect ventilation ; for how can a sufficient quantity of air be 
admitted by ventilators “ below the ground level ” with an em¬ 
bankment before them ? 
Your readers may, perhaps, be benefited by a description of a 
light, cheap structure, in which the culture of fruit trees of all 
sorts cannot fail. 
I have recently built a span-roofed house of the following 
dimensions, differing from my other houses, in which I have had 
the most complete success, in being a little higher. 
Length, 60 feet; height at sides, 5 feet; height to ridge, 9 feet; 
width, 14 feet. Tire roof rests on oak posts 5 inches by 3 inches, 
5 feet apart (the usual way of building with brick foundations 
and sills may be employed). It stands north-east and south-west, 
so that the sun shines all the early part of the day on the north¬ 
east, side, and in the afternoon on the south-west side. 
The rafters are 20 inches apart; it is glazed with 16 oz. glass, 
in pieces 20 inches by 20 inches, and has a. row of glass 15 inches 
wide (in pieces 20 inches long placed end to end, without putty 
where they are joined) on each side under the eave-boards. 
Lender the glass, also, on each side is a ventilating shutter of three- 
quarter-inch board one foot wide, on hinges, opening downwards. 
Below this are boards (three-quarter inch) to the ground. The 
two ends are glazed down to the lower edges of the glass at the 
sides. The rafters are 3 inches by 1^ inch, and are tied to¬ 
gether at the apex of the 
roof by a light, flat, iron 
tie fixed to every fourth 
rafter (it is in this form 
with six screws). Besides 
these ties, and to prevent 
the posts going out, three oaken spurs are fixed to three of the 
posts on each side. This may seem, in print, a homely structure, 
for there are no sashes, the roof is fixed; but it is really a light 
and most cheerful-looking house. 
Now as to ventilation. There are no apertures in tire roof, for 
I have long since found my houses perfectly ventilated without 
them. The shutters are, as it will be seen, 2 feet 9 inches from 
the ground. In sunny weather the air in the house, from the 
great quantity of sunlight admitted by the large pieces of glass, 
becomes soon’ rarified ; and then the comparatively heavy cool air 
from without enters nr two cont inuous currents. I his, of course, 
soon becomes warm and light, and ascends to the apex ol the 
roof rapidly through the leaves and branches of the trees, which 
are placed on, or planted in, each border ; for in this description 
of house the path is two or three feet wide—which may, or may 
not, be sunk two or three inches according to choice—is in the 
centre, and the borders for the trees are on each side. It may 
seem strange that no egress for the heated air should be in the 
roof, and not quite as it ought to be ; but I deal only with the 
result of much experience, and find that by simply leaving a tri¬ 
angular aperture nine inches deep close under the apex of the 
roof and over the doorways at each eud, that no stagnant air 
ever exists in my houses. The heated air rushes out at each end 
rapidly enough almost to turn a small windmill, when the sun 
shines brightly the leaves of the trees are all in motion, and no 
scorching takes place. This low side-ventilation is so perfect that 
70 feet long and 20 feet wide, the only ven- 
_ , ... , in two largo lionises 
anticipate be revealed in tfieir progress, there will be little | tilators are in shutters 1 foot wide, on each side, about 
more to say on the subject till all the species and varieties 
are collected together, and subjected to the process of 
cross-breeding by different individuals under different 
each side, about 2 feet 
6 inches from the ground. One of these houses is heated by hot 
water all the summer for the culture of young I iues and Figs, 
yet no scorching ever occurs. I last season had one of my 
