257 
TUE OOTiAQE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 24, 1860. 
fresh move. These very cold nights do not, last long; and mind¬ 
ing the fire at twelve now and then, instead of ten, need not be 
looked upon as a great grievance. We would prefer clean cinders 
to any thing else for burning in such a place. In a previous 
volume will be found a description by Mr. Fish of a narrow 
greenhouse, but much longer than yours, heated by a very small 
iron stove, and which answered all purposes. The greenhouse 
was attached to the drawing-room up-stairs, and all the plants 
had to be carried out and in through the best apartments; but 
the gentleman and lady made it their hobby, and everything did 
well. In the same number an account was given how two such 
iron stoves were used in a large vinery, and how hundreds, or 
rather thousands, of plants were kept in such a vinery all the 
winter. For such small houses there can be no question of 
small stoves answering. In cold weather vessels of water should 
be placed near them to prevent the air being too much dried. 
Deep sandy loam suits the Cedrus dcodara perhaps best of all; 
but it is not at all particular as to soil, flourishing in stiff loams 
as well as on very light land.] 
TURNING A WASHHOUSE INTO A PLANT 
HOUSE. 
I have a good substantial stone building in my garden used by 
a former tenant as a washhouse. It is 9 feet, by 7 \ feet broad, 
7 feet high, a window facing the east 3 feet square ; also, a good 
fire-grate and boiler. The roof slopes to the south. Would you 
inform me the best use I could make of it for bottom heat, or 
growing plants, &c. ? It has a slate roof which I purpose replac¬ 
ing by glass.— John Clegg. 
[As it is, you might stuff your house full of old Scarlet Gera¬ 
niums and Fuchsias, and open the door on fine days, and shut 
it in cold weather ; and when severe frost have a little fire in your 
grate. If you had a glass roof, you could grow a great many 
things as well as keep them; but if you had the roof fixed, you 
would need a moveable ventilator in it, or else another window 
in the west wall. Did you want bottom heat ? Then, supposing 
the fireplace and boiler are at the end farthest from the door, 
you had best insert two T pipes in the boiler, one near the 
bottom, and one near the top, and have a flow and return pipe, 
—one each side of your house,—and enclose them in a chamber, 
or surround them with brickbats, &c. In either case by 
allowing only a two-feet pathway, you could have a little plat¬ 
form or shelf on each side, two feet nine inches wide; and if 
there were a good draught in the chimney, and it was furnished 
with a damper, you thus might grow many plants. A shelf 
might also be suspended over the pathway, and thus little room 
would be lost. You must, however, bo sure that there is a good 
draught to escape smoke.] 
SUBSTITUTE for the YELLOW CALCEOLARIA. 
BUDDING ROSES. 
I beg to say, in answer to Mr. Robson’s question, that there are 
two excellent substitutes for yellow Calceolarias. In the first place, 
double yellow Marigold, when the right kind can be procured; but 
this is very difficult. 1 obtained them one year from Yiimoin, in 
Paris, and they were quite perfection ; not more than five inches 
high, and a complete mass of flowers, lasting on till very late in 
the season. I have never, however, been able to get them true 
since, though I have tried numerous seedsmen. In a packet I 
do not get more than three or four plants of the right kind. 
Perhaps Mr. Robson may be able to inform me where would be 
the best place to try for them. They make even a better bed 
than Aurea floribunda. 
2ndly. A yellow Pansy, I do not know its name; it was 
given to me by a friend who has used it for years. It formed 
his first line in his ribbon last year, and is really a most charming 
thing. By having a reserved supply pinched back it will keep 
in bloom from March till October. I shall be happy to send 
Mi\ Robson a plant of it if he send me his address. 
I have seen no notice taken in The Cottage Gardener of 
the practice of allowing a shoot of the wild Rose to grow along 
with the budded head. I have found it a capital plan. My 
Roses are far healthier since I adopted it. A bud of the wild 
stock is allowed to grow in advance of the budded variety, and 
draws up the sap through the stem more effectually than the 
bud does. Delicate growers which do not require all the natural 
sap are especially benefited. Some of my Roses were nearly 
dead, upon which I encouraged a wild shoot as close to the head 
as I could get it, and they are now growing luxuriantly. Of 
course this bud must be kept in check, and not allowed to grow 
too rampant. It should only act as a safety-valve; it must not 
take the lead of the budded variety. 
I believe the first person who recommended this practice was 
the Rev. W. Wilcocks, of Chapelizad, near Dublin, an enthusiastic 
Rose-grower; and the best proof of its merit is that the public 
nurserymen, who all sneered at it at first, are now adopting it, and 
growing their Roses with provision for it.—A Subscriber. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
A Special General Meeting of this Society was held on the 
20th instant, at the house of the Society of Arts, John Street, 
Adelphi, for the purpose of electing various candidates who had 
intimated their intention of promoting the formation of the New 
Garden at Kensington Gore, by becoming Fellow's of the Society. 
Rev. L. Vernon Harcourt, V.P., occupied the chair. 
Amongst those elected were—The Duke and Duchess of Man¬ 
chester, Duchess of Buccleuch, Marquis and Marchioness of 
Kildare, Marquis of Westminster, Marquis of Chandos, Earl of 
Derby and Lady Emma Stanley, Lady Overstone, Viscount and 
Viscountess Falmouth, Lady Harriet Vernon, Lady Bclper, Sir 
William and Lady Gomm, the Earl of Dartmouth, Robert Han- 
bury, Esq., M.P., T. Bazley, Esq., M.P., Lady Keating, C. Mor¬ 
rison, Esq., Lady Foley, Lady A. Manners, Gathorne Hardy, 
Esq., M.P., Earl Stanhope, Lord Bateman, Viscountess Boyle, 
Right Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart., Sir Charles 
Locock, Lord and Lady Taunton, Henry Wellesley, Esq., General 
Wylde, W. Jackson, Esq., M.P., J. Bramley-Moore, Esq., F. Hall 
Dare, Esq., the Dean of Canterbury, Lady Chantrey, and up¬ 
wards of three hundred other ladies and gentlemen. 
It was announced that a Special Meeting for the election of 
various members of the Royal Family would take place on the 
31st January. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY—ERUIT 
COMMITTEE. 
A Meeting of the Fruit Committee of the Horticultural 
Society was held at the rooms, St. Martin’s Place, on Tuesday, the 
16th inst. Rev. L. Vernon Harcourt, Vice-President, in the chair. 
Prizes of one pound for the best, and ten shillings for the 
second best dishes, were offered for fruit to be exhibited at this 
Meeting, of the following varieties :— 
Ne Plus Meuris. —In this class there were four exhibitors. 
Those sent by Mr. Moorman, of Clapham, w r ere grown on the 
pear-stock, and w r ere coarse-grained and gritty, without much 
flavour, and with a cold acidity. Vincent Fenn, Esq., of Canter¬ 
bury, sent a dish ; all of which were, in consequence of being pre¬ 
maturely gathered, quite shrivelled, and exhibited no symptoms 
of ever ripening. Those from Mr. Sage, gardener to Lord Howe, 
Gopsall Hall, wei’e coarse-grained, gritty, and with a cold acidity. 
The best were sent by Mr. Ingram, gardener to J. J. Blandy, 
Esq., of Reading, and though coarse-fleshed and gritty, had a fine 
flavour and aroma; and the prize was accordingly awarded to 
Mr. Ingram. In all the other exhibitions the fruit were so in¬ 
ferior in quality, that no second prize w’as awarded. 
Josephine de Malines. —There was only one dish of this 
variety which was sent by Mr. Parsons, Danesbury, near Welwyn, 
Herts. The fruit was very tender and melting, and of a most 
delicious flavour. The first prize was awarded to Mr. Parsons. 
. Similar prizes were also offered for the best and second best 
dishes of any other variety. 
Glou Morceau. —Of this variety there were seven exhibitions. 
Those of Mr. Moorman, from a standard, were not sufficiently 
rich. Mr. Hill, of Keele Hall, sent two dishes ; one from an 
east-aspect, and one from a south-aspect wall. In both cases the 
fruit was too far gone. A very fine dish was exhibited by Mr. 
P. Stoddart, of Wivenhoe Park, near Colchester. The fruit 
w'as largo and handsome, but in every case diseased at the core— 
a condition which is this season remarkably prevalent in this 
variety. Those from Mr. Wm. Merrick, of Breckendonbury, 
Herts, were coarse-fleshed and astringent, and the flavour was 
destroyed by the fruit having been in contact with straw or some 
such material. Those sent by Mr. Shepherd, of Wolverstone 
Park, near Ipswich, were large and handsome; flesh buttery, 
melting, juicy, and well flavoured. From Mr. Sage, of Gopsall 
Hall, a few were pretty good, but the others inferior. 
