368 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Makch. 13, 1860. 
N. Hisfanica ateo-puepurea (dark purple Spanish).—Very 
beautiful. Growing 14 ft. high. 
•CEnotheea bistorta Yeitchii (Yeitch’s evening Primrose). 
_Yellow and crimson. Growing 1 ft. high. Native of Cali¬ 
fornia. Yery handsome. 
Oxyura chryanthemoides (yellow Ox-eye Daisy).—From 
California. \\ ft. high. Yery showy. 
Phacelia tanacetifolia alba (white Tansy-leaved).—A 
beautiful new annual, with finely divided leaves and pure white 
flowers. Growing 2 ft. high. | 
PiiALACRiEA ccelestina (sky blue).—14 ft. high. Native of 
Peru. A new handsome blue annual. 
Picridium Arabica (Arabian).—1 ft. high. Bright yellow. 
May make a good bedding plant. 
*Portulaca attrea striata (gold-striped).—With crimson. \ 
P. Blensoni (Blenson’s).—Light scarlet, new and beautiful. 
Note. — Portulacas are splendid annuals, requiring on the 
surface a compost of lime rubbish, brick dust, and sand to prevent 
them damping off. 
*Solanum Texanum (Texian).—Handsome for its fruit and 
dark foliage. New and beautiful. 
• # Spbaguea umbellata (umbelled).—A fine new annual from 
California. Sown in autumn, it will stand our ordinary -winters. 
The flowers are in close heads, pink, with purple stamens. 
Habit dwarf and spreading. This will be a great favourite, and 
is useful as a pot plant. Height 6 in. 
Trop.eolum majus var. Yellow Tom Thumb. —A dwarf, i 
compact, clear yellow variety. Likely to prove a good bedding 
variety. 
Tropjeolum majus—Tom Thumb Beauty.— Another pretty 
dwarf plant, already commended in The Cottage Gardener. 
Tuckermannia speciosa (showy).—Yellow colour. 14 ft. 
high. From California. Yery showy. 
Yiscaeia oculata alba Dcnnettii (Dunnett’s white).—A 
garden variety. 
Y. oculata coccinea nana (dwarf scarlet). 
Two new handsome varieties of one of the prettiest annuals we 
grow. 
Besides the above, there are some new varieties of Asters, 
Larkspurs, Stocks, and French Marigolds, all worthy of culture 
where there is room for them.—T. Appleby. 
HEATING THE WALTONIAN CASE. 
On reading your correspondent’s excellent article on Waltonian 
Cases, &c., it lias struck me that a lamp I have lately seen in this 
place (Louth), might be very well applied to the Case. The heat 
generated is very great , the trouble connected with it very little, 
and the cost only about one halfpenny and a quarter of a farthing 
for twelve hours. It is called “ the Paraphine Lamp,” and burns 
a spirit something similar to camphine. I have not tried these 
lamps because I use gas ; but I think if Mr. West were to make 
inquiries respecting them, and test their capabilities, it would be 
worth his while.— L. R. Lucas. 
[Mr. West has just tested one of these Paraphine lamps, and 
found it not suitable to heat a Waltonian Case ; there must be a 
glass funnel over it which wastes the heat before it reaches the hot 
water, and one of our readers who has tried the Paraphine lamp 
had to give it up, and sent to Mr. West for his original lamp. 
Mr. Wilson has sent us a box of new night lights, which are 
being now tested by Mrs. Walton and Mrs. West, the two most 
practical gardeners in England for the Waltonian, and we shall 
be able next week to say how far they answer. At present their 
opinion is, that the wicks are only one half the thickness required. 
Mr. Walton sent us the following letter referring to his original 
lamp, the same which Mr. West has been supplying, and Mr. 
Walton’s gardener told us their “Case” is better than any 
common hotbed. He has an abundant supply of manure from 
Mr. Walton’s stables, but prefers the Case for all his propagation, 
and all his plants look most flourishing. The greenhouse is very 
gay, and the frames are full of the most beautiful plants, and all 
propagated in the one original Waltonian Case without trouble. 
“ I was much surprised to see in The Cottage Gardener 
your account of the attempts made to invent a candle for the 
Waltonian Case. What is the objection to the lamp ? I have 
never used anything else. If you wish it, I will have ascertained 
the exact quantity of oil consumed, so as to calculate the expense. 
I am told a pint and a half a-week is the outside. I pay 5 s. per 
gallon for colza oil, probably a high price. That would be lid. 
per w r eek burning the lamp night and day. Can any candles, 
giving proper heat, be made at that price ? 
“ Price’s ordinary night lights are 7 d. a box, and would only 
last (day and night) three days, that would be Is. 2 d. for six 
days only. Surely the light required to heat the box must be at 
least three or four times stronger than the night lights. As 
to the trouble it is a mere trifle, a little care in trimming the 
lamp level, and not too high, is all that is required. My gar¬ 
dener tells me that my lamp, of the simplest form and con¬ 
struction, is trimmed at 6 P.M., and is alight at 6 a.m., and often 
till 8. He has already struck a great number of Yerbenas, 
Petunias, &c., and you may see that some are topped to strike 
again. The only difficulty I have is to find space.—W. H. 
Walton.”] 
THE CANARY AND THE BRITISH FINCHES. 
{Continued f rom page 274.) 
5th.—THE SERIN FINCH (Loxia serinis). 
German , Der Girlitz. French , Le Serin. 
Although this bird is not a native of the British islands 
yet it is not unfrequently imported, and sometimes known as the 
St. Helena Canary, as it much resembles the wild Canary, and 
is so nearly allied to that bird as to be reported to produce fertile 
offspring with it. It will not be advisable to omit its description. 
From the thickness of the bill this species has been classed 
I with the Grosbeaks, though, in other respects, it more nearly 
I approaches the Finches. The only one I have had was a very 
1 old bird that was brought from St. Helena : he was an excellent 
singer, and though not so loud as the Canary, yet his song -was 
sprightly and pleasing. Two were exhibited at the Crystal Palace 
Bird Show in 1858, and one in 1859. 
They are common in the southern parts of Europe, as Spain, 
Italy, Switzerland, and the south of France and Germany. 
In size about that of a small Canary, the beak thick for its 
length, slightly depressed at the sides, and the upper mandible 
rather narrower than the lower. In summer, the beak is dark 
| grey; in winter greyish-brown above and lighter underneath. 
The irides dark clicstnut-brown. 
| The plumage bears much resemblance to that of the Siskin, or 
j a green Canary, being of a yellowish green, darker on the upper 
parts, and more inclining to yellowish beneath. The face is 
1 yellowish, but striped with greyisli-green. 
The back is mixed with greyish, and has longitudinal blackish 
spots ; the covert feathers of the wings are dark edged with green, 
the larger forming lighter bars across the wings; the quill feathers 
of wings and tail incline to black, but having narrow greenish 
borders ; the breast yellowish, and the vent greyish-white. The 
hen is not quite so bright in colour as the cock. 
Bechstein remarks, “ Not only their neat form and liveliness, 
but also for the tolerable strength and sweetness of their untiring 
song cause them to be pleasant cage birds. At liberty the cock 
often sings perched at the top or outer twig of a tree, and, like 
the Woodlark, rises in the air and settles again whence he rose. 
He also sings while flying from tree to tree. The song, on the 
whole, has a great resemblance to that of the Canary’s, though 
there are some notes resembling the Lark’s.” 
The nest is usually built on the lower boughs of apple and 
pear trees j also, on beech trees, and sometimes on the oak and 
alder. It is neatly built of fine roots, moss, and lichen, and 
lined with hair and feathers. The hen lays from three to five 
eggs, which resemble the Canary’s, except that they are slightly 
smaller and whiter. The young are easily reared from the nest, 
and their first plumage resembles the Grey Linnet, though 
nestlings do not become so bright coloured as old caught birds. 
The old ones each year moult lighter, till the underparts get 
almost quite white. They breed freely with the Canary ; also, 
with the Siskin, Rcdpolc, and Goldfinch.—B. P. B. 
DAIRY HUSBANDRY.'* 
The natural occupation of man is tilling the soil, and it is an 
occupation to which he inclines, and for which he lingers, from 
infancy to old age. Whatever may be his occupation he always 
looks forward to that period when fortune will enable him to 
retire from other pursuits to that of cultivating his garden or 
* Handbook of Hairy Husbandry. By J. C. Morton, Edito °f the 
Agricultural Gazette, &c. London ; Longman & Co. 
