THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 10, 1857. .397 
consequently named, in memory of the lady of its noble 
owner, Beaumontia. Since then it has bloomed in many 
parts of England, but nowhere more beautifully, perhaps, 
than at Fixby Park, near Huddersfield, the residence of J. 
P. Edwards, Esq. Here, indeed, the Beaumontia flourishes 
with something of its tropical luxuriance, covering with its 
twining branches a space of not less than nineteen yards, 
its elegant trusses of white flowers contrasting happily with 
its dark green foliage. It is assuredly the most lovely of 
the Apocyneae, and to see the plant as I recently saw it, 
giving promise of seventy trusses of bloom, and with so 
much of health and vigour in its growth, was a treat I have 
but very seldom experienced. 
The same house that contains the Beaumontia is wreathed 
with festoons of the lovely foliage of the Cissus murrnorea, 
while the Hexacentris, from southern India, hangs its 
racemes, gay as the plumage of the scarlet cockatoo, in 
every direction. Some idea may be formed of this splendid 
creeper when it is mentioned that no fewer than ninety 
racemes, in various stages of growth, were visible on the 
plant at one time. The Cissus was covered in the autumn 
with thousands of its vine-like flowers, and the black, glossy 
fruit, like tiny currant grapes, are scattered here and there 
over the whole plant. As I looked on this lovely vegetation 
I could not but admire the nursing care that had accom¬ 
plished such goodly proportions, and contrast, in my own 
mind, such growtli and culture with the stunted and crippled 
growth of those exotics which so often win our admiration 
in floricultiual exhibitions. Any one of the three, could it 
be removed to grace our northern Flower Shows, would 
become “ the observed of all observers.”—P. I. 
MESSRS. WEEKS AND CO.’S SYSTEM OF 
HEATING. 
As an efficient and economical method of heating forcing 
houses is a matter of vast importance to all persons engaged 
in horticultural pursuits, and as I have frequently been 
applied to for my opinion on the matter, I am desirous of 
offering, through the medium of your valuable and widely- 
circulated journal, a few remarks on my own experience of 
the subject, in the hope that they may prove useful to some 
of my fellow-labourers in the art of gardening. 
During the last twenty-five years I have been extensively 
occupied in forcing both fruit and flowers, consequently 
various heating apparatuses have come under my notice, 
some of which have answered well. Since then I have 
had ample opportunity of practically proving the value and 
capabilities of Messrs. Weeks and Co.’s system, and I un¬ 
hesitatingly admit that throughout my experience in the 
business I have never met with any boiler that will approach 
Messrs. Weeks’ in all its various merits. Strongly as it had 
been recommended to me, it considerably exceeds my ex¬ 
pectations now that I see it in full operation. During the 
| late very severe weather we have been enabled to maintain 
| any degree of heat that we required in either or all of our 
| fourteen forcing bouses, containing upwards of 4000 feet 
! of four-inch cast-iron pipe, with a most economical supply 
| of fuel, and at a very inconsiderable amount of labour and 
: attention.— John Sanders, Tedworth. 
TORENIA ASIATICA CULTURE. 
The mere mention of the name Torenia brings fresh to 
my recollection youthful pastimes and associations. Eleven 
years since, in company with one of the loveliest .flowers that 
then existed, I visited the gardens of one of the rich mer¬ 
chants of Yorkshire, and, when walking through the hot¬ 
houses, my attention was drawn for the first time to a well- 
grown Torenia in full bloom. The pot was mounted on an 
ornamental pedestal, which was placed in the centre of the 
front stage of the house. The branches hung pendulously 
over the sides of the pot, which gave it a gracefulness un¬ 
equalled by any of the plants of more erect growth that 
occupied neighbouring stations to it in the same house. The 
gardener, a first-class man of that day, after making a few 
I statements in praise of its beauty and native habits, took 
from it a few cuttings, and placed them in my hands ; and 
on turning to my note-book for that year I find he said, 
“That plant (meaning the Torenia) was in the collection 
which I exhibited against Mr. Paxton (now Sir Joseph 
Paxton) at the Exhibition held in the Botanical Gardens at 
Sheffield.” The cuttings I conveyed to my residence, and 
afterwards potted them with care, and attended to their 
wants with all the skill I then possessed. This was in 
September, and the following year they made good plants, 
and bloomed most profusely; and from that time to the 
present it has been one of my special favourites, and, there- J 
fore, you will pardon me when I offer my remarks on the 
culture of the Torenia in compliment to Mr. Fish for the 
manner in which he has mentioned its name in The 
Cottage Gardener at page 271, and for the many useful 
lessons I have received from the perfectly practical observa¬ 
tions detailed by him on the cultivation of flowers, fruits, 
vegetables, &c. 
Now, as my experience in the cultivation of the Torenia 
Asiatica commenced with raising it from cuttings, I will 
begin my remarks by stating that which I believe to be the 
easiest and most useful method of propagating it, namely, by 
cuttings. 
In March, when the rays of the sun are more vivifying 
than they are earlier in the winter, but do not possess the 
scorching qualities peculiar to the more advanced spring 
and summer months, and when hotbeds are more numerous 
than they are in the two previous months, is, I consider, the 
most suitable time to begin to propagate the more tender kinds 
of plants by cuttings for those persons who have only limited 
means of protecting them at their command; therefore in 
March commence the operation by taking one part sandy 
peat, and a quarter part silver sand; mix them well together, 
and put through a common, sieve; then select a shallow 
seed pan, or, what is still better, a cutting pot, so large as to 
hold the cuttings round the edge, and with a few holes near 
the centre in the bottom; cover each hole with a potsherd, 
so as to allow the surplus water to escape, and afterwards 
about half fill the pan with the soil, and press it down firmly 
with the hands, or with a half-circular instrument made for 
the purpose, and which is superior to the hands, and therefore 
ought to be in the possession of all who love to propagate 
neatly. Having done this, proceed ioito the stove, and from 
the Torenia with a sharp knife take off the ends of the 
branches close below the second joint, so as to preserve the 
leaves, which grow in pairs. The number of cuttings being 
collected, remove them to the potting bench, and take off 
the bottom leaves as near to the base of the cuttings as is 
convenient without injuring them ; or, if the cuttings have 
been obtained from a distance, dress them with care, so 
as to make them all of an equal length, and if possible, 
as already stated, by cutting them below the joint. This 
being done, with a dibble a little thicker than the 
cuttings, and not pointed, but cut straight through at the 
end, insert them round the pot one-fourth of an inch 
from the side, and in placing the cuttings in the holes be 
particular to fix the base of them close to the bottom, so 
as to leave no space for an unnecessary quantity of air to 
lodge in. For want of proper attention to this thousands of 
the more tender kinds of cuttings perish annually. The 
cuttings being properly fixed, fill up to the articulation of 
the leaves with silver sand, raise the pan on three small 
blocks of wood; then water freely, and when it has well 
drained, take and plunge it into a hotbed, the bottom heat 
of which ranges at 80°, and the top heat from 70° to 75°, 
and, if convenient, place over them a propagating glass, 
which will hasten their striking a few days. Nevertheless, if 
it be not convenient to cover them with a glass, they will, 
in the course of ten or fourteen days, have struck root, and 
when it is ascertained that they have struck, count them, and 
take the corresponding number of 60-pots, and place over the 
hole in the bottom of each pot a few small potsherds as 
drainage, and having prepared the following compost, namely, 
two parts sandy peat, one part sandy loam, and quarter part 
silver sand, which must have been heated from 75° to 80°, 
and above half filled the pots with the compost by raising it 
a little on one side, turn the young plants out of the pan, 
and separate them from the ball with care, so as not in the 
least to injure any of the young fibres; place them in the j 
