THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 26, 1860. 
107 
flooring tiles, or pavings. The joints to be well cemented, par¬ 
ticularly finishing the same and sides to permit no transpiration; 
as by allowing the least admission of vapour (steam), the object 
in view is destroyed. 
According to the size or sort of pots or pans, so must be 
determined the distance of the floor from the glass by measuring 
with either of the above in front, allowing for thicknesses of 
timber, &c., used; the whole to be slightly falling to a front 
corner. When watered, the water draining there to be let out by 
a pipe. 
The object is to attain, in the most simple manner, a close 
steamless box or frame. No matter how strong the material for 
heating may be, it requires no preparation. A caution as to 
quantity only to be determined by the heat within, which, when 
kept closed, should never exceod 60°; 55° being preferable, and 
to be kept regular. 
Independent of its use for spring bedding-out cuttings, it will 
be found equally useful for stove or greenhouse cuttings. This 
being the season when pits can best be spared, this also is the 
best season for making the above; the joints will then become ' 
well set and properly hardened to resist the pressure and pene¬ 
tration of the steam contained in the hollow pit enclosed below. 
A singular freak in the fungi division of the vegetable kingdom 
has grown here in the Musliroom-house this season—it being one 
entire Mushroom growing out of and upon the back of another; 
the stem of the upper one growing up exactly from the centre of 
the upper surface of the cap of the lower one. The lower or 
bottom one was 3i inches in diameter; the upper one 2J- inches, 
with footstalks upon each firm and entire. The very curious 
occurrence described and illustrated in The Cottage G audeneii 
before—viz., a Mushroom with the gills growing upwards upon 
the upper surface, I have also seen here this season, but not so 
large as the one illustrated.—W. Eauley, Gardener , Digswell 
House, Welwyn, 
PLANTS FOR A AVINDOW GREENHOUSE. 
I have just had a small greenhouse, quite a toy, built as a 
lean-1 o against the house, and opening from a staircase window 
facing cast. I am very anxious to have two of the very best 
climbers for my purpose to grow against the greenhouse-wall 
(i.e., the wall of the dwelling-house). I do not care for beauty 
of flower so much as for perfume, and of this I wish these two 
climbers to furnish me all the year round; ono must do the 
work in summer, and the other in winter. There are two irou 
rods in it; supports I suppose. From these I would hang 
baskets with trailers. Can you tell me of four good ones ? 
The house is 14 feet by 8 feet; height 13 feet to 7 feet.— 
Feanciscea. 
[We know of nothing sweeter in winter and spring than Caly- 
canthus pracox,or what is generally called Chimonanthusfragrans, 
and with the protection of such a house, the flowers will come j 
early in winter. It must, however, have plenty of air in sum- ] 
mer. If the temperature at the end of the house is for long 
periods as low as 40°, Heliotropes will suffer, if not kept rather 
dry. We would prefer instead, Mandevilla suaveolens. For a 
hardy neighbour to the Calycanthus, though not so hardy, and 
though not a climber, we would prefer for scent the Sweet- 
scented Verbena ( Aloysia eitriodora). AYhen once established 
and spurred back in winter, it will begin to break early in spring. 
The younger shoots will bo delightful; and in summer, if allowed, 
they will be terminated with spikes of bloom—not at all interest¬ 
ing, however. The leaves are the charm. For hangers we would 
recommend— Hibbertia grossularicrfolia, Sax'fraga sarmentosa, 
Tradescantia zebrina, and Cactus flag ellifor mis. If you wished 
summer-flowering plants, then you might have Maurandyas, 
Lophospermums, Lobelias, &c. The gas stove will do, if the gas 
fumes escape outside, by pipe, &c., if large enough.] 
ORIGIN OF THE POLYANTHUS, COAVSLIP, 
AND PRIMROSE. 
Will you inform me how the Polyanthus was originally pro¬ 
duced? and whether the common Cowslip, transplanted from 
the fields into a rich soil, will ever turn to the rich colour of a 
Polyanthus, and if so how it ought to be managed ? 
How may the common hedge Primrose bo made to change its 
colour and become variegated ? 
How may the Primulas we liavo in pots be propagated and 
increased—whether by seed or by dividing the roots?—A n 
Ignoeamus. 
[We have no knowledge of how the Polyanthus originated ; 
but it is quite certain that it, and the Cowslip and Primrose, are 
different forms of the same flower. Tho lion, and Rev. Dean 
Herbert says, in the “Trans. Hort. Soc.,” vol. iv., p. 19, that he 
raised from the seed of one umbel of a highly-manured red 
Cowslip a Primrose, a Cowslip, and Oxlips of the usual and other 
colours ; a black Polyanthus, a hose-in-hose Cowslip, and a 
natural Primrose, bearing its flowers on a Polyanthus stalk; and 
from the seed of the hose-in-hose Cowslip he raised a hose-in-hose 
Primrose. He was a most correct observer. But you can do 
just the same with or without crossing ; but you cannot change 
colour but by raising seedlings. To increase individual kinds the 
only means is by dividing the roots early in March, or oftener, as 
Mr. Beaton propagated his yellow one, if you are expert enough.] 
ANEMONE PULSATILLA. 
Ie I were in my early home, as in days gone by, I would send 
“ Rustic Robin” hundreds of plants of the Anemone pulsatilla 
(Pasque Flower), which abounds about nine miles from Cam¬ 
bridge, on the “Little Sand Hills” between the village of Hil- 
dorsham and town of Linton. They formed in the early spring a 
most lovely purple carpet on those little hills. It was a favourite 
amusement in our childhood to walk to the spot where they used 
to grow, armed with trowels and baskets, to bring home plants 
for our garden. But alas ! I must confess they never remained 
so lovely as in their native state. Cultivation spoilt them, as 1 
am so old-fashioned as to think it does many other things, and 
they always grew too large.— Old Times. 
THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 
(.Continued from page 169.) 
Cuttings for multiplying any individual may in general be 
taken either from the stem, branch, or root, and are, in fact, 
grafts, which, by being placed in the earth—a medium favourable 
to the production of roots, expend their juices in the formation of 
radicles instead of aiding the stock to effect that development of 
vessels necessary for their union to it had they been grafted. A 
due degree of moisture and warmth in the soil is all that is ab¬ 
solutely required from it by cuttings, for theso will often produce 
roots if placed in water only. That warmth and moisture pro¬ 
mote the production of roots is proved by these being so fre¬ 
quently emitted by the stems of A T ines in a stove. 
The time for taking off cuttings from the parent plant for pro¬ 
pagation is when the sap is in full activity, the vital energy in 
all its parts is then most potent for the development of the new 
organs their altered circumstances require. Well-matured buds 
are found to emit roots most successfully, and apparently for the 
same reason that they are least liable to failure when employed 
for budding,—viz., that being less easily excitable, they do not 
begin to dovelope until the cutting has the power to afford a due 
supply of sap. Therefore, in taking a cutting it is advisable to 
remove a portion of the wood having on it a bud, or joint, as it is 
popularly called, of the previous year’s production. 
Many plants can be multiplied by cuttings with the greatest 
facility, but others only with the greatest difficulty, and after 
every care has been taken to secure to the cutting every circum¬ 
stance favourable to the development of roots. 
Those plants which vegetate rapidly, and delight in either a 
moist or rich soil, are those which are propagated most readily 
by this mode, and such plants are the AVillow, Gooseberry, and 
Pelargonium—a budded section of these can hardly be thrust 
into the ground without its rooting. 
Cuttings of those plants which grow tardily, or, in other words, 
form new parts slowly, are those which are most liable to fail. 
These are strikingly instanced in the Heaths, the Orange, and 
Ceratonia. 
A rooted cutting is not a new plant, it is only an extension of 
the parent, gifted with precisely the same habits, and delighting 
most in exactly the same degrees of heat, light, and moisture, and 
in the same food. 
A cutting produces roots either from a bud or eye, or from a 
callus, resembling a protuberant lip, which forms from the albur¬ 
num between the wood and the bark round the face of the cut 
which divided the slip from the parent stem. 
