122 
THE FLOKIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[August, 
and are solely devoted to the cultivation of 
ornamental plants for the decoration of the 
interior of the Imperial Palace, it appears 
from a statement in the Gardeners' Chronicle 
(n. s., xix., 118) that the most important and 
most extensive department is that consisting 
of plants with ornamental foliage, in which 
the principal feature is the cultivation of 
luxuriant specimens in comparatively small 
pots. This is effected by rapid propagation, 
careful attention, and the judicious use of 
liquid manure. The masterpieces of all arc 
the handsome specimens of Palms. Beautiful 
Palms are seen in other gardens, hut nowhere 
else such fine plants in such small pots or 
tubs. Palms having trunks from 5 to 30 feet 
high, crowned with healthy foliage, are grown 
in tubs that are scarcely wider than the 
diameter of the trunk itself at the base. For 
the winter decoration of the palace thousands 
of plants, including Palms 30 feet high, have 
to be moved to and fro; and the smaller the 
pots the easier, of course, the transport. 
When the Palms are repotted, the roots 
are cut away from the bottom and sides of 
the ball without mercy, and after the opera¬ 
tion the plants are placed in a moist shady 
house, in which a high temperature is main¬ 
tained. Here they are kept and syringed once 
a day until they have formed new roots. 
Under this treatment the plants lose no leaves. 
After they become well rooted, repeated doses 
of manure-water are applied in the place of 
larger tubs.—M. 
LANDRY’S VAPORISER. 
T page G5 we printed some remarks on 
the plan proposed by M. Boizard, of 
destroying insects on plants by means 
of nicotine vapour—the vapour of 
tobacco juice. But to obtain the vapour we 
need a vaporiser, and this is supplied by the 
utensil of which we annex a figure taken from 
the Revue Horticole, where M. Carriere ob¬ 
serves that the effect of this insecticide is 
incontestable, and the method of procedure of 
the simplest kind, inasmuch as to obtain the 
vapour it is only necessary to heat the tobacco 
juice in a suitable vessel. A simple chafing 
dish, with a vessel to contain the nicotine 
suffices, but a special utensil, such as M. 
Landry’s, is more convenient. The following 
is a condensation of M. Landry’s descrip¬ 
tion :— 
The apparatus is made of three principal pieces, 
the stove, the lamp or chafing dish, and the vessel or 
boiler. The stove, which is 7} in. wide and 12 in. 
high, is of iron and cylindrical in form, with two 
handles, sheathed by wood, to protect the hands 
when it is lifted from place to place. The lamp, 
which stands on the bottom plate, is introduced by 
means of an opening at one side; it is of white 
metal, and fed with wood-spirit (esprit de hois). 
The boiler is made of copper, and is spherical in 
form, composed of two pieces soldered together hori¬ 
zontally, so that a little edge or rim is formed which 
lodges on the top of the stove. The lower half of 
the boiler is thus contained within the stove, hanging 
at a convenient level to be acted on by the flame 
of the lamp, and the upper half is exposed ; on this 
upper part there is at top an opening for the in¬ 
troduction of the liquid, which opening can be 
closed by means of a brass screw top, or as effectually 
and more economically by a cork; and beside it is a 
tube for the emission of the steam or vapour, and to 
which when required can be attached a short flexible 
india-rubber tube provided with a nozzle to facilitate 
its introduction into a frame or glass case. 
The capacity of the little vessel or boiler is about 
21 quarts, but it is not necessary to put in more 
than one quart of the nicotine, and twenty minutes 
will suffice to convert this latter into vapour, the 
hourly expenditure being somewhat under J of a quart 
of liquid. The lamp, which contains about a pint, 
consumes per hour nearly £ of a quart of the wood- 
spirit. When the whole is in order a quarter of an 
hour suffices to fill with vapour a glass case (vitrine) 
measuring about a cubic meter. 
This apparatus has nothing absolute in its form or 
its dimensions, since any kind of chafing dish, or any 
kind of vessel adapted for the purpose can be used; 
but the utensil here described fulfils the necessary 
conditions advantageously. 
We must now point out the manner of procedure 
to arrive at good results. Although the nicotine 
steam does not injure the vegetable tissues, it may 
be noted that it is a good plan to dilute nicotine 
with at least half its bulk of water. There is not 
only economy in doing so, but the vapours of nico¬ 
tine and of water combined act almost as energeti¬ 
cally on the insects as that of pure nicotine, and do 
not in the least affect vegetation. On the other 
hand, as water has a greater tendency to evaporate 
