5G 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOOIST, 
[Apkil, 
of great merit, being distinct, of fine quality, 
and an extraordinary cropper. Amongst 
Cucumbers we have Cardiff Castle, a wonder¬ 
fully prolific winter sort; Sutton’s Parley Park 
Hero and others. And amongst Tomatos the 
number of new varieties—all good, if not dis¬ 
tinct—is simply perplexing. The following 
may be relied on, viz., Bowerbank's Prolific, 
a large-fruited prolific sort, resembling Trophy. 
Chiswick Red, a selection from Trophy, but 
of an entirely different character, the fruits 
medium-sized, oblong, deep red, and borne in 
great abundance, a very handsome variety, 
Henderson’s Improved Orange, is a very distinct 
and beautiful sort, the fruits smooth, round, 
bright orange, and of excellent quality. What 
of Tomatos twenty years ago in comparison 
with Tomatos of the present! 
CEMENTED PLANT STAGES. 
HEN I rebuilt a portion of my green¬ 
houses five years ago, experience 
had taught me the necessity of pro¬ 
viding something more permanent 
than ordinary boarding for the benches, as it 
is well known that with the ordinarv hemlock 
V 
or pine boards benches will not last more than 
four or five years. All my new benches put 
up at that time, were made with ordinary 
roofing slates, with a covering of half an inch 
or so of cement spread over them. This gave 
strength enough to hold a boy of one hundred 
pounds weight. The bearers we used were of 
yellow pine. These benches cost only about 
twenty-five per cent, more than the ordinary 
board benches; they have now been in use for 
over five years, and look as if they would last 
for fifty years to come. Since then whenever 
any of our old front board benches have given 
way, we have always slates on hand to use in 
rebuilding; but in some of our wide middle 
benches, where it is necessary for men to walk 
on them, the slate is not strong enough, and 
on such we have adopted the plan of spreading 
an inch of cement over the wood, using two 
parts sand to one part cement, which soon 
hardens to be as solid as flagging. 
There is no need of cementing the board 
lienches until they have been in use two or 
three years, as they will not decay before that 
time ; and besides, it is better to have the 
benches well seasoned before putting on the 
cement, so that there will be little expansion 
or contraction. We have old benches that 
were cemented five years ago that are perfectly 
sound. Of course when such benches are 
cemented provision must be made for letting 
off the water. This is usually done by using 
double bearers every eight or ten feet, and 
cutting out a space of an inch or so of the 
boarding so that the water can pass through. 
Any one by this process of cementing can 
preserve wooden benches ten years, and maybe 
longer. Those which we did five years ago 
are yet perfectly sound, and are in every way 
as satisfactory as our slate benches. Any old 
wooden bench showing signs of decay can be 
preserved in this way at trifling expense. 
Every bench in oulr greenhouses to-day is 
cemented either above the boards or above 
slating.— Peter Henderson, New York (in 
Gardeners* Monthly,) 
LES FLEUES DE PLEINE TERRE. 
HAT the book entitled Les Plantes 
Potaifires noticed at p. 34 of our last 
volume, is in reference to culinary 
plants, the volume whose title is 
above quoted is to hardy and half-hardy border 
flowers. Both are issued by the Messrs. 
Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie, the well-known seed 
merchants of Paris. Of the work now under 
notice, a third edition, illustrated by nearly 
1,300 figures of plants, has been published. 
The figures though small are for the most part 
very faithful, and give a good idea of the 
plants represented, while the descriptions em¬ 
body all the principal points which the garden- 
botanist requires to be told, both as regards 
identification and cultivation. 
To this valuable book of reference a supple¬ 
ment has recently been added, comprising the 
novelties of the last few years,* and illustrated 
by 175 new figures. It is prepared on the 
same lines as the original publication, and 
taken with that will be valuable to those who 
read French (in which language it is written) 
as a modern encyclopiedia of the most inte¬ 
resting and ornamental of garden plants and 
flowers, mostly hardy, but embracing also 
some of the more popular and useful of the 
half-hardy and greenhouse class.—M. 
• Supplement aux Fleurs de Pleine, &c., &c. Paris 
Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie, 4 , Quai de la M^■gi8aerie. 1884. 
