[FEBiltJAK-y, 
28 
ntrolled- 
AND GREENHOUSE- 
THE ZAHZIBAE BALSAM, 
Impatiem Sultani. 
The most attractive novelty introduced 
for many years is this new perennial plant, 
which, although belonging to the Balsam 
genns, is very different from the common 
Lady’s-slipper, resembling in its general 
habit more the Touch-me-not Balsam. The 
plant is of compact growth, and, under 
favorable conditions, astonishingly vigorous. 
The flowers are about an inch in diameter, 
of rich carmine-magenta color, and produced 
in so great a profusion as to nearly cover the 
entire plant. A more easily grown and free- 
flowering plant can hardly be Imagined. It 
may be readily propagated by cuttings or 
from seed. 
Any ordinary good potting soil suits the 
plant; but, when growing 
vigorously, some liquid 
manure should be applied 
occasionally. When grown 
as a house plant, it re¬ 
quires a treatment similar 
to Coleus. For outdoor 
cultoe, a partly shaded 
location and a deep, rich, 
rather moist soil will be 
most favorable. 
The insect enemies lat- 
Quassia and 8“^^® ^as more 
ter proving the better 
The Safrano, 
troublesome. The ~“:^^;;/7emedies 
suffered from it. Th 
sufficed, but caused more t^oiiW 
application than when hot pipes we 
e varieties which did best 
sieur Furtaclo, Safrano, Bon 
came Isabella Sprunt, 
Van Houtte, and Catherine Mei met. 
I should add Souvenir d’un Ami. 
when noi pipe® 
The varieties which did best were Jfo«- 
larie 
Perhaps 
^ ^ The least 
prolific wore Bougeri, Gerard Desbms, Feile 
des Jardins, and Marechal Mel The Bon - 
hons blossomed moderately. 
The connection with laimdry and cellar is 
advantageous, not only because it prevents 
freezing at night, but also on accoimt ot 
moderating the temperatui’e on sunny days. 
It is also self-regulating. The highest tem¬ 
perature is about 85°, the lowest 34°. The 
average day temperature is about 60°; at 
night it rarely sinks below 40°. 
Anson D. Moese. 
INEXPENSIVE WINTEE 
BOSES. 
In April of 1882 I re¬ 
ceived some three dozen 
Tea and Bourbon Eoses, 
all fine plants. A cold 
frame was iraproi’ised for 
their shelter during the 
early spring months, and 
in September a 7x18 
lean-to gi’eenhouse—half 
house and half cellar— 
w'as constructed south of 
the basement laimdry. 
The laundry is connected 
by a door with the fur¬ 
nace-cellar of the house, 
and its ordinary winter 
temperature is 50° Fahr. 
The windows between 
the laundry and greenhouse were removed. 
The latter is, in fact, nothing more than a 
large sunken cold frame, getting its heat, 
when the sun does not shine, from the fur¬ 
nace-cellar through the open door and win¬ 
dows of the laundry. It is provided with 
thick shutters hinged at the bottom. Water 
was introduced by extending one of the 
laundry pipes. Two-thirds of the plants 
were put on benches; the rest in pots. 
Their summer treatment had been unskill¬ 
ful; and still most of them entered their 
winter quarters in a healthful and even vig¬ 
orous condition. 
We were never without Eoses. The buds 
cut in November, the least productive month 
numbered forty. In March, April, and May 
they were very abundant. 
The expense was small. The heating 
cost nothing. It required but little care 
The only irksome thing was opening and 
closing the shutters, and that was incon¬ 
siderable. 
weatner. frosts one would 
suffice to keep the plants safe, and with 
from twelve to twenty degrees of frost, two 
stoves should be need, and a tMrd be 
brought into requisition when the frost ex- 
leds twenty degrees. It is impossible to 
regulate the heat of an oU-stove to any 
considerable extent, and when one powerful 
stove is employed, the heat will be too great 
at one time and insufficient at another. But 
by the an-angement suggested, there will be 
no great difficulty in regulating the heat 
according to the weather outside. 
Complaints are sometimes ma 
stoves giving off . 
but when I have used them I have not had 
any cause to be otherwise than well satisfied 
upon that point. I could, on entering the 
house, at once tell whence the heat was 
derived, but the atmosphere was by no 
means unpleasant. Much, of course, de¬ 
pends upon the way in which the stoves are 
managed,—the essential points being to use 
good oil, to keep the reservoirs weU filled, 
and to trim with as much 
care as a table lamp. 
sometimes made of the 
off an objectionable smell; 
IMPATIENS SULTANI, 
HEATING GEEENHOUSES WITH OIL-STOVES. 
The heating of small greenhouses remains 
still a most vexatious theme with the ama¬ 
teur horticulturist. The experience of a 
correspondent of the Gardener^ Magazine 
with oil-stoves leads him to offer the fol¬ 
lowing advice: 
Oil-stovos have undergone considerable 
improvement of late years, and those offered 
by the leading manufacturers are very effi¬ 
cient, and well suited for keeping the frost 
out of structures of small size. The houses 
for which the stoves are best suited are 
those not exceeding fifteen feet long and 
eight feet wide, as whore larger, a hot-water 
apparatus will be much better. The employ¬ 
ment of very largo stoves with three or four 
burners is not desirable. The bettor coiu-se 
IS to use stoves of medium size with two 
burners, and have two or throe, according 
to the size of the house. For one of thost 
ffiraensions tlu-ee stoves should bo obtained 
and be used according to the severity of the 
PEESEEVING CUT 
FLOWEES. 
“ What shall I do to 
keep my flowers fresh as 
long as possible ?” asked 
a lady to wdiom the com¬ 
pliments of the season 
had just been tendered in 
the shape of a beautiful 
basket of flowers. 
The worst place they 
can possibly be in to keep 
fresh, we replied, is just 
where they are, in the 
dry atmosphere of an air- 
heated parlor, close by 
the register. As they 
have, of course, to remain 
in tliis room, where they 
may be seen to good ad¬ 
vantage, place them as 
close to a w'indow and 
as far from the register 
as possible, but by no 
means open the lower 
sash so as to .allow a cur¬ 
rent of air to pass over 
them; wind or strong 
draft will destroy them 
as effectnally as heat. Keep them sprinkled 
—bedewed, rather—-with cool, but,not icy 
water. An “ atomizer ” is an excellent ap¬ 
paratus for this purpose. During night 
put them in a cool place, but not w’horo 
it freezes, and cover them with a dish-pan 
or any vessel large enough not to touch 
them; an empty bo.x answers the purpose 
very well, or a basket overhung with w 
towels. The object is to keep the atmos¬ 
phere that surrounds them in the mosi 
favorable condition possible to prevent 
evaporation without inducing decay. 
1' or vases and jardinidros in which flowers 
are arranged, clear water is as good as any¬ 
thing. This should bo renewed every day, 
and the flower stems cut off a little with fl 
sharp knife, not broken off or cut with scis¬ 
sors, for those crush the fine tubes of the 
stems, and thereby prevent their power oi 
absorption. "Wilted flowers become quiokl) 
revived by putting them a few minutes ii' 
water as hot as the hand will beai\ 
'Ot 
