8 
AND 
GREENHOUSE. 
SElEOTIOir OF HOUSE PLANTS. 
Select fresh, healthy plants for winter 
culture, for they will repay all the labor you 
bestow upon them by bright flowers. The 
old Greraniums, Heliotropes, Fuchsias, etc., 
which have flowered all summer, will be of 
no value for window gardening, while young 
plants will soon be covered with buds and 
flowers. Small plants in small pots are far 
more desirable for house culture than large 
plants in such cumbrous pots that it requires 
a man’s strength to move them. 
There are several winter flowering Fuch¬ 
sias which will continue to bloom from Octo¬ 
ber until May, in beautiful luxuriance, if you 
will only give them a spoonful of “ Soluble 
Pacific G-uano” once in two or three weeks, 
or give it in a liquid form by dissolving a 
table-spoonful of it in three quarts of hot 
water. It will also destroy the white worms 
which are so apt to infest the soil of plants 
that have not been repotted frequently. At 
least, it proved an antidote with me last 
season. But if it does not exterminate them, 
take a piece of unslacked lime as large as a 
man’s fist, and slack it in hot water in an old 
pail, and when the lime has sunk to the 
bottom, water the plants with it, and it will 
make their foliage luxuriant and destroy 
worms of all kinds. The lime can be used 
over several times. 
Tea Roses, if well treated, make lovely 
plants for winter. Pm’chase well-rooted 
plants of Bon Silene, Safrano, Bella, and other 
varieties, and put them close to the glass 
and stimulate weekly with weak liquid ferti¬ 
lizers; ora Jacqueminot Rose which bloomed 
in the summer may be taken up and potted in 
an eight-inch pot, with the richest compost 
made friable with sand or sharp grits ; cut 
back all the old wood and pull off every leaf 
and place it in a frost-proof window, but 
where the sun shines in well, and you can 
force as handsome rose-buds as the florists. 
For a small amount of money a collection 
of winter-flowering plants can bo procm’ed; 
and though they will neither feed nor clothe 
the body, yet they will minister to the needs 
of the soul, which sometimes hungers, thirsts, 
and shivers, while the body is luxuriously 
fed, and clothed in fine raiment. 
Daisy Eyebright. 
A CHEAP HEATING APPAEATUS. 
We have occasional “ cold snaps ” here in 
South-eastern Tennessee, when the temper¬ 
ature goes down to zero. So ^jits havo to 
accommodate the greenhouse plants ; but as 
soon as those are cared for, human nature 
wants winter bloomers, and a greenhouse with 
a stove becomes necessary. I have a modest 
attempt at such a building, 13 x 6 lean-to, 
being the end of a “porch” or “veranda.” 
It is heated by a remarkably cheap and 
effective apparatus. I secured an old coil 
cdscarded from the blast-furnace here at 
scrap price. The coil is of inch iron pipe, 
and is 18 inch diameter, and has four turns. 
Originally, it had several more turns, but 
they leaked, so I cut out the sound portion. 
The grate is 8 inches in diameter. The pipe 
is built in and carried up to 2 feet 6 inches 
the AMERICAN 
above the flue, as s 
The upper end of t^coU ,oj,ducted 
inches wide, running under the 
into a zinc- 
S benci" ^tI; suggestion of K. C^e m 
your October number, that if • PP ^ 
pipe is carried to the e^veme end^of ^the 
tank atTetiral for may commence sufficientty early to pioflh;; 
circulation, is a p y ijottom j flowers as soon as possible, it being on th. 
ALLAMAIfDA.. ’ 
A genus of beautiful ®ffnibing’.g|^ 
natives of Central and South Amerio^i^^ 
havemostlyrichgolden-eoloredfloweiB'ii^T 
are very showy. A large, 
being a splendid sight when well 
either on a flat trellis, or in a PyiMniSgj 
form. To start in the spring they reqnj^ 
warm temperature, which should be 
not later than March, so that their growth 
if the return-pipe is taken from the 
of the tank, and the flow put in just undei 
water level at the top, the hotter water m 
float on the cooler water in the most perfect 
. Plunge your hand, as I have done 
e writing the above, into the water after 
way, 
since 
the fire has been lit an hoiu’; try it with the 
thermometer 108° Fahr. on the surface ; at 
6 inches depth the water begins to fall, at 
7 inches depth it is 60° Fahr.] 
Our tank holds over 100 gallons, and the 
night before, when the thermometer outside 
stood 18° Fahr. and a stiff north wind blow¬ 
ing, the fire was lit at 4.30 P. m. and never 
looked at till 9 a. m. next morning—Poin- 
settias. Coleus, and similar tender plants all 
right. The fuel used are coke screenings, 
which here and at all furnaces using coke 
are thrown away—so cost only hauling. 
The cost of the entire arrangement is as 
follows: 
Plank and zinc lining. 
Piping and fittings . .. 
Brick work. . 
Labor In fitting up . . 
Extras, say. . 
. l.DO 
Total . r- 
.. 
flio maintenance 
f the fire IS but a minimum, and the heat i 
steady and reliable enough for ordinary 
poses. 
The 
IS 
pur- 
cost of fire per day is ou 
braise, costing two cents hauling. Can 
one beat that ? ^ 
one bushel 
any 
Wm. M. Bowrom. 
points of the young shoots that the flowerg 
are produced. 
A soil composed of equal parts of gooj 
fibrous loam and leaf mold, with a sprinHlng 
of well-rotted manure, is most suitable. As 
the plant requires an abundance of water 
during its growing season, thorough drainage, 
to allow the water to jiass off freely, is a nec¬ 
essity. In fact, all plants of a strong, vigorous 
nature which require an abundance of water 
at the roots should be well drained; it is 
imperative for their health that the water 
passes off freely. A plant can scarcely get 
too much water if well drained; but if at 
fault in this respect, the roots may get com¬ 
pletely destroyed in a short time. 
The no-drainage system in the culture of 
plants is only suitable with small plants 
growing in small pots, and in these only for 
a short time. All plants which are to remain 
for any length of time in the same pots, un¬ 
less well drained, will soon show the bad 
effects unless considerable care is taken in 
watering. 
I believe in pressing the soil around the 
roots of the Allamanda as firmly as possible. 
Unless this is done, the flowering season is 
not so long, nor are the flowers so numerous. 
After potting, place in the warmest part of 
the greenhouse, freely use the syringe over¬ 
head to encourage growth and prevent in¬ 
sects. Train the shoots as they grow into 
some suitable form and in such a manner as 
to present the most pleasing effect. For an 
exhibition plant, the pyramidal form is the 
most appropriate, as it shows the flowers to 
the best advantage. Toward fall, when the 
plant becomes exhausted and the flowers 
are less abundant, lessen the water supply 
gradually, and ripen the wood as well as 
possible, after which the plant may remain 
in a greenhouse until starting time, with 
just sufficient water to keep the wood from 
shriveling. 
A. Hendersoni is the most handsome 
species in cultivation. It is not such a 
straggling grower as some other species; it® 
flowers are of a rich, deep orange color, pr®" 
duced in great abundance. Young plants, 
when well oared for, bloom freely. 
A, Schottii is a strong growing kind, pW' 
ducing large, bright yellow flowers. Tt® 
growths of this species, when young, should 
be pinched back, which gives a more com' 
pact habit to the plant. 
A. nerifolia. The hardiest species of the 
genus, a native of Brazil, of a bushy habit, 
producing a panicle of deep yellow flower®* 
not only from the end of the shoots, butal®® 
from the laterals. The individual flo_we>'® 
are not so largo as the aforementioned 
but more numerous. It is a plant well worth 
of being in every collection, and never f*h® 
to excite admiration. 
All delight in a warm, moist atino8l4l^ *’ 
and are propagated by cuttings. 
M. 
