THE ELOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



41 



hot-yir chamber flakes oif, and falls on the 

 lamp, so that in these respects the case is 

 self-acting, and cleanses itself. 



To set the case to wort, we have first 

 to fill the tray with silver-sand, which must 

 be moderately damp ; then fill the boiler, 

 which holds two quarts, by means of the 

 tube C ; then lower the tray into its 

 place in the case, lit the flue-pipo E over 

 the hole D ; trim and light the lamp, and 

 wait for the result. As a matter of course, 

 a gentle heat is soon perceptible ; and if 

 the case is filled with pots stocked with 

 seeds or cuttings, this heat is commu- 

 nicated to them from the bed of damp 

 sand, and a temperature of from 70^ to 90"" 

 may be commanded at pleasure. 



Now wliat is the use of such a con- 

 trivance? It will do everything that we 

 employ a dung-bed for — raise seedlings 

 of every kind of tender plants, whether 

 cucumbers and celery for the kitchen- 

 garden, half-hardy annuals for the borders, 

 greenhouse- seeds for the greenhouse, the 

 conservatory, and the window ; and, in the 

 way of cuttings, strike almost anything to 

 a certainty. Suppose you have half-a- 

 dozen old geraniums, a few fuchsias, cal- 

 ceolarias, mimulus, a pinch or two of seed 

 of half-hardy bedding plants, you have 

 only to get your pots ready, prepare some 

 light compost with a good admixture of 

 silver-sand, and set cuttings and seeds to 

 work with heat and moisture. In gera- 

 niums every joint will make a plant, whe- 

 ther there is a bud visible or not. You 

 have only to stick them in round the 

 insides of small pots, letting every cutting 

 touch the pot ; sprinkle silver-sand over 

 the soil in the pot, keep all moist and at 

 75", giving air occasionally; and out of a 

 few old geraniums you may manufacture 

 hundreds of young healthy plants. I have 

 for four years past used the Waltonian 

 case to strike geraniums, pansies, fuchsias, 

 calceolarias, salvias, chrysanthemums, pe- 

 tunias, verbenas, seedlings of choice aqua- 

 tics ; besides melons, cucumbers, celery, 

 tomatoes, asters, Thunbergias, Cobeas, 

 Delphiniums, balsams, and no end of other 

 tender things — all in the same case, where 

 they have been steaming and growing be- 

 side me in my study, and calling for no 

 more attention than one is obliged to give 

 to half-a-dozen flowering plants in pots 

 when committed to the window. 



By reference back to page 198 of last 

 year's volume, the reader will find some 

 rather full instructions on spring propa- 

 gation, which would be unwise to repeat 

 here. All we have to do with now is the 

 management of the case. There is one 



thing that demands first mention under 

 this head, and that is, the management of 

 the lamp. Since I figured it, and described 

 the Waltonian case, in Rustic Adornments, 

 Garden Favourites, The National Maga- 

 zine, and other works, hundreds have taken 

 to its use, and many, who could never 

 before in their lives succeed in striking 

 cuttings, have accomplished it by means of 

 this ingenious instrument. Among the 

 many letters I have received respecting it, 

 the greater part were written expressly to 

 ask me how I managed to make the lamp 

 burn from twelve to fifteen hours, and the 

 only answer I can give is the simple word 

 "management." The lamp is somewhat 

 of a study, though a minor one. At first it 

 bothered me as it bothers others ; it made 

 a tremendous smoke, went out in a few 

 hours, and created a great deal of mess. 

 Now I can keep it burning for twelve 

 hours certain, with no soot, no excess of 

 heat, and with an addition only once a-day 

 of fresh oil. A servant of ours, to whom 

 on the days when I am away .the case 

 is entrusted, can manage it as well as 

 I can, though at first, in spite of the 

 plainest instructions, she was as awkward 

 at it as a plough-boy. The lamp is made 

 of tin, 5 inches deep, and 5i inches in dia- 

 meter; the wick-tube is also of tin, fitting 

 in with a screw to a half-inch orifice in the 

 centre. There is nothing peculiar about 

 it ; it is a common affair, made after the 

 oi'dinary fashion of any other tin lamp for 

 oil, only that it is of a good size, and 

 twelve or fifteen hours' burning does not 

 exhaust it much of oil. The whole manage- 

 ment turns on the trimming. Leave the 

 cotton wick an inch long, and you have an 

 enormous flame, too much heat, an awful 

 quantity of soot, and it goes out in an 

 hour. Have the wick too loose, and simi- 

 lar accidents will happen. It must there- 

 fore be tight in the tube, and cut over 

 close and neat — an eighth of an inch is 

 plenty ; then you have a clear light, no 

 smoke, and may leave the affair to itselt 

 for one working day at least. Nothing 

 but practice, however, will enable the pos- 

 sessor of a case to conquer the little difii- 

 culty as to the light ; but on this turns 

 the whole question of success or failure, 

 for the heat must be constant, and the 

 great advantage of such a mode of heating 

 is, that it requii'cs so little attention when 

 you are used to it. 



Another matter of importance is, to 

 keep the sand always damp. When I fill 

 up the boiler, I use hot water, and allow 

 some of it to run over into the sand ; 

 when the sand is nearly dry again, I take 

 c2 



