168 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



crack instead of a thin skin over it — his work 

 would have been done for all time. Again, there is 

 the man who is always having trouble with his cis- 

 tern. He has nine-inch brick work, all laid in 

 cement, and he has a quarter of an inch thick of 

 cement all over the bricks, but he was " cheated 

 sir, in that cement. It must have been badly 

 adulterated to leak as it is always doing." That 

 man will never learn, but the one who profited 

 by his first bad experience that leakages were 

 from two causes — the one from porosity, and 

 the other from unequal contraction, will. He tries 

 to make the coating thoroughly dense, so as 

 to close every pore, the thinner the better, be- 

 cause there would be less likelihood of unequal 

 contraction in drying. So the next time he does 

 not care whether the bricks are in cement or 

 not. or whether there be any bricks at all as long 

 as there is some rough surface to dash his cement 

 against. Then he puts his cement made with 

 water, as thin as cream, and works it with a 

 plasterer's trowel till every particle of air is 

 pressed out, and then he has a surface of cement 

 as hard and as smooth as polished glass. In- 

 deed he learns that unless he could almost see 

 to shave in the wall of his cistern, the work has 

 been very poorly done. 



These illustrations will show what sort of 

 genius is required to be a successful gardener, 

 and the illustrations themselves may be practi- 

 cally useful at this season, when one is thinking 

 of greenhouse building and similar garden 

 work. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



ATTENDANCE ON STEAM BOILERS. 



BY A. B. FOWLER, EXETER, N. H. 



In response to "Wm. H. B.'s " queries, I would 

 say that the fires in a steam apparatus may be 

 left oyer night. Steam may be carried up or 

 down at pleasure if certain rules are followed — 

 and the temperature of the steam pipes is not 

 changed. 



Providing the boiler be large enough a dwell- 

 ing house may be heated from the same boiler 

 as the greenhouses. I should not advise placing 

 the boiler in the greenhouse. Do not imagine 

 that a threshing machine boiler would be of 

 sufficient capacity to do much heating. 



The pressure of steam required is from one to 

 five pounds. Regarded from an economical point 



of view, steam may be carried from 200 to 300 

 feet with but very little loss; if the pipe be well 

 covered, and the pressure increased, it may be 

 carried much further. I trust the above answers 

 will enlighten "Wm. H. B." 



CULTURE OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM, &c. 



BY JOHN WOODING, PENCOYD, PA. 



This subject seems to have laid dormant for 

 some time. I have seen no mention of it in the 

 Monthly of late until a recent issue, February 

 number, page 38. I believe in that writer's 

 method of cultivation. If well grown plants and 

 a profusion of bloom is wanted, it is necessary 

 that the cuttings should be rooted early and the 

 plants as far advanced as possible, and before 

 their growth is arrested by the hot weather. 

 They do best in a moderate temperature. I saw 

 the Chrysanthemums grown at the Horticultural 

 Hall, Fairmount Park, last Fall. They were 

 beautiful, in good variety, and well grown plants. 



This class of plants is thought a good deal of 

 in England. They are cultivated extensively on 

 first-class places, and are also raised on a smaller 

 scale by many of the working people who take 

 a special pride in them. 



Chrysanthemum shows are held every year in 

 the neighborhood of London, and the gentlemen's 

 gardeners devote special attention to their care, 

 as it is an inducement for them to try their best 

 to beat their neighbors. The prizes offered for 

 the best grown plants run from one pound to 

 three pounds ten — five to eighteen dollars. I 

 attended a Chrysanthemum show at Kingston 

 on Thames, Surrey, two years ago last November. 

 T think there were about twenty- five gentlemen's 

 gardeners exhibited plants there, and also two 

 or three noted nurserymen attended with plants 

 and made a fine display. The rules of the Chry- 

 santhemum Society do not allow nurserymen to 

 compete with gentlemen's gardeners there. 

 They exhibit as a class by themselves. 



The leading varieties at that time, which took 

 first prizes were large flowering George Glenny, 

 Jardin des Plantes, Mrs. George Rundle, Pink 

 Perfection, Boulede Neige, Golden Nugget, Maid 

 of Kent. Also a number of the Pompone 

 varieties took prizes. They were trained in 

 various shapes on wire and were a mass of 

 bloom. The majority of the large flowering 

 kinds were disbudded and superfluous shoots 

 rubbed off. Plants grown as standards and large 

 flowers predominated. They were grown in from 



