Febrtiary 14, 1867. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



133 



as well as for the bottom part of large pots, preferring more 

 mellow soil for the surface, chiefly to have no trouble with the 

 fresher causing a green surface. For general purposes of 

 potting we prefer turf that has been taken up from six to 

 twelve months, and has been piled in narrow stacks with air- 

 vents through it. In such cases the fibre is but little reduced, 

 the sour smell has disappeared, and the soil comes out dry, 

 mellow, and sweet as a nut. For many commoner purposes, 

 however, we would follow Jlr. Pearson's example, if we ob- 

 tained the right turf, and here we will give a test to the inex- 

 perienced, and Mr. Pearson will correct us if he do not coin- 

 cide. Turf taken from upland pasture where the grass is of a 

 bristly ncedlo-like character, may be used at once, as the soil 

 will generally be sweet beneath. We have often scarified the 

 turf from such places — that is, taken it off as thin as possible, 

 and used it for the bottom of large pots, and the fibi7 soil imme- 

 diately beneath it for general potting purposes. Turf like this, 

 however, cannot always be had, and we must often be content 

 with what we can find. In lower levels the turf will often con- 

 sist chiefly of grass, broad and softer in the leaf, having com- 

 paratively little fibre beneath it, and the soil though rich will 

 often contain more acid — that is, smell unpleasant, and want 

 more exposure before using it for particular purposes. This is 

 far inferior for pottiug-purposes to the other, and, having more 

 of a tendency to run closer together, needs something to keep 

 it open. We often were amused when young,, to see gardeners 

 smelling their composts, but we have learned since that it is 

 well to use the nose, as a test of the sweetness of soil for potting. 

 Furnaces tinder Boilers. — We will now offer a few remarks to 

 meet the case of those who say their boilers and hot water are 

 vastly more expensive as regards fuel than they were led to 

 expect. Heating by hot water will always be more expensive 

 in proportion to the little that is done by one furnace. Of 

 course, when a dozen houses are heated from a dozen boilers 

 there will be a greater escape of he-it from a dozen chimnies 

 than from one, two, or more. All that can be done, is to 

 economise the heat, by keeping it as much round the boiler as 

 possible. Lately, the mode of lighting a furnace was alluded to. 

 Except when cleaning, lighting, and adding fuel, the furnace 

 door should iwrer be open. When the fire is fairly burning, the 

 ash-pit door should be shut, leaving only a very small opening 

 to admit air to reach the fuel through the bars. When the 

 heat is well up, the damper should be put in, just allowing a 

 shght opening to insure a slow draught. Even when a fire is 

 about gone, a shut damper and close furnace and ash-pit doors 

 will keep for a long time about the boiler heat which with a free 

 draught would be dispersed quickly through the furnace, past 

 the boiler, and up the chimney. It is by no means uncommon 

 to find a damper right out, a chimney so hot that you can 

 scarcely touch it, a huge red fire in the furnace, with the 

 furnace-door open, so that the fire may give out plenty of 

 heat to the stoke-hole, to the external air, and the little as it 

 may be wanted to the boiler ; and when fuel can be had for little 

 more than the carriage, there may not be so much to be said, 

 as a little less care and trouble will be necessary ; bxit every 

 such case of extra hot chimnies, open dampers, open furnace- 

 doors, and huge fires not wanted, shows clearly that it is the 

 system of the manager, and not the system of hot water that 

 is mostly to be blamed for such waste of fuel. — B,. F. 



CO\^NT GARDEN MARKET.— Fedruaby 1:!. 



We have little or no nlteratiou to report, haviug abundance of eveiy- 

 thing at present. Continental supplies are steady and good, and home- 

 grown produce comprises the usual varieties in season at this period of 

 the year. 



VEGETABLES, 



Artichokes each 



Asparagus .... bundle 

 Beans,"Kidncy.perlCO 



ScarletKuu.J sieve 



Beet, Red ". . doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Bms. Sprouts i sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



pickling .... doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish . . bundle 



d. 8. d 



6 too 8 Leeks bunch 



10 Lettuce per doz. 



4 Mushrooms pottle 



Mustd.& Cress, punnet 



8 Onions per bushel 



3 Parsley per sieve 



Parsnips doz. 



5 ' Peas per quart 



Potatoes bushel 



8 I Kidney do. 



8 Radishes doz. bunches 



3 Rhubfirb bundle 



2 Savovs doz. 



' Sea-kale basket 



I Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



1 [ Tomatoes per doz. 



I Turnips bunch 



6 1 Vegetable Marrows dz. 



Apples ^ sieve 2 



Apricots doz 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 10 



Currants ^ sieve U 



Black do. 



Figa doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



GoosebeiTies . . quart 



Grapes, Hothouse.. lb. 4 



Lemons 100 5 



Melons each 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges 100 



Peaches doz. 



Pears (dessert) ..doz. 



kitchen doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plums .J sieve 



Quinces doz. 



RaspbeiTies lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



d. B. 

 0to4 

 

 10 

 

 



Walnuts bush. 10 20 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECER'*ED. 



W. Samson & Co., and W. & T. Samson, Kilmarnock, N.B. 

 — General Catalogue of Vegetable^ Flower, and Field Seeds, 

 Plants, cC'c. 



DriimmonJ Brothers, 52, George Street, Edinburgh,— Caia- 

 loffue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds, 



John Foulds, Stretford New Koad, Manchester. — Catalogue 

 of Plants and Cuttings of Chnjsanthemums, Zonalc PelargoriiumSt 

 and Bedding-out Plants, 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



•«• We request that no one will ^rite privately to the depart- 

 mental writers of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, d'C, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London^ E.C, 

 We also request that correspondents will not mis up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 

 N.B.— Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 

 Fig Culture (J. F.).— There is no work devoted to the subject. If 

 you send five postage stamps with your address, you can have '"Fruit 

 Gardening for the Many," free by post from our office. It gives the 

 necessary directions for Fig culture. 



Wild Flowers {itr.^. F.o*e).—T'h.e work will be completed as soon as all 

 the native plants have been figured. 



Forcing Flowering Plakts (Dulcihflla).—Yorcing: flowers, fruits, 

 and vegetables will bo fully noticed in our pages before many weeks have 

 passed. 



Hays's Constant Stove (J. R. Beyton.).—The 60j. one would be large 

 enough to exclude frost from your small greenhouse. A bushel of the 

 fuel would last a week. Common charcoal would not answer. 



Grot\t:ng Plants under Standard Roses (An Amatmr Base Grower). 

 — Roses are jealous plants, and do not like any competitor clnse to their 

 roots. They wi]l in hot weather eiit up any quantity of manure, and, 

 drink up any quantity of water. Decayed manure covered with ashes is 

 the best protection for their roots in hot weather. The ashes retain as well 

 as attract moisture. If the querist wishes to put anything over the 

 roots in the shape of flowers, Mignonette is the best, and gives a mee 

 scent. — W. F. RAJiCLYFFE, Okeford Fitzpainc. 



French Acclimatising Society IJ. B. £.)-—'^he address is, "To the 

 Secretary, Jardin de la SociL-te d'Acclimatation.Eois de Boulogne, Paris." 

 Rain Gauge {A Nfcdhavi). —'R^in gauges are only to be purchased of 

 mathematical instrument makers, and they do not vend cheap articles. 

 Any tinman can make a circular tin fumiel a foot in diameter, and this 

 may be placed in an upright glass measure U inches in diameter, with a scale 

 marked in tenths of an inch on its side. The depth of rain shown on 

 the scale divided by 4, gives the amoimt of rain. The glass measure 

 may be bought of the chemical apparatus dealers. 



Cliiibees for Walls of D%velltng fO. M.).—NoTih aspect: Ivy, 

 Cratfegus pyracantha, Jasminnm nudiflorum, and common Vir- 

 ginian Creeper (Ampelopsis hederacea). Ea.<t asi>ect : Cotoneaster 

 bimmonsii, Cydonia japouica, Photinia serrulata, double-flowering ClCr 

 matis viticelln. C. lanuginosa, C. flamula, C.azurca, Caprifolium sempet- 

 virens, C. pericljTnenum, Atragene sibiricn, and Jasminum offic:nale 

 grandiflorum; also Ayrshire Roses, Dundee Rambler. Ruga, Queen 

 of the Belgians, and splendens. West aspect: Escallonia glandu- 

 losa. Viburnum suspensum, Buddlea plobosa, Chimonanthus fra- 

 grans, Aristolocbia sipho, Jasminum revolutum, Clematis Jackmanni, 

 C. ttandishi, and^Caprifolium luteum; also Roses—Hybrid China, Vivid; 

 Bourbon, Sir Joseph Paxton, AcidaUe, and bouquet de Flore; Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, William Jesse, La Keine, Madame Louise Carique, Madame 

 TrudcaiLs, and Madame Domage ; Tea, Gloire de Dijon, Noisette, Celine 

 Forestier, Jaune Desprez, and Triomphe de Bolwj-Uer. Souf/i aspect: 

 Wistaria sinensis, BiUardiera scandens, Passiflora crerulea, Magnolia 

 prandiflora, Esmouth variety, Garrya elliptica, Chimonanthus grandi- 

 florus, Ceanothus rigidus, C. floribundus, and C. azureus, to which yon 

 mayadd Marechal Niel and Climbing Devoniensis Roses; also Fortune's 

 Yellow, Cloth of Gold, Lamarque, and Ophirie. 



Collecting Debts [W. L. E. V.).— The County court is open toyoa 

 Six years does not exclude you from the remedy. 



