960 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ April 11, 1B67. 



it, for that will cause soot to accumulate more than anything, 

 snd it is (lifEcult to clear it out of iron pipes, and if the 

 material is sheet iron the pipe will soon wear out. A bent 

 iron pipe placed in such a stove would not suit you so well 

 as 8 small boiler. In larger furnaces it would answer better 

 than in a stove, where the fireplace is more limited in size. 

 There is, however, little force in the objecticn to such a bent 

 pipo being soon worn out. A strong eiist-metal pipe, always 

 full of water, may be depended on, if it have fair play, to last 

 »o long as any boiler. These small boilers, as used by Mr. 

 Biyers, placed on the top of such an Arnott's stove as you 

 propose cost little, and in your case we think would be decidedly 

 preferable. 



As to using pipes, a gutter, or a tank, over the flag-stone 

 platform — which platform we presume is water-tight, or you 

 would not have the dry shelves and storage-room beneath it — 

 the subject of pipes versvs tanks has so often been di.scussed 

 by ourselves and others that there is little to be added, as wc 

 consider each system best just as it can be most easily and 

 economically applied. One error we would just notice. Many 

 speak of the heat from hot-water pipes being so much more 

 moist than that from a flue, or a stove ; and, again, of the heat 

 Irom a tank being so much more moist than that from pipes. 

 Now, all are equally dry if the pipes are close and sound, and 

 the tank closely covered. If the covering of the tank is loose 

 and open there may at times be too much escape of moisture. 

 Well, you want to know how to pi'oceed in either case. Then, 

 first, as to pipes. You may have four-inch pipes if you wish, 

 but two three-inch pipes would do for such a place. These 

 would cost respectively from about 2s. Hd. to 2s. 9d, a yard, and 

 more for bends and circular junctions. Presuming that your 

 flag-stone is water tight and abuts against the front wall of the 

 house ; after placing the pipes along the stones, and having a 

 small cistern at the end, alike to supply the pipes and boiler, 

 and permit of the expansion of the water, you may either cover 

 the pipes with slate, itc. an inch or two above them, to 

 receive the pots, and plunging material if deemed necessary, 

 or you may, as we would prefer, place open rubble round the 

 pipes and for an inch or so over them, and then nearly an 

 inch of fine washed gravel, to be followed by sand, ic, for the 

 pots of cuttings. In the latter case we would have at every yard 

 or so a small earthenware drain-pipe set upright, its upper end 

 open and furnished with a wooden plug, its lower end also 

 open and standing a couple of inches above and clear of the 

 flags. From these drain-pipes one can let dry heat into the at- 

 mosphere of the propngating-pluce by taking out the plugs, or 

 one can have moist heat by pouring some water down through 

 the drain-pipes. In either of these cases you will have to make 

 your stone platform the base of your propagating-bed. 



To make a tank, we would proceed thus — Make sure of aU 

 joints in your flag-stone platform with white lead or cement, also 

 where the flags join the front wall cement that wall to the 

 height of at least 6 inches, if 9 all the better. As you proceed 

 lay a brick edgewise in cement on the flags, and close to the 

 front wall, that will form the front of your tank, then on the 

 inside edge of your platform lay two bricks on bed in cement, 

 which will form the back as it were of your tank. In the 

 middle of the space left, run a brick on edge lengthwise, leav- 

 ing an open space at the farther end, the one side to receive 

 the fiow-]iipe from the boiler, the other to communicate with 

 the return-pipe. Then cover all the sides and tops of these 

 bricks, and the exposed parts of the flags, with a layer of cement 

 aad when fairly set' it is ready for the water. You mav then 

 cover over with thick slate laid in cement, common "house 

 slates loose, iron plate, itc. The front you can raise by brick 

 on edge, or as giving rather more room, by a board. We think 

 that if you can depend on your flags tlie tank would be the 

 cheaper in your case. We may add, though it is chiefly a 

 builder's question, that in forming such a tank, the bricks 

 should be soaked before using them. The front wall and flags 

 should be well moistened before applying the coating of cement, 

 and if the flags are smooth on the surface, they should be made 

 a little rough with the chisel before applying the cement. 

 From 3 to -1 inches in depth of wat ir will be ample. It will be 

 as well to have some openings to let the heat up when wanted 

 instead of being conticed below the propagating-pots." 



EARLY PEAS. 



We had hoj-^ed our last letter in Thk Joukx.vl of Hoeticul- 

 TUBB would have sufficiently c^cplained the irregularity of 

 eharacter so untruly attributed to our First Crop Pea. Your 



correspondent in the issue of March 28th has evidently either 

 fallen into the same error that " Ronnoc " laboured under 

 — i.e., confusing the old Carter's Early with our recent in- 

 troduction, Carter's First Crop Pea — or, as we also suggested 

 in our former letters, he has been the victim of a spurious sub- 

 stitution. 



We are gratified to find our statement of its true merits con- 

 firmed in the Journal of April 4th, and we are convinced if 

 more evidence of its sterjing quality as the best " First Early 

 Pea " were wanting, many hundreds of our customers who have 

 procured the true stock from us, and have grown it more than 

 one season, will be glad to give an impartial report of its real 

 merits. — James Carter & Co. 



THE OlDIUM, OK VINE BIILDEW. 



Haviko found the following to be a complete cure for the 

 above disease in Vines, I think it right to give it publicity, 

 particularly as the season is now advancing for its use : — 1 lb. 

 of flowers of sulphur, 1 lb. of slaked lime, 1 gallon of rain 

 w.ater; to be mixed well together, and when boiled twenty 

 minutes, to be taken off and strained ; then to be added to the 

 liquid 1 gallon more water, and boiled twenty minutes longer ; 

 next let the liquid cool (it will be of a fine amber colour), and 

 put it into a large jar, and cork. 



When to be used, take 1 pint of the above and throw it into 

 IG gallons of rain water, with which syringe your Vines, and it 

 will not injure the fruit or leaves. If the Vines are under glass, 

 syringe with cold water four days after its use. 



I grow here a large number of Vines against and on walls 

 for champagne and otherwise, and for the last four years have 

 found that a single syringing with the above over my Vines 

 on walls soon after blossoming, and when the fruit is about 

 the size of very small shot, acts as a complete preventive to 

 the disease showing itself in any shape whatever, although it 

 is in its very worst form amongst my neighbours' Vines within 

 a few hundred yards of me. 



So effectual has the application proved with me that last 

 year I sent my gardener to syringe several of my neighbour's 

 out-of-door Vines, and in every case with the most decided 

 success, even where the disease had made considerable pro- 

 gress. The mixture is on no account to be used during the 

 blossoming of the Vines. 



I do not see why it should not act as a preventive against 

 other blights, and I intend this year to try it on other fruit 

 trees, not waiting until the blight actually makes its appear- 

 ance. I also intend to mark out about a land yard of my late 

 Potato-ground, which my gardener shall syringe with the above 

 twice a-week, commencing from about the first day of July next, 

 and should there be any beneficial result I shall gladly inform 

 you in due course. — W. A. B. 



SOWING AND CULTURE OF CYCLAIUENS. 



Who does not love and admire Cyclamens ? and they deserve 

 to be admired, not only for their beauty, but because they are 

 as easy to grow from seed as the commonest of annuals. 



Having a few old plants in good bloom in March, and wish- 

 ing to increase my stock, I placed them on a shelf near the 

 glass in an airy greenhouse, keeping them dry rather than wet, 

 and by August I had plenty of pods full of good seeds, ripen- 

 ing at different times. I visited the plants every afternoon, 

 taking care not to gather the pods before each had partially 

 burst, and they were then carefully packed and put away until 

 the time of sowing — an operation which I perform according 

 to the following directions. Early in March prepare six-inch 

 pots by three-parts filling them with drainage, over this place 

 a good layer of moss, and above the moss half an inch of 

 loam, leaf mould, and silver sand passed through a sieve, using 

 the roughest for the bottom. Make the surface firm, place the 

 seeds, which should previously be soaked for twenty-four 

 hours in milk-warm water, about a quarter of an inch from 

 each other, and cover them very lightly with silver sand. 

 Water gently thi'ough a very fine rose, always using warm 

 water, or that from which the chill has been taken off, place a 

 piece of slate or glass over the pots, and set them in a warm, 

 close Cucumber or cutting-frame. In a month the seeds will 

 vegetate, and when this takes place the seedlings must not be 

 allowed to become dry. 



When the seedlings are large enough to handle pot them in 

 small thumb pots in turfy loam, chopped moss, and a little 



