12 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jannary 20, 1870. 



of the day. It|is all needed for after-knowledge. Let na each 

 try to maintain the standard of horticulture, and work with a 

 will, looking to those above us to lead us on. We in our turn, 

 when they shall have fulfilled their mission, may take their 

 places ; but let us hope that the leading horticulturists may long 

 be spared us, and to write their experience in " our Journal." 

 — W. R. T., Howie*. 



A NEW WARM FRAME. 



When the scribbling fit is upon me, which generally happens 

 when my wife is from home, I often think if there is anything 

 I can tell the readers of " our Journal " that is likely to be of 

 interest to them. One of my friends tells me that certainly no 

 knowledge will die with me, for I tell all I know. Never mind : 

 if anyone is pleased with what I write, that is enough ; to 

 impart an idea is the next best thing to receiving one, as to see 

 a hungry man eat is the pleasure which is most nearly allied 

 to eating when one is hungry. 



I have two new frames which so perfectly answer their pur- 

 pose that I think some will be glad to have their attention 

 directed to them. The lights are hung on pegs in place of 

 hinges, so that they can be taken off to paint or for any other 

 purpose. Those who know how often hinges break and rust 

 through, and how inconvenient it is to paint fast lights, will 

 see the advantage of this mode of hanging them. A 4-inch 

 pipe runs quite round each frame, connected with a hothouse, 

 and furnished with a valve, so the plants are secure from frost. 

 The frames are filled with cocoa-nut refuse a foot in thickness, 

 in which the plants are plunged to the rims of the pots. But 

 the greatest improvement is that each frame is furnished with 

 a moveable ridge, so that ventilation can be given instantly 

 without opening a light. Though my frames are each 100 feet 

 long, a few turns of a wheel will lift each ridge with the greatest 

 ease. The advantages are obvious. The plants are near the 

 glass, and can receive air without cold draughts of wind blow- 

 ing upon them. Then, again, the pots being plunged in cocoa- 

 nut fibre, there is no evaporation from the pot sides, and they 

 do not want water once a-fortnight, except a few plunged close 

 to the pipes. The saving of labour during a long winter is 

 more than most people can imagine who do not know what it 

 is to water carefully thousands of plants, or even to open and 

 shut the lights of such large frames. But this saving of labour 

 is not the chief advantage ; the increased health and beauty of 

 the plants are so apparent that the fact is remarked by all who 

 see them. Tricolor Pelargoniums look more as if it were 

 summer than midwinter, and green-leaved varieties are as bushy 

 and as green as though they were growing in open beds. 



There is nothing in this arrangement which is protected by 

 patent, though several features are quite new, particularly the 

 simple means of raising the ridge, aud I shall be happy to show 

 them to any one.— J. R. Pearson, Chilwcll. 



NEW,' MODE OP SETTING BOILERS. 

 Several boilers in Sheffield have been Bet upon a new plan. 

 By a simple arrangement of fire-clay plates, says the Sheffield 

 Independent, so managed as not to contract the capacity of the 

 flue at any single point, the gases, after being thoroughly inter- 

 mixed, are at four successive stages in their progress through 

 the flue, thrown in thin streams against the surface of the 

 boiler. No part of the gaBes can escape this repeated forcible 

 contact with the boiler, and in the process the heat they contain 

 is so thoroughly extracted and absorbed that the result obtained, 

 as proved by careful tests, is the evaporation of nearly 12 lbs. of 

 water for every single pound of fuel, common boiler slack being 

 used. This gives a large saving of fuel as compared with the 

 best modes of setting previously in use. The patentees, we 

 understand, guarantee a saving of 25 per cent. The apparatus 

 has the additional advantage of being an effective smoke-con- 

 sumer. The plan is applicable to any class of boiler, can be 

 applied without unseating boilers already fixed, and the plates 

 being of fire-clay, the cost is so moderate as to be very soon 

 recouped by the saving of fuel. 



cases are placed on their sides, or upside down. The flowers are 

 placed in water, none of which is spilled, nor are the flowers 

 displaced. 



Exhibition and Travelling Case for Flowers. — We are 

 informed that Mr. W. E. Chapman, of Llandudno, has provision- 

 ally patented a very useful case called " Chapman's Multum-iu- 

 parvo Exhibition and Transmission Cut Flower Packing Case." 

 Its advantages are that flowers can be arranged for exhibition, 

 and sent by rail or carrier, without beiDg JLjured, eveu if the 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



January 10th. 



Fruit Committee. — Rev. George Kemp in the chair. Prizes were 

 offered for the best three dishes of kitchen Apples. There were 

 eight competitors. The first prize was awarded to Mr. Parsons, of 

 Danesbury, for large and handsome specimens of Blenheim Pippin, 

 Dumelow's Seedling, aud Bnrr Knot. Mr. Earley, of Digswell, was 

 second with Gooseberry Apple, Dumelow's Seedling, and Dredge's 

 Fame. The other exhibitors were Mr. Mills, of Wycombe Abbey, who 

 sent M<>re de Menage, Dumelow's Seedling, and Waltham Abhey 

 Seedling. Mr. S. Ford, Leonardslee; Mr. Garland, Kiilerton, Devon; 

 Mr. Cos, of Redleaf ; Mr. Parsons, Acton Green ; |and Mr. Stephen- 

 son, of Leigh Hill, Eases. Mr. Gardiner, of Eatington Park, Strat- 

 ford-on-Avon, sent three dishes of dessert Apples. 



In the class for kitchen Pears the competitors were Mr. Gardiner, 

 Mr. Ford, Mr. Garland, Mr. Hobbs, Thames Bank, Great Marlow. 

 The first prize was awarded to Mr. Koss, Welford Park, for Uvedale's 

 St. Germain and Catillac, and the second to Mr. Hobbs for Catillac. 



Mr. "William Paul sent a basket containing about fifty specimens of 

 dessert Pears in fine condition, and all very true to name, to which a 

 special certificate was awarded. Mr. Sidney Ford sent a dish of 

 Knight's Monarch Pear, grown on a pyramid at Leonardslee, Hors- 

 ham. The flavour was excellent, though the fruit was scarcely ripe. 

 Mr. Ford also exhibited fruit of two little-known varieties of Apples — 

 the White aud the Red Gilliflower, the latter quite distinct from the 

 Cornish GiUiflower. A seedling Apple was exhibited by Mr. Willison, 

 of Whitby, which the Committee did not consider of sufficient merit 

 to secure an award. Mr. Miles, of Wycombe Abbey, exhibited fruit 

 of the highly-ornamental Solanuin betaceum, and a dish of Lemons. 



Mr. Meredith, of Garstang, sent a basket of Muscat of Alexandria, 

 Alicante, and Lady Downe's Grapes, of great beauty, exhibiting much 

 skill both in culture and keeping, the fruit being of great merit in 

 every respect. To these a special certificate was awarded. Mr. 

 Fowler, of Harewootl, sent a dish of Muscat of Alexandria Grapes 

 from an old Vine eighty years old, now existing in the garden there, 

 and which annually bears between four hundred and five hundred] 

 bunches. The fruit exhibited had been ripe since September, and 

 was shown in so good condition as to receive a special certificate. 



Mr. Gilbert, of Burghley, near Stamford, sent a frait of true 

 Smooth-leaved Cayenne Pine, produced on what is called the cutting- 

 down principle. Mr. Sharpe, of Tangleymere, Guildford, sent a Pine 

 Apple from Bahia, the flavour of which was considered good, but a3 

 the fruit was long over-ripe, it was evidently much gone. 



Mr. Sheppard, of Wolverstoue Park, sent a cross between Brnssels 

 Sprouts and Couve Tronckuda, which did not meet with the approval 

 of the Committee. Mr. Melville, of Dalmeny Park, sent four ex- 

 amples of his Imperial Hybrid Scotch Green, which was highly com- 

 mended by the Committee as a valuable winter and late spring vege- 

 table. Messrs. Carter & Cu., of Holborn, exhibited a collection of 

 five varieties of Beet, and thirty-four varieties of Potatoes, grown in 

 their trial grounds at Forest Hill. 



Floral Committee. — Rev. J. Dis in the chair. On this occasion 

 prizes were offered for the best nine Ivies in pots. There were three 

 exhibitors — namely, Mr. C. Turner, of Slough ; Mr. William Paul, of 

 Waltham Cross ; and Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son, of St. John's 

 Wood. Mr. Turner sent very neatly trained plants beautifully clothed 

 with foliage, trained for the most part as tall cones. The kinds were 

 Hedera Helix major, with small silver-veined leaves; H.H. minor 

 with still smaller leaves, but otherwise resembling those of the pre- 

 ceding ; H. marmorata minor, with small leaves marbled with pale 

 yellow ; H. elegantissima, with small foliage irregularly bordered with 

 rose colour and yellow ; H. grantlifolia arborescens, a large-leaved tree- 

 Ivy ; H. grandifolia latifolia mueulata, the leaves extensively mottled 

 and 6plashed with cream yellow ; H. algeriensis, with large, vigorous, 

 pale green leaves ; H. lucida, with beautiful, Bhining, dark green 

 leaves, but bright green near the principal veins ; and H. lobata 

 major, with very distinctly lobed foliage. Mr. W. Paul had H. lati- 

 folia maculata ; H. Ra-gneriana, a most valuable dark-leaved kind; 

 Ra^gneriana arborescens, having a stem like a tree ; H. japonica, the 

 leaves variously edged and marked with white or pale cream colour; 

 H. canariensis aurea, with some of the leaves entirely yellow, others 

 with but a small patch of green, whilst others, again, are entirely 

 green, but a charming and most effective variety ; H. algeriensis va- 

 riegata, with white-variegated foliage ; H. rhombea variegata, the leaves 

 small, with a narrow white edging; H. arborescens baccata lntea, the 

 berries still in a green state ; and H. taurica, a very neat small-leaved 

 kind. From Messrs. E. G. Henderson came H. Helix rhomboidea, 

 H. algeriensis arborea, H. japonica variegata, H. canariensis marmo- 

 rata; H. dentata, apparently of vigorous growth, and having large 

 leaves; arborescens alba lutescens, a fine yellow variegated kind with 

 rather small leaves ; arborescens latifolia striata, with dark green 

 foliage, blotched, splashed, or marked with broken streaks of golden 

 yellow; H. Helix marginata alba robusta, edged more or less broadly 

 with cream white; aud H. Helix minor marmorata elegans, with minute 



