SMI .!2 lajiaaaivi 1 

 Dooombcr 21, 1888. ] 



JOUHNAL OF HORTICUIiTUBE AND COTTAGE GAIU3ESEB. 



481 



rnbi'a, auvea, nud lutescens ; Verscharfsltitt spleudijn, Oulamus 

 adspoi'siis, I'liiHnioophorium Boelielloruui, aud Cljamioiops 

 stauracaatha. Tbei-e woie, besides, yniuj! liealthy plants of 

 luost of tlio ornamoutal-foliftged stove plauts, such as Alocasias, 

 Crotons, C^auopbylhimd, .to. 



Ill tlio liou^c devoted to tree riiriig are aomo vomarkaldy fine 

 Epeciiuens, sucU as AUopliila australis, \) feet high ; Cyathea 

 dealbata, 10 feet bigti, witli frouda j feet long; C. mediiUaiis, 

 1'2 feet Iji':;!), one of the finest known ; C. Sniitliii, 9 feet liigb, 

 a most beantifn! pbint; DicUsouia autarcticn, ',) feet; fibrosa, 

 7 feet ; squarros.i, li feet; Cibotium Scliiedei, very graceful; 

 Todca africana, of tbia I eaw soma euomious jdauts at Ver- 

 pchaffelt's, at Glieut; Todea superba, a mot,t lovely and elegant 

 Fern, aud when covered with moisture nothing can be more 

 lovely in the Fern tribe than this beautiful plant. It re- 

 quires peculiar treatment, and should never bo exposed to 

 the rays of the sun. Todca pellucida, or hymeuopbylloides, 

 is another very nearly its equal, exceedingly beautiful, and 

 more easily gro.vu. Among other greenhouse Ferns I noticed 

 Ptoris straminea attcuuata, a variety in which the pinnules 

 are excoedinglv narrow, with all their points turned upwards, 

 which gives the whole plant a very crispy appearance. This is 

 new, aud id now sent out for the first time. Tben there was 

 ri;orig oreticadactylifera, an elegant created Fern raised here, a 

 hybrid from 1'. crclioa. The fiends are 2 feet in length, and 

 each of the pinna; from C to 'J inoheg long, and each point bears 

 a pendant tassel of light green. This is quite new, and is now 

 being sent out for the first time ; and as it will grow either in 

 a ."itova or greenhouse, it will doubtless be a general favourite. 



In the stove fernery I noticed some nice plauts of a beauti- 

 ful new Fern, Gymuogrammi Kollissonii, a hybrid between 

 G. ochracea aud G. ferruginea. Its fronds are i! feet in length, 

 beautifully arched, and the points of the pinmu pendant. It 

 is the most vigorous of all the Gymnogrammas, except G. totla, 

 grows well in an intermediate house, and will make, doubt- 

 less, a fine Fern for exhibition. There were also some good 

 specimens of climbing Ferns, such as Limariopsis hetero- 

 morpha, Lygodium, Oleandra articulata, and others. In fact, 

 iia all the departments of Ferns, stove, greenhouse, and hardy, 

 there is an admirable selection ; and I may draw attention to 

 the recently published catalogue of Ferns, which has been 

 brought out under the superintendence of Mr. Luckley, as being 

 one of iho most complete and exact catalogues that I have seen. 



lu the hou;e devoted to hardwooded greenhouse plants, called 

 also a Camellia house, there were some plants which well 

 deserve attention, and ought to he grown by those who possess 

 a greenhouse. Among them was llhododendron fragrantissi- 

 ruum, a plant of surpassing excellence, with flowers of large 

 size and most delicious perfume, one of them quite scenting 

 a house. Then there were the old plant Gnaphalium (Astelms) 

 eximium, with its woolly leaves and blood-red everlasting 

 flowers ; Acropbyllura vcnosum and Dracophyllum gracile, both 

 excellent exhibition plants, and very showy in a greenhouse; 

 Epaeris multiflora, crimson with white tips ; Adenandra fra- 

 grane, an old but good greenhouse plant with, pink flowers ; and 

 Corra\rs of various sorts, another of those plants which so try 

 the skill aud patience of a plautsman, so subject are they to 

 red spider. Here, too, was a fine lot of young Azaleas well set 

 with flower buds. 



lu Orchids the Tooting nursery is very rich, and the house 

 was full of fine plants in good condition, and to enumerate 

 them would be simply to run through the list of the most 

 favourite and rare of these lovely and curious plants. Some 

 were in flower, but the season was a dead one for Orchids. 

 Calanthe Veitchii was in bloom — a plant for which Mr. Buckley 

 said Mr. Domiuy ought to have had a gold medal, bo successful 

 ac instance is it of hybritlisiug, and 80 valuable lor flowering 

 in winter. ,.,. ,■,,,-, -...a:,.: ,,■ , ,. 



In the out-dopr department there ia a most valuable oolleo- 

 tlon of herbaceous plants of all kinds ; amongst them a com- 

 plete set of the now fashionable Sempervivums, and Echeverias, 

 and Saxifrages; while the same completeness ia manifested in 

 all the various departments of a well-ordered nursery. I must 

 not omit to mention that in the propagating house I saw a new 

 Tricolor Telargonium, which seemed to bo a fine one, in the 

 same style as Lucy Grieve, very high in colour, and of good habit. 

 I may hero mention that Messrs. Rollisson's Tricolor Star of 

 India has proved with me one of the most attractive of the large 

 numher that we now possess. It is of the smooth-leaved sec- 

 tion (KuDSot style), and is a very good grower; while their 

 Tricolor Artemus Ward is excellent for the edges of a bed, bsing 

 of very neat habit. 



1 have given ia this rapid sketch a fjw of the more salient 

 points which struck me on my visit to this well-known nursery ; 

 and all who have had an opportunity of visiting it will agree, 

 I think, with niu, that I have not said a word too much in its 

 favour.— D. IhuL 



HEATING HOT WATEIl WITHOUT A nOILER. 



O.N reading the very able and practical paper "Doings of 

 the List Week " (December 3rd, page 'i2'.i). by Mr. 11. Fish, I 

 thought that poflsiijly a cheap and (-flicient idan I have adopted 

 of doing away with all kinds of boilers in the heating of hot- 

 water pipes iu glass houses, might bo acceptable to many of 

 the readers of your Journal. 



Having been obliged by the cracking of the flues in one of 

 my houses (caused by mining operations) to substitute pipes, 

 and being in the midst of the manufacture of iron gap-tubing, I 

 had a coil of ll-inch pipe made and inserted in a brick furnace, 

 as iu the accompanying sketch. The fire is fed from the top, 

 there being also two doors at the bottom of the furnace, on9 

 to clear the clinkers oft' the bar.^, and the other to c!o?e the 

 ashpit. I have found it work and answer extremely well, heat- 

 ing GG feet of i-iuch pipe, and it would heat double that amount 

 if required. , - : . 



It consists of five riugs or ddils of l^^ineb pipe; not coiled 

 closely together, but about 1< inch apart, 12 inches wide in the 

 circle at the top, and widening downwards. This coil cost ."0,i. 

 I have another coil of 2-incli pipe with seven riugs. This 

 heats "230 feet o! l-ineh pipe, and cost £5. They give mo the 

 convenience of any quantity of hot water for the houses, from 

 the wood cistern connected; 



roiijioinumifloo gai7?ol!ol :■ ■-! 



.idt'oJ besilcto Chimney, b, CiBlVru. r, Pompeirt 'J-*'"'' •?''"* 



Tte inside of the coil onlyjs filled with fuel. The flames fiUd 

 the furnace. £ 



The fuel used is one-half clean cobble of coal, at 5s. per ton, 

 and the other half small washed gas coke or breese, at 7s. per - 

 ton. — D. HAWKESFOim, BihUm. • 



[We have no doubt that your coil of pipes does all that yon 

 say, because we have known even simpler plans effectual. Used 

 with care we have every reason to believe the coils would wear 

 well, but they are more subject to accidents than a boiler, and 

 we think a small cylinder boiler fed at the top, as you do your 

 ooil furnace, at a similar price, would act equally well, as £5 is 

 a fair price for a boiler to heat 2j0 feet. The little cost of 

 heating depends on tlie low price of the coal and coke, which 

 would be more than double further south. We like the idea 

 very much of taking the flow-pipe through the large wooden 



