94 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 30, 1868. 



escape of the hot air through the contracted orifices of the 

 tubes, a separate case containing non-conducting materials is 

 fitted above the boiler. The amount of heat that eludes this 

 ingenious trap is so small that the pipe provided for the escape 

 of the products of combustion never becomes unpleasantly hot. 



The burners are constructed on the principle of the Bunsen 

 burner, and give perfectly smokeless and intensely hot flames. 

 Unlike the ordinary air-burner, however, llr. Shrewsbury's 

 patent burner requires no attention, and always gives a pure 

 blue flame, free from any unpleasant smell. The holes for 

 admitting air at the bottom of the burner are so constructed 

 that the gas cannot be ignited in the tube by holding a light 

 close to these holes. The burners are screwed into a flat gas- 

 tight iron box at equal distances from the supply pipe, so that 

 there is the same pressure of gas in each burner. This gas box 

 is an important part of Mr. Shrewsbury's invention, for when 

 several burners are fixed in a coil of tube in the ordinary way 

 they necessarily give flames of difi'erent magnitudes. The box, 

 ■with its burners, is made to turn on a swivel, and swing out of 

 the door in the outer case for the convenience of lighting. 

 Some of the larger boUers have six tubes, and as many burners, 

 or groups of burners. The smallest size has only one tube. 

 With such an apparatus an equable temperature can be kept up 

 in a conservatory or room at the cost of about 3d. a-day for gas. 



We have one in our outer office, where it may be seen in 

 operation. 



HEATING APPARATUS. 



A CHEAP and elficient mode of heating is so useful to gar- 

 deners, that I was much pleased with the description of the 

 Amott's stove (in page 27), more especially as its powers have 

 ieen brought to the test of experience. 



Some years ago I heated an orchard house with a brick 

 Amott's stove, and, as regards economy of fuel, no contrivance 

 could have been more frugal. Had the hoiise been employed 

 as a vinery, with the plants trained under the glass, it would, 

 probably, have remained to the present day; but as it was 

 devoted to Peach and Fig trees in pots, it was fomid that 

 the stove took up too much space, and I was desirous of a 

 mode of warmiug which would afford bottom heat. Mr. C. W. 

 Martin, M.P., had then published the account of his revival of 

 the Roman hypocaust, and it appeared to me that an arched 

 flue under the border would be better still. A flue was thus 

 constructed in my house, and the border made level with 

 cinders. A long account of this flue, with diagrams, was pub- 

 lished in the Gardeners' Chrnnicle of the 'iOth of May, 1865, 

 to which, as also to the preliminary article of the 13th of the 

 same month, I beg to refer such of your readers as may be 

 desirous of learning further particulars. 



The subsequent experience of three years has not modified 

 the favourable opinion I had then formed ; but if I were about 

 to build another flue I would make it a few inches deeper, in 

 order that the sweep might have more room to turn himself 

 about ; and if the small escape of heat, which, undoubtedly, 

 takes place through the outer wall, be thought important, this 

 could be remedied by making the arch of the flue spring from 

 an internal wall built for the purpose, instead of making it 

 spring, as at present, from the external wall ; and if a few 

 inches were left between the two walls, all escape of heat 

 ■would be prevented, and the direct flue might run under the 

 front border, and the return under the back one. — G. S. 



THE ROYAL ASCOT GRAPE. 

 We have on several previous occasions drawn the notice of 

 our readers to this new Grape, and have spoken of it in the 

 highest terms as being one perfectly distinct from every other 

 early Grape, and possessing a richness of flavour which is not 

 foxmd in any early variety except itself. Our present object 

 in noticing the Royal Ascot, is to introduce a new character it 

 possesses, and as this is one which adds greatly to its value, it 

 is desirable it should have the greatest publicity. As we have 

 ■witnessed the facts we are about to relate, we speak with the 

 most perfect confidence. This new character it has shown is 

 its great prolificacy, and its pertinacity in keeping up a suc- 

 cession of fruit without going to rest. There is in Italy an in- 

 significant little Grape grown under the name of " Uva di tri 

 Tolte," the bunch and berries of which are not bigger than 

 the Black Cluster, and which possesses this same properly, so 

 that by stopping the shoot two or three joints beyond the last 

 bunch, just as the flower has fallen and the berries are set, it 



may be made to produce three crops in the year. The Royal 

 Ascot, unlike the little Italinn variety, has bunches and berries 

 as large and handsome as those of the Black Hamburgh, and 

 the vigour of the Vine is unusually great. 



The Vines that produced the new Grapes shown at the last 

 meeting of the Fruit Committee, were not more than a foot 

 high, and turned out of 5-inch pots in the first week of May 

 last, being planted out in a Pine stove 18 feet wide, with a span- 

 roof, and a 3-foet path up the centre. Mr. Standish states, 

 '• It was at the front of this house, on each side, that I put a 

 little soil kept up by a dry 4 J -inch wall of bricks. At the back 

 of this were Pine plants plunged in dung and leaves. The Vines 

 grew very rapidly, and soon got to tjie top of the house, about 

 12 feet. They were then topped, and about the middle of 

 August they threw out bunches all down the Vines. At first 

 we pinched these off, but they came thicker and faster from the 

 young growing wood. At last, about the middle of September, 

 I left from four to six bunches on six plants, and although 

 they were grown under such adverse circumstances, I send yo'U 

 a bunch to form your own opinion, and judge what the Vine is 

 capable of doing under b^'ti-r culture. Just as the Vines set 

 their fruit I found that their roots were out in the plunging 

 material, where the Pines were growing. I thought as they 

 must be moved, the sooner this was done the better, so they 

 were taken up and laid into another lot of soil, but there was 

 such a quantity of roots that the leaves on the young Vines 

 flagged. So you see they had a rough time of it." 



As a Vine for winter work it is unequalled. 



HENDERSON'S CONQUEROR CELERY. 



I BELIEVE this distinct variety of Celery was first issued to 

 the public by the Messrs. A. Henderson, and after two years' 

 experience with it, I am of opinion that it is the best white 

 variety in cultivation. I have not formed this opijjion hastily, 

 for, having to grow Celery largely, I have tried all the white 

 varieties I could procure, and I do not hesitate to recommend 

 this sort to all those who require Celery of a superior descrip- 

 tion, and particularly for early sowing to come in for late 

 summer and early autumn use. 



I have proved that when sown in heat in January, and grown 

 on without receiving a check, not 1 per cent, will run to seed. 



It is distinct from other white varieties in being more branch- 

 ing in habit, and having a rich green and rather curly foliage. 

 It is also a rapid and robust grower, with solid, yet very tender, 

 leaf stalks, so brittle that the stalk can scarcely bear the weight 

 of its leaves ; it blanches so well that every stalk is fit for use, 

 and of a pearly white colour. It has a nice walnut flavour, and 

 is remarkably crisp. — Thomas Record, Lillcsden, Hawkhurst. 



CATERPttLARS ON BEDDING AND OTHER 



PLANTS. 



I FOP.wAr.D for your inspection a caterpillar which I have 

 found by hundreds on my young stock of Pelargoniums, Ver- 

 benas, Calceolarias (shrubby and herbaceous). Cinerarias, and 

 Primulas. A short time ago I was induced to look very closely 

 into my boxes of bedding plants, the foliage becoming nearly 

 perforated all over. I at once set to work to hunt for slugs, 

 which I thought to find, but to my astonishment it was a large 

 green caterpillar, which I discovered in myriads. I am glad to 

 say I caught them in their early state of working, otherwise I 

 do not know what the consequences would have been. — R. E., 

 Tl'omcrslcy Park, Yorkshire. 



[The cp^terpUlars were crushed by the post office punches- 

 The portions uncrushed were hke the larva of the Brimstone 

 Butterfly. The eggs must have been deposited late last year ; 

 and hatched early by the warmth of the house.] 



PEAT CHARCOAL. 

 As a constant reader of your Journal, I see and have before 

 replied to inquiries on peat charcoal. " T. C." wishes it for 

 Hays's patent stove. It was manufactured near Carlisle (twelve 

 miles from it), for some years, but from mismanagement did 

 not succeed as a manure. The Company (now guaranteed), 

 have discontinued to make it. The mode of calcining it is 

 troublesome and expensive. The peat has to be placed in an 

 iron vessel enclosed in a brick arch, with a flue throwing a 

 blaze around it. There is a receptacle at the bottom, with a pipe 



