Docombor i, 1860. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



425 



happy to give a few to any one who would send a stamped 

 directed envelope to me. — Thomas Toop, Gardener, Great Brom- 

 ley Lodge, Martningtree, Essex. 



STOVE INSIDE A VINERY. 



The description given in No. 295 ot the manner in which 

 " B. F." was " served out " by an iron stove, and in which he 

 states an opinion that a shorter horizontal flue would have 

 prevented the mischief, induces me to trouble you to show that 

 even a short horizontal flue will not always prevent iujurious 

 gases from entering a house where the feeding and ashpit doors 

 are inside. 



In 1863 I built a brick Arnott stove from the directions given 

 in Mr. Rivera's work " The Orchard-House," in a greenhouse 

 of mine, with Vines on the roof, the feeding and ashpit doors 

 being inside the house. It answered well, and all went on right 

 till the autumn of 1864, when it became necessary to light a tire 

 to dry the house and ripen the Grapes. The fire had been 

 lighted on and oft' for a fortnight, when one afternoon I noticed 

 a peculiar smell, like the odour of fresh green leaves thrown on 

 a fire. I looked at the fire, which was of coke, but could per- 

 ceive no smoke issuing from it, although I could detect a slight 

 sulphurous smell. I likewise glanced up at the Vines, but 

 could see nothing wrong with the leaves. I guessed, however, 

 what was going on, and at once opened all the top ventilators, 

 and put out the fire. The next morning, to my dismay, every 

 leaf on the roof, except just :it the bottom, was brown and sere, 

 and in a few days would crumble in the hand like scorched 

 paper, and the bunches of Grapes hung alone in their glory 

 unhurt, without a green and with hardly a brown leaf to keep 

 them company. Now the horizontal pipe of this stove was only 

 25 inches in length, and there was then 7 feet of perpendicular 

 pipe (four-inch). None of the plants in the greenhouse were 

 injured. 



I have seen much lately in the Journal about Viola cornuta 

 as a bedding plant. Am I to understand that it may be planted 

 out in spring with Pelargoniums, Verbenas, aud so on, and that, 

 like them, it will bloom continually throughout the summer ? 

 If so, how many plants must I purchase now to be able to raise 

 enough by next May to plant the front row of a ribbon-border 

 50 feet long, and, say, 1 foot wide? — J. R. Beyton. 



[If charcoal had been used instead of coke the injury would 

 not have occurred. Coke as well as coal emits sulphurous acid 

 when burnt, and that acid is fatal to leaves. Charcoal only 

 emits carbonic acid when burnt, and that, if not in great excess, 

 is beneficial to plants. — Eds.] 



with fresh charcoal, which evidently has the property of ab' 

 sorbing the noxious gases generated in combustion. 



One remarkable feature about this stove is that it produces 

 a humid heat. When I first lighted it, the iron being all cold, 

 there was so much condensation of moisture that little pools 

 formed on the floor in various spots at the base of the stove, 

 and on looking at the nozzle where the gas-pipe when used is 

 intended to be fitted for a chimney, I saw steam blowing out 

 as if from a boiling tea-kettle. After the tiro has been lighted 

 some time this disappears; but still there is much humidity, 

 as I discovered by holding a piece of cold iron against the nozzle, 

 when condensation immediately commenced, and the iron be- 

 came quite wet. 



The more experience I have of this stove the more pleased 

 I am with it ; and I am convinced that the humid and genial 

 heat it produces is very beneficial to the health and the 

 growth of plants. Those in my conservatory from being chilled 

 and staned-looking, and particularly the Zonale Pelagoniums 

 which had dropped all their leaves, are now growing fresh and 

 green. The marvellous power this peat charcoal has of retain- 

 ing ignition may be illustrated by the following circumstance : 

 One night I made up the fire at ten o'clock, and the following 

 morning when I came down at eight o'clock I found the fuel 

 rather more than half consumed. The day was milder than 

 usual, and I determined to allow the fire to go out, and, conse- 

 quently, did not add any more fuel. To my surprise, at eight 

 o'clock in the evening when I went to light the fire I found it still 

 alive, and after making it up aud turning on the f uU draught, 

 the heat was very speedily raised. 



So satisfied am I with the working, the cleanliness, and the 

 portability of this stove, I intend to place one in the hall, and 

 that, too, without a chimney. — W. H. C. 



HAYS'S PATENT STOVE. 



Havin'o seen the recommendations you published about a 

 month ago in The Journal of Horticulture of Hays's patent 

 stove, I was induced to procure one to heat a conservatory 

 attached to my house, and which I have not any convenient 

 means of warming. The conservatory is 20 feet long, 11 feet 

 vride, and 13 feet high, span-roofed, and exposed on all sides. 

 I at the same time obtained two bags of the peat charcoal, 

 which is the fuel this stove is intended to consume. The fire 

 was lighted on the 28th of October by placing in the stove a 

 piece of the live charcoal, which had been previously ignited 

 in tire dining-room fire ; and from that time till the present 

 (November 28th), it has never been out night or day, but has 

 kept up a constant and steady heat all the time, aud the ther- 

 mometer has never been below 45°, except on that severe Tues- 

 day night, the 20th inst., when the temperature out of doors 

 was 19% and it registered 10". The ordinary day temperature 

 ranges from 50' to 55°, and were I to turn on the full draught 

 it might be increased and maintained at 60°. I have used no 

 flue, and the stove being stood in the centre of the house is 

 ornamental as well as useful. 



I at first had my doubts about using a stove without a flue, 

 having from former experiences of them discovered their de>e- 

 terious effects ; but in this case, though my house may be said 

 to be hermetically sealed, the laps of the glass being all puttied, 

 I have sat in it for an hour together reading and enjoying its 

 genial temperature without suffering any oppression, headache, 

 or uncomfortable sensation. I find, however, that to secure this 

 condition care must be taken to keep the chamber at the top 

 full of the charcoal, and every time the fire is fed that it should 

 be supplied from this chamber, so as to refill the chamber 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Weekly Show, December lsJ. — A collection of plants consisting of 

 Heaths, i-c. was shown by Mr. W. Yonng, gardener to R. Barclay, 

 Esq., West Hill, Highgate, aud obtained a first prize; another col- 

 lection of plants consisting of Ferns, Chrysanthemums, &c, from 

 Mr. W. Bartlett, Shaftesbury Read, Hammersmith, was awarded a 

 second prize. From the Society's garden, at Chiswick, was exhibited 

 an interesting collection of plants, comprising Primulas, Cyclamens, 

 and Heaths. An extra prize was awarded Mr. W. Young for a good 

 collection of kitchen and dessert Apples. Mr. Hid, Angel Row, High- 

 gate, contributed a collection of vegetables, to which a first prize was 

 awarded. Mr. Young also exhibited a collection of vegetables, in- 

 cluding a specimen of the Sea-kale Beet : a second prize was awarded 

 this collection. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The first November meeting of this Society was held, bypermissita 

 of the Conned of the Linnean Society, in the apartments of the 

 latter at Burlington House, on the 5th lilt., the chair being occupied 

 by Sir John Lubbock, F.It.S., President. A resolution, containing a 

 vote of thanks to the Linnean Society for the nse of their rooms for 

 the purpose of meeting, was unanimously carried. The Society's 

 library still, however, remains at the old apartments in Bedford Row. 

 where" the Secretary attends regularly every Monday afternoon. 

 Amongst the donations received since the last meeting were the pub- 

 lications of the Linnean and Royal Agricultural Societies, the seventh 

 volume of Lacordaire's work on the Coleoptera, the sixtieth part of 

 Hewitson's Exotic Butterflies, &c. The President urged the members 

 who proposed to read papers at the Society's meetings, to give notice 

 thereof to the Secretary sufficiently early to allow an announcement 

 to he published in the preceding Saturday's Journal. This would 

 have the effect of drawing persons conversant with the subject to the 

 meetings, by which means more important results would be secured 

 from 'the discussion than at present. 



Mr. W. Wdson Saunders exhibited two larvas of Cicada), from 

 Mexico, each of which presented a fungoid production growing ont of 

 the frontal region, dissimdar in shape in the two individuals, but sup- 

 posed to be of the same species of parasitical vegetable. He was 

 inclined to believe that the fungi grew only on dead specimens of the 

 insects. Acting on the suggestion of the President, he proposed at a 

 fojure meeting to bring forward for discussion the " Fungoid growths 

 upon insects." He also exhibited two beautifully sculptured larvaj 

 cases from Brazil, probably formed by a Coleopterous larva. 



Mr. Bates referred to an excellent article on insect-fungi in Hard- 

 wicke's " Science Gossip." 



Mr. Bakewell sent for exhibition a box containing some new and 

 interesting Beetles, recently received from Dr. Howitt, of Melbourne, 

 Australia, chiefly belonging to the family Lueanidae. 



Mr. Stainton "exhibited 'Stathenopoda Gnerinii, a remarkable little 

 Moth, with very thick hind legs, which it does not employ in walking. 



