106 



JOUBNAli OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ Fabmuy t, USt. 



loaf, and then a mnnor, nnd to on alternately, and my firm 

 belief in, that wbcn Strawbern- plants once begin to do that no 

 one can make them prow any other vmy. It matters not how 

 many ninners are token, fur I find that these will produce 

 nothing but leaves and ninners again. It is quite posbible for 

 Strawberry plants to be nnfmitful one year and very frnitfnl 

 Hie next, but such plants grow veri- differently from the above. 



nOILERS. 



A.S ilr. Bobson has stated his experience with boilers for liot- 

 water heating, nnd soUcits information, I beg to add my mite. 



We have an upright cylindrical boiler, without setting or 

 covering of any kind, heating between 40(1 and 500 feet of 

 three-inch piping. The boiler is set in a room in the basement 

 of the building to heat it, and it answers the piapose very 

 wcU, thus conCiTuing the opinion of Mr. Bobson, that such 

 boilers give off a very great deal of heat. The piping connected 

 with this boiler is litteJ with Truss's patent pipe-joints, the 

 matt Bimple, ecouoniical, and efficient joints I ever saw. Any 

 man with ordinnrj- ability may with these joints lit up a heat- 

 ing-apparatus for any purpose, and, if necessary, conld take it 

 down and erect it elsewhere without deterioration to any part 

 of the apparatus. After the many useless things that have 

 been foisted on the public by tlie aid of patents and otherwise, 

 it is really refreshing to find something that really is what the 

 patentee professes it to be. 



We have one small upright cylindrical boiler set in brick- 

 work, and I pity the man who has it to attend to, for the fuel 

 often becomes fixed in the boiler, and not more than a third of 

 it is consumed — not a very pleasant affair when a fire has been 

 banked up to keep out frost. There are also two saddle boilers, 

 one of them has water-bars for fire-bars, but I do not think 

 that it is in any way the better of them. Taken for all in all, 

 the old saddle-back is as good as any boiler I have yet seen. 

 Coke is the onlv fuel used. — F. Flittos. 



In one of the ((ualilies that I most desire in a boiler — en- 

 durance, they appear to be very delieicnt. Two of them coming 

 under my own imme<liate observation, have given way in less 

 than four years iifter being put in, and two or three others that 

 I have beard of have done the same. In all thcKC cases there 

 appears a strange coincidence, they having all cracked in 

 exactly the same manner and place — through the lower rim to 

 which the npright tubes are joined, on a level with and oppo- 

 site to the top furnace-door. This frangibility appears to me 

 to be a fatal defect in tliis kind of boiler. 



Can this cracking arise from a defect in the casting ? Is it 

 eauscU bj' the expansion and contraction of that ring of metal 

 to which the vertical tubes are joined, and which appears to 

 hang over the hottest part of the lire ? (This remark does not, 

 from the published drawings, appear to afiply to "Clarke's 

 Sew Water-jacket Furnace Boiler, i Or is it caused by tbe 

 enormous pressure exeit«d by bo large a volume of water, 

 standing in most instances 111 or 12 feet above the bottom of 

 the boiler'.' ^ly own opinion is, that all these causes combined 

 tend to produce the cracking. Hhall we, then, continue to 

 erect upright tubular boilers ? Shall we return to the good, 

 old and long-tried saddle ? Or will some one tell ns of, or 

 invent a new one that will bum any kind of fuel, and that 

 shall supersede all the boilers at present in use ? — G. Coopib, 

 HarriKtown. 



Maxy and excellent are the articles which have appeared in 

 The Jorr.NAL of Houticcltube at various times upon the 

 boilers now in use for heating horticultural buildings. The 

 last discussion elicited very laudatory remarks from some of 

 yonr correspondents upon the many excellencies of tubular 

 boilers. At that time the most approved form of those boilers 

 had been but just introduced, and the articles then appearing, 

 I have no doubt, set forth the previous experience of the 

 writers. A more extended experience has now, however, been 

 gained, sufiicieut. at least in a measiue, to test their qualities 

 of endurance — one of the qualities which appear to have been 

 overlooked or very little thought of at the time. I wish those 

 who have one of the above-named boilers under their charge 

 to give us the benefit of their experience. Long hsts of testi- 

 monials were published at their intioduction. bearing the sig- 

 natures of gentlemen whose names are a sufficient guarantee 

 of the truthfulness of their recommendations. Most of us. how- 

 ever, have learned fi-om that best of all teachers, experience, 

 that an article may be very satisfactory for a time, but may 

 ultimately prove less advantageous than was expected. Now, 

 if the gentlemen who gave testimonials in favour of tubular 

 boilers could be induced to give an account of the subsequent 

 performances of these, with the length of time erected, and an 

 approximation to the amount of work done, it would be such 

 a volume of evidence, either for or against, that a more sure 

 test of their merits could scarcely be desired. 



The writer wliose articles in the last discussion bore most 

 upon the boilers in question was Mr. .\bbey, who threw out 

 some suggestions for their improvement. His further obser- 

 vations would, therefore, be valuable. Mr. W. Gardener's and 

 Mr. K. Carmyle's articles directed us to " Clarke's Water-jacket 

 Boiler," which is still largely advertised ; and the late Mr. 

 F. Chitty gave a description of Messenger's boiler which he 

 appeared to think highly of. Perhaps his successor would tell 

 what that boiler has done since Mr. Chitty's time. It is, how- 

 over, regarding the upright tubular boilers that information is 

 wanting. 



In few words I will state my own experience of them. They 

 are, when first erected, powerful, though not in nil cases eco- 

 nomical, are easily cleaned on the sides of the tubes next the 

 fire, but not on the sides farthest from it. where they become 

 clogged with soot and other products of combustion very much 

 resembUng coal tar, and which greatly affect their efiiciencv. 



NEW BOOKS. 



The Treasury of Botam/ : a Pujmtar Dictionary nf the VeqetabU 

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 and Thomas Moobe, F.L.S., assisted by Numerous Contri- 

 butors. London: Longmans, Green, * Co. 

 BoTAxicAL works of reference are, as a rule, occupied with 

 such dry details and such minute distinctions that, even if 

 comprehensible by the general reader, they are thrown aside 

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 provided only it be correct so far as it goes, is not. and cannot, 

 in a properly-constituted mind, be otherwise than beneficial. 

 In every branch of science, whether botany, or chemistry, or 

 geology, or astronomy, the eai of all our knowledge has been 

 to discover how little we really do k-now, to find step by step as 

 we advance an ever-widening field before ns, fuid to catch a 

 dim idea of an undefined expanse in the future. Because, 

 then, we cannot grasp all at once, not even a single one of the 

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 couraged from the pursuit ; but rather let us avail ourselves of 

 the best helps to the attainment of the greatest possible amount 

 in the least possible time. Such a help is the one before us, 

 consisting of two closely and beautifully printed volumes of, 

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 have, in fact, fulfilled the object proposed — namely, 



" To bring together, into the form of a dictioDftry. a concise accocmt 

 of all the plants conceruinc ^"hich !i general reader was likely to eeck 

 for information: adding thereto, where pmcticable. longer notices of 

 the more remarkablo species, together with such popular matter as 

 wonld ^ve interest to the otherwise dry techiucal character of geoenc 

 or 8]>ect£c descriptions. 



" What the ' 1 rea*ary of Botjiny ' really comprises, therefore, is a 

 short history of tliose genera of plants wliich are known to possess 

 uspecial interest on acconut of the medicinal qnalities nr the economical 

 tiscs of their species, or by reason of their l>eanty or utility as garden 

 plants ; while to these two groups has been added a still larger one, 

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 medicinal or economicallv valuable plants, of which a rather fuller 

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 characteristics of genera or families, rather than to attempt an enumer- 

 ation, much less a description, of the spe<'ies of which they consist. 

 For that a massive cyclopa-dia would have been necessary." 



The above extract from the Preface is a fair outline of the 

 object nnd scope of the work, and the mode in which it has 

 been carried out is worthy of all praise. The pinn, we are in- 

 formed, was perfected under the supervision of the late Dr. 

 Lindley, a man who, to his great botanical knowledge, united a 



