554 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December £3, 1875. 



were produced, which paid interest on the outlay until the 

 Vines were in profit. The house now contains a plant stage 

 for wintering Geraniums. 



The heating at first was not a snccess. The kitchen boiler 

 ■was not large enough, and another square boiler was connected 

 to it. The flow and return pipes were inserted at the end of 

 this boiler, one beneath the other, and necessarily close to- 

 gether. The pipes were also taken round the house level with 

 the boiler, and the feed pipe entered the top of the boiler. 

 That was not satisfactory. The pipes were taken out and the 

 end of the boiler plated over, the flow pipe then being placed 

 at the top and the return pipe at the bottom of the boiler, the 

 feed being also conducted into the return pipe. The pipes 

 (4-inch) round the house were also raised, the flow gradually 

 rising to the highest point near the door (where an air pipe 

 was inserted), then doubling under was conducted beneath it 

 to the boiler. The circulation was then complete, but the fire 

 was not " sharp enough" to heat the double boiler. A separate 

 flue was next built up in the inside of the vinery and taken 

 into the flue of the bedroom. The fire, before enterirfg this 

 flue, traverses entirely round the boiler. The heating power 

 of the fire is now complete, and indeed, but for the damper in 

 the vertical flue, the draught would, to use the owner's words, 

 " tear all the fire out of the grate." The damper is the heat- 

 governor, and is drawn when heat is required in the pipes. 

 Not many boilers of the most approved and modern construc- 

 tion will do their woik quicker and better than this simple 

 homely contrivance. 



The raising of the pipes, the flow and return entering the 

 boiler as widely apart as possible, the exposure of the utmost 

 boiler surface to the fire, and the separate tall vertical flue to 

 afford draught, are the elements which have ensured success, 

 a success which will follow all similar efforts if correctly 

 carried out on the same principle, which is so clearly shown in 

 the engraving. 



But besides the arrangements there is another condition to 

 be attended to — the fire must be there, and in severe weathtr 

 early in the morning. When failures in heating occur it is not 

 always the apparatus that is so much in fault as the fire- 

 maker. Those who are the most successful in providing a 

 proper temperature in glass structures are those who " stir the 

 fire " early in the morning. 



NEW ZEALAND. 



We append a part of a letter from one of the members of 

 the Maidstone Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Society to a 

 fellow member, giving a few particulars of that important 

 colony and its climate and production, from which it will be 

 seen that there are many features of attraction about it which 

 may not be known to all. — A CoEREsroNDENT. 



" The weather commenced in the beginning of September to be very warm 

 with any quantity of rain. It continues very warm at present (May 21st), 

 with sufficient rain to cause vefjetables to grow at a rapid rate. Winter hero 

 appeals to be made up chiefly of rain. I have not any recollection of seeing 

 ice last winter, but on two mornings only ; it then disappeared in a short 

 lime— something lilie a very sharp May frost that I have seen in EugJand. 

 It is very cold at the eKtreme south of the country. I was at a place 150 miles 

 farther north than this at the end of October, which is equal to April iu 

 England. 



"As affording some idea of what the climate is in places, I may note that 

 we have scarlet Geraniums 6 feet hiijh with any quantity of flower on them, 

 Pelargoniums 3 or 4 feet. New Potatoes and Green Peas are plentiful, and 

 we have some of the finest Asparagus I ever saw; Peach trees about 14 or 

 15 feet high loaded with fruit about half grown ; white Arum just now bloom- 

 ing for the second time in the operr borders. A plant of Clianthua (Glory 

 Peal is about 7 feet high in the open border, anl is now showing for thou- 

 sands of flowers. 



*■ The Ferns alone would charm you. Only thinlr, when one stands looking 

 at one of those magnificent tree Ferns from 12 to iO feet high, and then look 

 around in that small space and find a rich variety of small Ferns. There 

 is a Btump of an old tree Fern iu the garden here measuring about 5 feet 6 in 

 girth. — A. GlEB.'' 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 Pkofessok Keener of Innshiiick has published an interest- 

 ing pamphlet on the Hybrid Primulace.-e of the Alps. Of 

 these he enumerates no less than twenty-five belonging to 

 the genus Primula, four to Audrosace, and two to Soldanella; 

 some of which have been treated a5 independent species, as 

 that between P. subacaulis and officinalis under the name 

 P. brevistyla, DC, and that between P. superauricnla and 

 hirsuta under that of V. pubescens, Jacq. By far the majority 

 (twenty) of the Primula hybrids belong to a single section, 

 Anricnlastrum, the remainder to Primulastrum. Of " deriva- 

 tive hybrids " — that is, those resulting from the crossing of a 



hybrid with one of its parent forms — he knows only one or 

 two certain instances. 



■ Sleei'ee's Dwarf Peach tree originated and is grown 



by Mr. Sleeper of the Oxford Nursery in Indiana, U.S. It stood 

 without protection the severe winters of 1872 and 1873, with 

 the mercury at 28" below zero, and bore the fourth crop. It 

 appears, therefore, to be very hardy. Its habit is quite dwarf, 

 being but 3 feet high at eight years old. The size of the fruit 

 is medium to large, freestone, greenish white, and a little 

 crimson in the sun, the flesh being juicy, sweet, and rich. 

 Being dwarf, winter protection would be easy. — [Indiana 

 Farmer) 



EucALvrxus GLOBULUS has had its share of attention in 



India, and without considering the question of the truth or 

 otherwise of its reputed value, it is proved that although it 

 grows quickly and with vigour on the Neilgherries and Khasia 

 hills at 5000 to 8000 feet above the sea, it cannot be induced 

 to live even for a year or two in the hot plains of India. Dr. 

 King's description of the fine old Banyan tree, " one of the 

 greatest curiosities and ornaments of the place," will, we are 

 sure, be read with interest. He says : " Although considerably 

 damaged by the cyclone of 18C4, which earned away two of its 

 largest arms, this fine tree continues to grow vigorously. It 

 now covers an area of ground 800 feet in circumference ; its 

 trunk girths 51 feet, and from its branches no fewer than 170 

 aerial roots are sent down to the ground, some of them being 

 more than 10 feet in circumference. This fine old tree sup- 

 ports quite a colony of Orchids, Ferns, and creeping plants of 

 about twenty distinct species, and gives shelter to innumerable 

 birds. Its exact age is not known, but, considering how 

 rapidly Banyans grow, it probably does not much exceed that 

 of the garden, and is therefore less than a century." — (Nature.) 



At a recent meeting of the Calitornian Academy of 



Natural Sciences, Dr. Kellogg said he had just returned from 

 under the shadow of the finest evergreens ever grown. He 

 hoped the secretary would record the fact that there were in 

 California Golden Chestnut Trees (Castanea chrysophylla) 

 from 100 to 200 feet high, 4 to feet in diameter, and with an 

 unbranched trunk of from 50 to 70 feet. 



To wherever Etjglishmen emigrate they endeavour to 



render their adopted home like "the old country." We 

 remember in India the care taken to make an Apple tree live ; 

 and the last gift handed up to an emigrant from a boat by 

 the ship's side was a lark confined in an old stocking. We 

 honour these clingings of the heart, they testify that they 

 have loved home well. We have just received another such 

 testimony as a record of another effort to make a settlement 

 at the antipodes like England. It is a well-printed little 

 pamphlet entitled " Schedule of Prizes — Grand Christmas 

 Exhibition of pot plants, vegetables, poultry, &o." To be 

 held at Hokitika, New Zealand, on December 27th and 28th. 

 The prizes are not large, but then the entrance fee is only 

 sixpence. There is but one native production encouraged, 

 one class being for " native pigeons;" first prize 10s., second 

 5s. There is the following advertisement appended which 

 may aid some of our readers : — " The undersigned makes 

 named collections of New Zealand Ferns for exportation to 

 all parts of the world. Collections named and fronds col- 

 lected for drying. — Walter Tiplee, Kanieri, Jl'estland, Ncjv 

 Zealand." 



IVY FOR CHURCH DECORATION. 



Frequently this evergreen is used in bunches in a flowering 

 state, but let me say how effective it is in churches when used 

 in its natural clinging manner. For some years I have been 

 connected with a church which has been elaborately, yet taste- 

 fully, decorated by willing helpers, who have rivalled each 

 other in their treatment of the several parts of the edifice. 

 All was perfect except the windows, and now these are made 

 so (the congregation being the judges) by the use of Ivy alone. 



The small English vaiiety is used — the sort that clings to 

 stems of trees in woods. Sprays of these are obtained, their 

 bases placed near the glass, and their points at an upward yet 

 irregular angle are trained inwards on the walled recesses of 

 the windows ; a spray is occasionally taken across the glass 

 and made to climb up and around the muUions. When taste- 

 fully—not formally— done the effect is perfect, being light, 

 airy, and so natural that it appears to be growing in its own 

 wild manner, and has found its way from the outside to the 

 inside of the church. 



The runners may be glued, tacked, or tied on the walls as is 



