iS88. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



147 



Emmie Kicker, Neesima and Lilian B. Bird 

 were very distinct and of ricli and rare 

 colors, especially Mrs. Tattler, a larse double 

 flower composed of long feathery petals of 

 a very clear shade of rose pink; and Neesima 

 a very full Hower of great substance and of 

 the richest orange yellow color. 



About Brick Flues. 



L. B. PIERCE, SUMMIT CO., OHIO. 



My experience with sewer pipe for a green- 

 house fine was very unsatisfactory from two 

 reasons. One was the difficulty cleaning, 

 and the other from expansion and contrac- 

 tion, which kept the joints in a more or less 

 leaky condition. 



I have built a number of brick flues, and 

 the folU>wing is the way my present one is 

 constructed. The ground was first graded 

 and then two parallel .strips of fence boards 

 laid down. On these pieces of brick were 

 set edgeways. On the bricks I laid a floor 

 for the flue, of burned clay slabs twelve 

 inches wide, and are made of sewer pipe 

 clay mixed with one-fifth sawdust, and are 

 used, I l)elieve, in constructing fire-proof 

 buildings. They have a rebate of one inch 

 at each end, so by reversing every other 

 piece they lap by, and prevent the mortar 

 dropping out, which it is sure to do with a 

 floor made of brick. On this floor, which 

 has a clear space of four inches under- 

 neath, I make the sides of tlie flue of three 

 bricks on edge. The two lower courses are 

 set perpendicular, while the upper one is in- 

 clined inwards one inch, making the upper 

 edge of the flue six inches in the clear, and 

 giving the eight inch brick top a bearing of 

 one inch at each end. 



It is not necessary to get a mechanic to 

 build the flue if one has a little gumption. 

 To build it rapidly and workmanlike a 

 couple of forms to build against are needed. 

 I take four pieces of wood twelve and one- 

 half inches long and three wide. One end is 

 tapered so as to be but two inches wide, com- 

 mencing four inches from the end. To two of 

 these pieces a straight board one-half inch 

 thick, eight inches wide, and forty inches 

 long, is nailed with one foiu- inches wide at 

 the side of it, on the beveled part. Another 

 is made like this, and the two together sepa- 

 rated by a bit of inch board, are just the form 

 of the inside of the Hue. The brick are rapidly 

 laid up against the outside of these forms, 

 and when the end is reached, the bits of board 

 are removed and the forms slipped along 

 another length. When every thing is ready, 

 six feet an hour can be built at a cost of twenty 

 three cents for material per foot. The top is 

 covered with a single course of brick laid 

 crossways. A flue constructed in this way 

 with a return is large enougli to run a house 





I I 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. i. 



Fig. 1. a. Board suppoi-t. b. Bricks an edge, c. 

 Flat tile, a. End of forms irith separating board be- 

 tween and half inch sheeting on outside, e, Tiro 

 courses placed perpendicular, f, Slanting course. 

 t/, Coveri7ig. Fig. 'i. a. Brick on edge, b, d. Three 

 inch Drain tile, c, Brick laid flat. 



LAYING UP BRICK FLUES. 



9x(i0, My furnace is long enough for four f(jot 

 wood, with grate bars two feet long; it is 12 

 inches wide and l.i high. I burn part bitu- 

 minous coal, and have to clear the flue 

 about three times in a winter. To do this I 



take a reamer bit and bore a hole at the up- 

 per corner of a brick on the lower tier. Then 

 with a compass saw, saw out and remove 

 the brick. Then with a stove cleaner, with 

 a handle 4 feet long, clean four feet each 

 way, raking the soot into a dust pan. 

 Another is made eight feet farther, and so on . 

 Before replacing the brick I put about a 

 peck of carpenters' shavings in the flue and 

 saturating with coal oil, touch a match to it. 

 It blazes with a roar and a whiz, sweeping 

 all remaining particles of soot up the chim- 

 ney, or distributing it evenly on the floor of 

 the flue. I begin at the end of the flue 

 nearest the chimney, stopping each opening 

 as I go along. In this way a flue can be 

 cleaned by letting the fire get low on any 

 sunshiny day without tearing down the flue 

 or ttUing the house with gas. 



An acquaintance heats a house Ki x .50 

 with a return flue, the inside of which meas- 

 ures .S X Ih inches. The brick are laid flat 

 ways and the top and bottom consist of three 

 inch drain tile 12 inches long laid crossways. 

 This nuikes a heavy flue with a light top, 

 uniting the capacity of radiating a large 

 amount of heat at night, with the ability to 

 radiate it rapidly when the fire is made in 

 the morning. Dealers in Are bricks can 

 furnish tiles two inches thick and 13 x 1.5 

 inches large, and these are proper for a 

 furnace cover They will last ten years. 



The throat of a flue should be built at an 

 angle of not more than 2:i with tlie hor- 

 izontal, and then the light ashes that lodge 

 there can be removed with a long handled 

 scraper from the f uruace door. It sometimes 

 happens that a flue refuses to draw on the 

 evening of a very cold night, or Sunday 

 mornings, or some time when it is very in- 

 convenient to clean out. At such times a 

 passage for the smoke good for twenty-four 

 hours can be made by placing the muzzle of 

 a fowling piece heavily charged with pow- 

 der at the throat of the flue, and discharging 

 it. I have heard it stated that a handful of 

 zinc scraps thrown occasionally on the red- 

 hot coals will prevent the formation of soot 

 by bituminous fires, but never having the 

 zinc, I have not been able to test it. 



Chinese Primroses in the House. 



E. L. P. 



There are, I think, no plants so valuable 

 for window culture or more easily grown, if 

 the right conditions are observed, than the 

 Chinese Primulas. They are unequaled as 

 winter bloomers, giving a succession of 

 flowers throughout the season, and are 

 prized both for the beauty and the delicate 

 fragrance of their foliage and flowers. 

 Many seem to think Primulas are success- 

 fully propagated only in a greenhouse, 

 hence we find amateurs often reluctant to 

 attempt their culture. 



The single varieties are easily grown from 

 seed, and range in color from pure white to 

 dark crimson. There is quite a diversity in 

 the foliage also. Some of the flowers are 

 crimped or fringed, and others of the pink 

 or crimson sorts are curiously mottled and 

 striped with white. The seed should be 

 sown in June or .luly, and soil prepared as 

 follows: Take some leaf mold, about twice 

 as much loam, and enough sand to make 

 the whole light and porous. Mix all and 

 pass through a fine sieve; fill a small shal- 

 low box to within an inch of the top, and 

 press down evenly. Then after watering 

 the earth thoroughly, the seed may be sown 

 on the surface with the lightest possible 

 covering of soil, and kept constantly moist. 

 It is best to place a piece of coarse brown 

 wrapping paper on the soil to exclude light. 

 If a fine rose watering pot is not available, 

 water as needed may be gently poured on 

 the paper, which should be lifted at night to 

 give air and entirely removed as soon as 

 signs of the plants appear. 



When the plants are large enough to han- 

 dle they may be transplanted to another 

 box, and when still larger put into the pots 

 in which they are to bloom, as they are sure 

 to do the first winter. After blooming the 

 plants throw out sets which may be taken 

 olf and treated the same as other cuttings. 

 Those that have bloomed indoors should be 

 set out in a shady place in the summer, and 

 if Hower buds appear pinch them off. Never 

 allow the sun on the seed pan or the plants. 



Home-Made"Hanging Baskets. 

 To make a hanging receptacle for plants, 

 no plan is easier than that shown in the ac- 

 companying figure. The materials may be 

 any small sticks, either with the bark on or 

 not, for the sides, and an inch board sawed 



Home-MatU Hanging Baskets. 



to any desirable shape for the bottom. In 

 the engraving the bottom is shown to be of 

 a triangular shape. 



In the construction of such a plant holder 

 the sticks for the sides, may be from six to 

 ten inches in length. The tops may be left 

 square as here shown or else be pointed or 

 shaped as fancy may suggest. Two inches 

 from the top of each piece a hole is made 

 and through these holes together a stifl" wire 

 is drawn for giving strength to the top The 

 pieces are nailed to the bottom with common 

 brass or white metal nails. Three or four 

 pendents of wire and attached to a ring or 

 hook at the top should be fastened to the 

 horizontal wire at equal distances apart for 

 supporting the affair. 



In filling such a holder it should first be 

 lined with moss the green side out. The 

 mode of construction described is also 

 adapted to the making of tasteful window 

 and veranda boxes, as well as of the earth 

 receptacles for lawn vases. 



•57.5. Pine for Shelter Belt. Plant a double row 

 if pcssible, about twenty-flve feet apart, and let 

 the plants be placed from four to five feet apart 

 in the row according to the height of the trees, 

 removing every other one as soon as they com- 

 mence to touch each other. They can be planted 

 at any time after the middle of April, and until 

 ^■i-t)w"tli commences. There will be no necessity 

 to cut thcui back in transplanting. I would, how- 

 ever, advise your correspondent to plant Norway 

 .Spruce for shelter belts, instead of the White 

 Pme.-C. E. P. 



1)06. Quinces on Hack, They wiU do fairly 

 well in such a situation, provided it is not too 

 close in texture. But for my part I would not 

 plmit in .•inch a place. I would rather give them 

 a good giirden soil, where with a little attention 

 as to trimming and manuring, a satisfactory 

 crop will he ensiircii annually.— C. E. P. 



.5112. Scraping Tree Bark. Old rough bark af- 

 fords a harbor for insects, and it is decidedly 

 beneficial to scrape it from the trees. The scrap- 

 ing, however, must be very carefully done, so as 

 not to injure the living bark.— C. E. P. 



.587. Musk Melon for Forcing. The early 

 Hackensack is the best variety and should be 

 started in a hot-bed about the first of May. To 

 start them procure a quantity of three-inch pots 

 (the precise number depending upon the number 

 of hills to be planted) and fill with ordinary pot- 

 ting soil. In each pot place four or five seeds, as 

 far apart as possible. Or else procure a quantity 

 of sods, and cut in pieces four inches square, on 

 these iin crted the seeds can he placed precisely 

 as!i(l\iscii for pots. Then the pots or sods can 

 be phu-cd in the hot-bed. where water and air 

 slioiil<I be "-arefully gi\'en as required, and as s<ton 

 as t he jiluiits attain their rough lea\'es they should 

 be tf i-aduully hardened off and planted out to- 

 wards the end <)f the month. If the planting out 

 is carefully done the plants will not be disturbed 

 or suffer in the least.— C. E. P. 



