580 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[ Aue. 29, 
says : — Wherever bottom heat can be communicated 
without fermenting material, planting out is the only 
plan. If labour is scarce, one general earthing up may 
suffice ; say in March or April. Iam of opinion that a 
plant thus situated might remain for 15 years; and thus, 
as far as the question of labour is concerned, only 15 
distinct processes worth estimating would be necessary, 
producing, as a result, nearly 30 fruits.” 
r. H. wishes it to be understood, however, that it is 
most proper to give an earthing up after the fruit is cut 
from a given plant. As to bottom heat, he is still an 
advocate for a very moderate amount, estimated by the 
maxims of the old school ; speaking by memory, I be- 
leve he considers 84° max. in the height of summer 
quite sufficient. It, therefore, appears to me that the 
following points are carried out by the Hamiltonian 
system, viz. :—fruiting in much less time, with much 
less expence, in mueh less space, and in more regular 
succession. 
As to whether it ought to be called the Hamiltonian 
plan, that is hardly worth eavilling about. The ger 
of the system originated undoubtedly with the late re- 
spected T. A. Knight, Esq., of Downton, who, it would 
seem, had a presentiment of what would one day be ac- 
complished, and, admitting this, who before Mr. H. 
fally carried out the principle? Disrooting, it is now 
well known, has been caused in the main by wrong tex- 
tured soils, and by imperfect drainage, such, in those 
days, being considered perfection itself. 
If I must find fault with this system as carried out by 
Mr. Hamilton, it must be with the size of the crown ; 
with this high and moist atmosphere, the erown is un- 
doubtedly large, butthe fruitislargealso. I am of opinion, 
however, that by a much freer admission of air by day, 
and even all night if possible, this difficulty will be got 
over. I take it for granted that whatever tends to 
draw the young plant in a quick growing state,will have 
the same effect on the crown; but if plenty of heat- 
ing power is at command, as well as abundance of at- 
mosplerie moisture (in spite of dissipation), I see no 
difficulty in this respect. 
With regard to the tank system as applied to Pines, 
no plan, I conceive, can be regarded as complete which 
does not provide a perfect command of atmospheric 
moisture. It must be borne in mind that the moisture 
arising from a fermenting body is very considerable, 
and that, at least, an equivalent should be provided. 
For this purpose, I think it would suffice to have a 
cemented gutter in the front of the house, or pit, on the 
bottom of which, the lower, or return pipe should rest. 
By having a permanent supply of water ready to turn 
on by a tap at one end, the bottom pipe could be im- 
mersed in water at any time in the course of a quarter 
of an hour. A discharge plug should also be provided 
at one end, to run off the water into a drain when ne- 
cessary. The admission of air at front is a considera- 
tion; if the point of ingress could be so arranged as to 
be immediately over the piping, the air would be 
charged with moisture as it entered, and instead of 
ascending immediately to the roof, to descend in drip, 
might be made to pass through the plants.— Robert 
Errington, Oulton Park. 
5 
WINTER FLOWERS. 
As some of your amateur correspondents were some 
time ago desirous of information as to the best mode 
of furnishing the drawing-room through the winter with 
those common, though highly interesting little flowers, 
the double Daisy and the Cowslip, I will now endeavour to 
assist them. I may, however, first observe, that I have 
not been in the habit of forcing them—if forcing it 
may be called. Nevertheless, I am not without hopes 
that I may be able to give such simple directions, 
founded on the habits of the respective kinds, as may 
enable amateurs tó indulge in a winter display. A 
cold brick pit, totally devoid of artificial heat, should 
be provided for the purpose, if ever so small. The fol- 
lowing kinds would be all worthy of a place in such a pit, 
and when in blossom may be transferred successively 
to the drawing-room, and when done blooming back to 
the pit again, in the shady parts of it, until the frosts 
are over in April or May :— 
Double Daisies. Hepatica triloba. 
Primroses. | Wood Anemone 
Poppy, Anemone. | eale nUi 
Snowdrops yacinths. 
area | The Barly Forcing Tulips. 
Forget-me-not. Narcissus. 
Squills. Russian and  Neapolitan M 
Blue Navel-wort, or Ompha- iolets. 
lodes ver) Cyclamens. 
Double Daisies,—The beauty and fullness of the 
flower in the Daisy increase with high cultivation ; if 
left undisturbed in edgings for many years, they are apt 
to return, or nearly so, to the wild state. They are 
partial to free upland soils, of a nature rather sandy 
than otherwise, and cannot endure a shaded situation ; 
at least they will not flower well insuch cases, The best 
way to prepare for a display next winter would be to 
divide some old roots into single specimens forthwith, 
and plant four of them in a 5-inch pot—soil, mellow 
mer. The flower-buds should, I think, be kept cut 
away with scissors until the end of September. 
Primroses and Cowslips.—Tho Primula family is 
most numerous, and most of them possess great eligi- 
bilities for winter flowering. Vulgaris, with all its va- 
rieties, as double white, double peach or blush, double 
Scotch or crimson, double velvet, double brimstone or 
sulphur, yellow, &e. &c., are all very handsome ; but 
the double peach will prove of the easiest management, 
and is most plentiful. Added to these, the commoner 
sorts of Auricula, and some of the rich-coloured selfs, 
would make a valuable addition. As species, the P. 
cortusoides, i icali iculata, &e., are 
equally eligible for the winter pit, under proper 
management; and the common Polyanthus wil 
To obtain the Cowslip of the fields 
in the dead of winter, in perfection, will be no very 
easy task ; nevertheless, let no one despair of doing so. 
To accomplish this, I would recommend a very similar 
treatment to that detailed for the Daisy, with this 
difference, that the Cowslip likes a strong loam 
soil, approaching to a clay, to which a little old cow 
manure and old Jeaf soil should be added, with a little 
sharp sand aud wood-ashes. These should be taken 
from the fields directly and potted singly in 5 and 7-inch 
pots, and all the blossoms cut away as soon as formed. 
Most of the other Primulas will, no doubt, answer by 
similar treatment. Those for next winter should have 
their flowers cut away if possible, and excited into a 
somewhat early growth under a slight protection. 
The Poppy Anemone.—This flower does admirably in 
the winter in pots ; at least it may be had with ease in the 
course of January. I have had some in 5-inch pots, 
carrying six to eight blossoms to a pot of rich scarlet 
crimson purple, or mottled colours mixed. A bed of 
these should be sown every year about the middle of 
March, in a very warm, sunny, and sheltered situation ; 
these will bloom, on good ground, slightly the same 
autumn, In the spring following, however, they will 
blossom strongly, and will have ceased flowering, and 
be at rest by the middle or end of May. . As 
Soon as the stalks turn yellow, they may be 
taken up and laid on the ground behind a wall 
or hedge, in total shade, for a week, Some of the best 
roots should then be seleeted and potted in 5-inch pots, 
and the pots plunged in ashes in a shady aspect until 
the middle of August, covered slightly over with ashes 
to prevent their drying or requiring much water. At 
this period they should be removed to a warm situa- 
tion, plunged until the first week of October, when 
those wanted for winter work should be removed to the 
cold pit or frame, and plunged in ashes again. Here 
they will fall in with the treatment suitable to the whole 
of the things named in the preceding part of my re 
marks.—R. Errington, Oulton Park. 
(To be continued.) 
Home Correspondence. 
Polmaise Heating. — It seems that although the 
Polmaise heating may answer for the production of very 
fine late Grapes, which do not require strong forcing, it 
ean scarcely be expected to furnish, by ‘the mere 
current of warm air, ample heat for a hothouse. As an 
auxiliary to a brick flue, it appears to me to offer great 
advantages; but I cam conceive nothing more rude, or 
more unsightly and inefficacious than a wet blanket, 
which we have been directed to spread in front of the 
aperture through which the hot air is admitted. It is 
evident that if the air is really hot, the blanket ought 
to be watered every quarter of an hour, or rather in- 
cessantly. Having occasion to rebuild the flues of a 
hothouse at Spofforth which were decayed, I deter- 
mined to apply the principle of Polmaise heating, as 
subsidiary to the flues, according to my own views, after 
considering all that I had read on the subject. I en- 
tertain no doubt of their correctness, and I will state to 
‘ou the p l f g The fireplace 
is set completely within the house, its door and that of 
the ash-hole ranging perpendicularly with the inside 
front of the back wall, which is built with stone, and 
2 feet thick. It is flanked and arched over with one 
course ef fire bricks 44 inches broad, and set edge- 
ways; and it is covered over with another thickness, 
whieh perhaps was not necessary, of bricks laid flat ; 
but I had no means of ascertaining beforehand whether 
the heat would be too powerful without that covering or 
not. Anairchamber is formed on each flank of the 
fire-place uniting with its opposite over the top of the 
arch, so as to form an air eap to the whole fireplace. 
"Three half-bricks are placed at intervals on the top of 
the arcb, and a few more supports press on its curve, 
and upon them a large flag, or rather two flags, meeting 
in the middle, are made to rest, thus forming a cover to 
the entire air-chamber. An opening into the air- 
chamber is left 3 inches wide between the edge of the 
flag and the back wall of the house. On all sides a wall 
of bricks laid flat (4% inches wide), is raised on the edge 
of the surface of the flags, the back wall next to the 
aperture into the air-chamber being lower by one tier 
of bricks than the other three. Upon these side walls 
and on the flags at bottom sheet lead is soldered so as 
to form a cistern, of which the bottom is the cover of 
the air-chamber. A flag is again placed over the back 
part of the cistern, about 4 inches above the water- 
level, and it is let into the back wall of the house 
above the aperture into the hot air chamber. The hot. 
air is thus forced down on the water, which is also 
heated by the fire and hot chamber underneath. Where 
the hot air is allowed to rise from the water, a board 
sueceeds to the flag, joined on closely to its edge with a 
hinged flap, to which a fringe of narrow stripes of list 
is nailed, hanging down into the water and keeping 
itself constantly wet; the flap, which is perhaps super- 
fluous, being easily raised or lowered as found ad- 
visable, and according to the quantity of water in the 
cistern, The hot air must therefore pass through the 
steam rising from the surface of the water, and through 
a tissue always necessarily wet ; and the only appre- 
hension is, that when the fire is strong the steam may 
issue too hot; but if the heat should be too strong in 
winter, that may be easily rectified by putting some 
sand in to increase the thickness at bottom, an ex- 
pect that a very small fire will suffice. The cistern is 
ig. l.—a, fire- 
place, arched; b, 
a 2, from behind rise 
Sy into the flue; d, 
air-conduitto that 
chamber on each: 
arche 
e neck rising into 
the bottom of the 
kof 
ide of a, resting 
like a saddle on 
the arched fire- 
ace, and co- 
vered with a flat flag ; i, the covering flag, resting upon three 
half bricks on the crown of the arch, and on the upright side 
walls of the air-chamber; k, the flag let into the back wall, 
edged by a board, and hinged flap with strips of list hanging 
into the water; J, level of the water in the cistern; m m, 
pipes communicating under the flue with another cistern ; 
n, solid mass ; o, return pipe passing between the cistern an: 
end wall into the chimney at p, in the back wall q; the air- 
drains to the hot chamber descend on each side of e to the bot- 
tom of a, entering at the level of » on either side, 
g. ire; bb, air-chamber ; c, cistern; d, flag resting 
on the side walls, and three half bricks on the crown of the 
neck. Two narrow supports are placed on each of the thick- 
ness of one brick on edge, to weigh upon the arch and keep it 
tight ; e e, the places where the air-drains enter. 
supplied by a communication, through two small pipes 
with a larger cistern, which receives the run of water 
from the glass at the remotest and opposite corner of 
the pit; and, as there are two pipes, the heat must 
circulate, and the remoter cistern will moderate the 
temperature in that which is over the fire. I expect 
this simple apparatus to answer even for the cultiva- 
tion of tropical Orchidaceous plants better than the 
more expensive apparatus of pipes and boilers, which is 
more liable to get out of order. Of course it woul 
be desirable to use some contrivance for the consump- 
tion of smoke. In my house the chimney is placed io 
the corner close to the fire, and the returning flue passes 
immediately over the arch that issues and rises from 
the fire, with a view to quicken the draught by heating 
the furthest extremity of the flue. Of course I have 
dated my E to the large cistern 
that already existed in the house ; in a new building the 
cisterns might be placed perhaps more conveniently, but 
their position is good. The air-drains pass from the 
front along one side of the house under the flagged path, 
and from the opposite end of the house along the side 
and under the back path to the other side of the fire- 
place. They are made, after rising from the bottom of 
the air chamber, to fall towards their further extremity, 
that no wet may be conveyed by them to the fireplace. 
Each of their openings in the house is furnished with à 
