Queries and Answers. 36 7 



The Thousand-headed Cabbage, Chou a Mille Tetes, which you say has 

 been recently introduced by Dr. Hamilton, was cultivated by a Mons. Leco- 

 chere, at Widefield farm, Waplesdon, near Guildford, in 1808, to a consi- 

 derable extent, who saved large quantities of the seed for sale ; but, meeting 

 with little success, he abandoned it. He published a small tract on its 

 merits. Many of the London seedsmen grow the seed now for sale, but 

 as the demand is so very limited, it may be said to be almost out of request ; 

 those who have tried it having found it not so valuable as the Drumhead, or 

 Scotch Cabbage. 



While on the subject of cabbages, let me observe that the Turnip Cab- 

 bage, called also the Hastings Cabbage and Cape Cabbage, was first 

 brought into notice in field culture by Mr. Wynne Baker, the intelligent 

 secretary to the Dublin Agricultural Society, about 1734; and that the 

 Turnip-rooted Cabbage was first introduced by John Reynolds, at Addis- 

 ham, near Wingham, Kent, in 1763. See Dossie's Mem. of Agriculture, vol. i. 

 p. 420., and Trans, of Soc. of Arts. The Kohl Rabi, a purple Hungarian 

 turnip ; Red Turnip Cabbage, 1 find advertised for sale, at Grigg's Coffee 

 House, Covent Garden, in 1 774. — M. H. 



Art. VIII. Queries and Answers. 



COMPARATIVE Advantages 'of Smoke and Hot Water in heating Hot-houses.-. — 

 Sir, I have for some time employed myself, preparatory to building a range 

 of forcing-houses, in enquiring as to the comparative advantages of the old 

 smoke flues, and the recently introduced system of hot-water pipes. The 

 opinions of the most experienced horticulturists are so equally divided and 

 opposed regarding these two methods of generating heat, that I feel quite 

 perplexed which to adopt, and therefore take the liberty of addressing this 

 letter to you, in hopes that, through the medium of your Gardener's Maga- 

 zine, you will be kind enough to communicate either your own sentiments 

 on this subject, or to request some of your numerous contributors will 

 favour the public and myself with a comparison of the advantages and dis- 

 advantages of both systems. I ought perhaps to mention the opinion given 

 to me by one experienced gardener, who has been for some time working 

 houses on both constructions, that hot water causes a decidedly more luxu- 

 riant growth of wood and larger fruit, but that the flavour is always inferior 

 to what is grown in houses on the old principle ; he believes the pipes are 

 perfectly air-tight, but has never used a hydrometer, and, on that account, 

 the accuracy of the comparison may perhaps be questionable. You will 

 also, I think, be conferring a benefit on the public, by a paper respecting the 

 application of hot water to the growth of melons, cucumbers, early pota- 

 toes, &c, in pits, accompanied by a plan. In districts where coals are 

 plentiful, the annual expense (independent of the first cost) would probably 

 be considerably less than in the use of fermenting horse litter, and tend 

 much to prevent the disagreements between the gardener and farmer, which 

 in all establishments too frequently occur. I am, Sir, &c. — R. H. R. 

 Feb. 24. 1830. 



The result of what we see and hear is, that the mode of heating by hot 

 water, whether in stoves, forcing-houses, green-houses, or hot walls, is 

 decidedly preferable to steam or smoke flues, or any other mode hitherto 

 in use. For hot-beds we do not say that hot water is superior to dung, but 

 we think it at all events equal to that material. — Cond. 



Mr. Hay's System of heating Pits. — Sir, I wi->hyou would state your opinion 

 on this subject, giving an estimate of the expense of say two pits, one in 

 front of the other, each 27 ft. 8 in. long, admitting a steam chamber at the 

 end 10 ft. 6 in. broad, and giving 6 ft. 6 in. in £r \v the bed ; the upper one for 



