124 Queries and A^mwers. 



AviarylUs lutea. — A. S. complains that this bulb, which used to flower 

 with us every autumn, has ceased to do so for the last two years, &c. 

 This is by no means an uncommon case, the bulb being one of those which 

 descend. The Zephyranthes Alaniasco is subject to the same change of 

 habit from the same cause; and we cannot better answer the enquiry of 

 A. S., than by quoting that good and cheap little work, Maund's Botanic 

 Garden, No. Ixxii. : — "It is not unfrequently recommended that bulbs 

 which are somewhat tender be planted 8 or 9 in. deep, that they may the 

 more certainly escape the effects of cold. We think this practice only a 

 choice of two evils : that of losing the plant, or retaining it vothout flowers. 

 Tt is certain that most bulbs will not flower in perfection when planted 

 deeply in the earth ; and also that many bulbs, having a tendency, from 

 their mode of reproduction, annually to descend, require to be taken up 

 every second or third year and planted at less depth, or no flowers will be 

 produced." 



Mr. Hobson^s Work on Mosses. — I lament very much to see the death 

 of poor Hobson of Manchester (Vol. VI. p. 749.), who really was a won- 

 dei-ful fellow. I have had, for myself and friends, many copies of his first 

 volume of Sjjeeiynens of British Mosses, and had hoped he would have con- 

 tinued the work. Do you know whether he ever published a second vo- 

 lume ? — B. Coventry, .Ian. 10. 1831. 



Heating a holloiv Fruit Wall by hot Water. — Sir, Being about to erect a 

 hollow wall for fruit, I shall be glad to know how far the hot water system, 

 which answers so well for hot-houses and pits, may be adapted to the pur- 

 pose of heating walls. I have not met with any account of such an appli- 

 cation ; and beg, therefore, to trouble you with a few enquu-ies on the 

 subject, which you or some of your correspondents will, perhaps, oblige 

 me by noticing. I propose to make my wall 84 ft. long, 16 ft. high, and 

 14 in. thick ; the back and front sides 4 in. each, or a brick in breadth, leav- 

 ing the interior 5 or 6 in. wide. The back and front sides will be tied 

 together by means of bricks, made expressly for the purpose, 14 in. long; 

 and the whole wall, having a batter of about 4 in., will be supported by 

 an old stone wall having soil on the north side of it within 3 ft. of 

 the top, and being unfit for training trees against, to which I propose to 

 fasten my hollow wall by iron ties. The hollow part of the wall I intend 

 to fill up with stones, brickbats, &c., leaving sufficient space for the hot air 

 to find its way from the bottom, where the pipes will be placed, to the upper 

 part of the wall without interruption. I am inclined to think that iron 

 pipes will be the cheapest and the best, and that a bore of 4 in. will be suf- 

 ficient. Zinc pipes have been recommended to me, but I do not consider 

 them so cheap in their first cost, or so durable as iron. I have not been 

 able to ascertain that the reservoir, provided in most cases at the extremity 

 of the pipes where hot water is used, is of any real utility. I observe a 

 reservoir is spoken of as necessary where the pipes are carried to any 

 length, to keep up the temperature at the exti'eme point from the boiler ; 

 but I think the circulation of the water not likely to be so brisk where a 

 reservoir is used as where there is none, and where the water is carried 

 from the upper pipe to the lower by means of a half bend of the same 

 dimensions as the other part of the piping ; and I feel disposed, therefore, 

 to get rid of the reservoir altogether. Should any difference in the heat of 

 the farther end of the wall, compared with that part of it which is near the 

 boilei", be experienced, the only result will be that the trees nearest the 

 boiler wUl ripen their fruit earliest. Having detailed the plan I intend to 

 pursue, I would invite the criticism of such of your correspondents as are 

 conversant with the subject. I am particularly anxious to know whether 

 it has ever been attempted to heat so great a length of wall (84 ft.) by one 

 fire before, and the result. The wall is requu'ed for peaches and nectarines. 

 I am, Sir, &c. — Lincolniensis. Nov. 12. 1830. 



