General Notices. 



227 



These results speak for themselves so far as economy is concerned, and, 

 therefore, the only thing to be considered beyond this is, which is most pre- 

 ferable with regard to management. A measure of anthracite will last much 

 longer than one of coke, but the quantity of heat given out by each will be 

 nearly the same. In the month of December last, when the weather was very 

 cold, it was not possible to keep the orchidaceous house to 60° with one 

 boiler filled with the best anthracite, but this could be done when coke, broken 

 into small pieces, was used instead. When both boilers were filled with an- 

 thracite this temperature could easily be maintained, and they would last 

 twice as long as one filled with coke. So that it comes to this, equal bulk 

 produces an equal quantity of heat; or, at least, a chaldron of coke will give 

 out as much as a ton of anthracite, the one being 20.?., the other 32s. But as 

 anthracite does not burn so fiercely as coke, it lasts longer, and gives a very 

 steady heat. This property may make it desirable for greenhouses where the 

 expense is not considered ; but in a stove with a well regulated conical boiler, 

 for every thing depends upon this, coke is not only the cheaper of the two, 

 but is much the easier to manage, requires less stoking, and burns clearer, as 

 may be seen by referring to the quantity of ashes left by each. A mixture of 

 the two kinds, in equal proportions, answers very well, with, of course, inter- 

 mediate results. 



The orchidaceous house, in which these experiments were carried on, was 

 last year heated by a flue, when we ascertained the following to be the quan- 

 tity of fuel consumed in the month of February, viz. : — 



February. 



Thermom. 

 at 8 A. M. 



Thermom. 

 at 8 P. M. 



Lowest deg. 

 during Night. 



Coal consumed 

 in 24 Hours. 



19 



65° 



64-° 



61° 



bush.* 



20 



65 



65 



64 



H 



21 



65 



65 



65 



2 



22 



65 



65 



64 



2 



23 



66 



65 



65 



2 



24 



66 



67 



65 



2 



25 



66 



61 



63 



n 



The aggregate amount of fuel consumed on the above seven days and nights 

 was 8 cwt. 2 stone 4 lb. This, however, cannot be considered as the maximum 

 quantity, for although the thermometer out of doors was so low as 24° at 

 night, yet the days were generally clear, and the house was much heated by 

 the sun. In mild weather, about 1 bushel of coals was sufficient to keep the 

 house at 65° for 24 hours. {Proceedings of the Hort. Soc.for 1841, p. 208.) 



Oyster-Shell Manure. — Pounded oyster-shells have been advantageously 

 employed as a manure on light lands, drilled in with turnip seed at the rate 

 of 40 bushels an acre ; and this quantity has, in Norfolk, been found equal 

 to 8 tons of farm-yard dung an acre. They have also been beneficially 

 used for wheat ; 4 cwt. of oyster-shells and the same quantity of rape-dust 

 have proved of equal efficacy. {Camb. Chron. and Journ., Feb. 29. 1842 ) 

 — W. H. B. 



Bran as Manure. — A correspondent invites the attention of farmers to 

 bran as manure : he says that having discovered an increase in the growth of 

 grass from the accidental application of bran, he was induced to try an ex- 

 periment with it, and he found one third of a ton of bran, which cost 31s., 

 caused an increase in a crop of hay of half a ton, worth at the time SI. ; thus 



* The weight of the bushel used is 64 lb. 

 Q 2 



