334 Retrospective Criticism. 



your applying it to your " stove for various purposes ? " I apprehend 

 it was in use in Ireland for several years before we heard any thing of 

 your applying it, which I will prove by addressing myself to Mr. Lou- 

 don. Well, Mr. Editor, I suppose you have not yet forgotten your 

 old friend, now no more, Mr. Ellis, late of the Palace Gardens, Armagh. 

 In the account of his death given in the newspapers of the day, it was stated 

 that Mr. Ellis was the first to apply hot water to the heating of hothouses in 

 Ireland. Mr. Ellis had a chamber underneath the pine bed, in one of his 

 houses heated by hot-water pipes. In the year of his lamented death, Mr. 

 Ellis left a pit of queen pines the like of which had not, in all probability, 

 been seen in Ireland before, nor, I am pretty sure, have their equals been seen 

 since. They were in general 4 lb. apiece, some of them 4^ lb. The above ac- 

 count is due to the memory of a most gentlemanly man, who was possessed 

 also of undoubted talents as a gardener. The above, Mr. Niven, cuts the 

 originality of the " chambering system" from under your feet. " Ah ! now," 

 you may say, " had that ' heroic privateer ' not sent his shot into this, my vul- 

 nerable side, I might have had the credit of being the first to apply the cham- 

 bering system by hot water." Yes, Sir, but you must be aware that those who, 

 like you, " write for the public," must be prepared to abide by any ulterior 

 results. 



One word more, and I have done on the pine, in the " easy way of question 

 and answer." Well, Mr. Niven, whom did you ever hear running down large 

 pines, who could get them ? And whom did you ever hear praising small pines, 

 who could get large ones ? Answer me this if you can : for my part I never 

 heard one. You then go on to tell us about the prize having been gained at 

 the Royal Horticultural exhibition in September last, for the best pine, from 

 out of your stove. Well, what do you mean to prove by this ? Why, ac- 

 cording to your own showing, the puniest one would get the prize, at ^east 

 the largest would not gain it, if you were a judge ; you would reject the 

 largest by saying they were not better than " turnips," and give it to one of 

 those of small calibre, because they come nearer your standard. Will you, 

 once for all, Sir, give us the weight of any pines that you may cite in future 

 for examples, and we can then judge of their merits ourselves. 



You keep very silent, Sir, about what can be done in the cucumber way 

 in your stove, by "sowing in November, December, and January : you have good 

 reasons for this. Although, I admit, your account of those sown in February 

 is very satisfactory, but they will not reach two feet in six weeks from sowing, 

 will they ? I see that 23^ in. is the length that cucumbers have been 

 grown in your stove ; now, I cut a brace of cucumbers the other day off one 

 plant, 24 in. long, with the flowers at the point of them. The above were 

 grown in a pine-house that had no " chambering apparatus ;" so do not flourish 

 too much about your 23§ in. If your musas do not cover more space 

 than what you say, they are not very strong, that is all; neither have they 

 been very expeditious in fruiting, considering the account you gave us of their 

 " rapid growth," fifteen months ago. You must look sharp, or you wo'n't 

 have them ripe by September next. 



You are pleased, Sir, to call my objections " silly," against growing plants, 

 natives of the same country, together. Who said any thing about the " gross 

 impropriety" of doing so ? You, Sir, contend that plants from the same coun- 

 try can be grown equally well under the same roof; that this holds good in all, 

 or nearly all cases, I deny. Do you think, Mr. Niven, that there is no difference 

 of climate in the same country within the tropics ? Contrast a mountain with 

 a valley, and apply it. Do you suppose that Geraniaceae from the Cape, and 

 .Ericaceae from the same country, will grow equally well under the same treat- 

 ment ? Would not the latter stand a degree of cold that would totally destroy 

 the former ? Therefore, my good Sir, my objections are not "so silly" as at 

 first sight may appear. 



You will see that I am rather distantly situated, to be able to compete with 



