General Notices. 507 



another part of the tank. I have used the apparatus for more than eight 

 months, and have been highly successful in striking some thousands of plants. 

 It is certainly the most complete plan that possibly can be adopted for a 

 propagating-house." {W. E. Rendle, Plymouth Nursery; in Gard. Chron., 

 Jan. 21. 1843.) 



The idea of heating by a tank of hot water was put in practice many years 

 ago in St. Petersburg by Count Zubow, and published in the Horticultural 

 Society's Transaciions in their volume for 1820, p. 430. The water was there 

 heated by steam; but Mr. Rendle's, and also a mode adopted by Mr. Lindsay 

 in the Hammersmith Nursery, are far simpler and more economical. Mr. 

 Lindsay's method (see fig. 67. in p. 267.) is still more economical than Mr. 

 Rendle's. We have also before us plans and a description of a very eco- 

 nomical mode which has been adopted at Vienna, and which we hope to 

 publish in due time. Pipes of earthenware are used about Paris, or brick 

 flues cemented inside, as suggested by Mr. Beaton. — Cond. 



Articles of Cream-coloured Clay. — Paving Tiles for Walks, and Edgings for 

 Beds in Flower-Gardens, of a very beautiful cream-coloured and durable ma- 

 terial, have been sent us by Messrs. Wyatt and Parker. How far the price 

 may answer we cannot say, but in every other respect the improvement seems 

 great indeed. We may say the same of a very beautiful name plate of this 

 material, intended as a substitute for such plates as have been used in naming 

 the trees in Kensington Gardens. The letters are black, filled into hollows 

 indented by type, and afterwards burnt in ; and must, of course, last as long as 

 the material. Of course these name plates can be made of any size, and they 

 are intended to be fitted into a cast-iron frame with a wrought-iron shank, 

 with a disk on it either of cast or wrought iron. Whatever may be the cost 

 of these earthenware labels at first, they are certain to be much cheaper in 

 the long run than painted iron labels, which will require to be renewed every 

 four or five years. 



An Edging of Seyssel Asphalte, in lengths of about 3 ft., in thickness about 

 2\ in., and in depth about 6 in., has been forwarded to us. It has the great 

 advantage of bending when slightly heated, so as to form curved lines of any 

 description ; but its dark grey colour we are afraid will be somewhat against 

 it, at least for a year or two after it is put down. 



Palmer's Universal Steamer has been recommended to us by a head gar- 

 dener as the very best cooking utensil he knows for a journeyman gardener's 

 cooking-room. We have tried one, and found it a great improvement on the 

 common tin steamer, and the price is very moderate. Any London iron- 

 monger can supply it. 



Palmer''s Improved Economical American Oven is recommended by the same 

 gardener, for those bothies where the men can afford to have roast meat. 

 We should say that it will prove as valuable a utensil for the family of the 

 head gardener, as the steamer will for his men. We have had a leg of mutton 

 roasted in one, and also a loaf of bread baked, and found both excellent. The 

 editor of the British Farmer's Magazine, speaking of the common American 

 oven says : " It is one of the most valuable inventions of the kind we know, 

 and ought to be in every farm-house and every cottage in the kingdom. Our 

 own family bread is chiefly baked in one of these ovens placed before the fire, 

 and better bread there cannot be from any oven whatever. For roasting (not 

 baking) small joints, we know nothing ecjual to it." (^B. F. M., as quoted in 

 Supp. Cott. Arch., p. 1290.) " One fault alone remained to the American 

 oven, the inability of basting the meat, and the consequent unavoidable 

 waste of dripping, which, owing to the extraordinary reflective power of the 

 American oven, was so burnt and dried up as to render what little remained 

 quite useless. To remedy this evil, the Palmer's improved economical Ame- 

 rican oven is so constructed as to carry off all the dripping and nutritious 

 quality of the meat, hitherto wasted, into a dripping-pan, placed in such a 

 position that the meat can be thence basted with the dripping without re- 

 moving the oven from the fire, or interfering in any way with the progress of 

 the cooking." — Cond. 



