Februkry IS. 1865.] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICUL'nrRE A2^D COTTAGE (tAT.DENEE. 



177 



water, and put a piece of cliarcoal in each glass, but the 

 water soon becomes offensive, smelling strongly of sulphni- 

 etted hydrogen. The glasses have been and are kept in the 

 window of a warm room by day, and in a warm comer by 

 night. Oi-ocnses in pots nnder the same conditions have 

 come into flower. — V. G. C. 



nPailure of Hyacinths is a oommon occurrence this year, 

 and we believe that it arises from the bulbs being taken up 

 in Holland before they have been perfected, in order to 

 supply the very early demand for them in this country. "We 

 fear that you cannot aid your Hyacinths. Try the effect of 

 adding one drop of spirit of hartshorn t<3 the water in each 

 glass. Change xhe water every week, adding the same 

 small quantity of the hartshorn to the fresh water.] 



TTDATiyG A SMALL CUCTJMBEE-HOUSE. 



Beixg a poor man, with every minute of the day occupied 

 in business, yet being passionately fond of flowers, and hor- 

 ticulture generally, I do manage by getting up early, and 

 going to bed very late, to carry out Tom Moore's advice, 

 •'that the best of all ways to lengthen our days, is to steal a 

 few hours from the night;" fiiding, also, some truthfa! 

 consolation in Longfellow' words — 



'*If yon want a thing done, you must do it yourself, John." 

 So much for preamble. 



In my spare mornings and evenings last summer I btiilt 

 myself a small house, which yon would designate " a pit," 

 I think. I bought your "Heating Manual," and "Green- 

 houses," &c., and capital little books they are, but I cannot 

 find exactly what suits my case in heating by gas, as I 

 want to do. "Well, this little house, allow me to call it 

 so, is IS feet long, 4J- feen wide (don't laugh), i feet to the 

 glass in front, and 7? feet to the glass at top. I have sunt 

 tJie path 1 foot or more to get head room. I take 18 inches 

 off the width for path, as though I yield to no man in respect 

 for crinoline, I do not wish to see it in my lirtle place, albeit 

 I am, what Miss Mitford called us all, a vagabond, alas ! a 

 bachelor ! Well, 4^ feet will be 54 inches, 18 from that will 

 leave 36 inches for border in front. Now, in this space 

 18 feet long, and 3 feet wide, last June I put a little half- 

 spent dung from my fi^mne, someloam and leaf mould cm the 

 top, and put in six Cucumber plants, strong ones, and siz 

 JTelons. I trained them up the roof, and cut scores of On- 

 cnmbers, and fifteen Melons, ripe, and pronounced of good 

 flavour. This was to the astonishment of my friends who 

 hnighed at my enthusiasm at first. 'Sovr, I want to heat 

 this little place. I arc so engaged as to fear that the fire of '■ 

 an ordinary flue, kc, would be neglected, and I have a great ■ 

 fancy for gas. I noticed recently what strikes me as a j 

 capital little boiler, and I tbinlr I can have one made of ; 

 galvanised iron by my neighbour the tinker, nraeh cheaper, 

 and as effective. Please say if earthenware pipes (3 or 4 inch, 

 which .') woiild do, and where they can be procured, what 

 leHgth, and would one-inch or two-inch lead pipes do to 

 connect with the boiler .^ One pipe to run along in front 

 close to the ventilator for top heat, the return-pipe to go, 

 covered with c l inkers, &c., below the soil. I want to use 

 this house early in spring for propagating, raising seeds, 

 &c., so I should not want to begin Cucumbers very soon. If 

 I have an air-pipe in the highest part of the flow-pipe, there 

 will be no need of an air-pipe in the boUer, I suppose. If 

 the enclosed plan wOl heat 50 feet of four-inch pipe, and 

 my piping will only be about 36 feet, so much the better for 

 me. One more query I must trouble you with, and that is 

 the best kind of Cucumber to grow in a house. Last year 

 I had what shoxild have been Ayi-es' Black Spine, but it was 

 a whit« one. The Melon was Bromham Hall, but out of the 

 sii plants there were two quite different from the others. — 



CUCUMIS SATIVL'S. 



[We congratulate you on your success. The cutting so 

 many Cucumbers, and fifteen good Melons from a low house 

 or pit^lS feet long, 4i feet wide, 4 feet to the glass in front, 

 and 7-i feet to glass at back, is proof that in such a house 

 yon have done welL The sinking of the IS-inch pathwav to 

 obtain more head room was a good idea, and we presume 

 yon used board or brick on edge to keep the three-feet bed 

 i«.a«nt firoB jour pathway, so as to keep all clear for your- 



self, ii ycu debar the dear girls and their crinoline. Now, 

 you want to heat this little narrow place, and wish to have 

 bottom and top heat, and to do it with gas, which for yotir 

 circumstances has many advantages, as by regulating the 

 tap you can also regulate the power of the gas jets, so as 

 just to keep the water warm. But tar this we believe the 

 simplest plan would have been a small furnace outside, and a 

 small flue some 4™ iaofces wide, inside measure, to gC' below 

 your bed, and return oy the pathway to the chimney. Or 

 if you mei-ely wished tcp heat, a smsjl gas stove, or a small 

 brick Amott's stove would have answered every purpose. 

 To make either of these answer for both kinds of heat, how- 

 ever, would require a chamber round them, and more trouble 

 in the management. On the whole, then, we approve of 

 such a little copper boiler as you allude to, as made ty Mr. 

 Lynch TSTiite, and if the water is not heated above 170° or 

 ISO', there will be no necessity for the iron jacket being 

 placed round it. No doubt your neighbour will make one of 

 galvanised iron cheaper, but it will not last so long. VTe 

 see no necessity for the air-tap in the boiler. If you have a 

 small supply cistern at the highest point of yotir flow-pipe, 

 that will be quite sufficient. 



We would not adtise you to have earthenware-pipes in 

 such a nice Ettle honse, but to have two nine-feet metal 

 lengths for top heat, and the same for bottom heat. Tou. 

 will thus do with about three supports for your pipes, one at 

 each end, and one in the middle. You would want more 

 ! supports for earthenware, and if a leak took place below your 

 ; cliiikers, ic, it would be difficult to get at it. With nine- 

 feet lengths, which, if three or four-inch wfll cost from 

 2s. 6(J. to 3s. per yard, you need have no more than one 

 joint in the middle of your house. We would not object to 

 theboiler being 12 or 15 inches in height instead of 10-J-. 



N ow, as from what you say, we should judge you wish the 

 matter to be as simple as possible, so that you and your 

 neighbour may do all the work required, this is how we 

 ' would advise you to do. Get your boiler of strong galvanised 

 iron if you like, or evai block tin, only it will not last so 

 long. Set the boiler so far raised above the floor that yoa. 

 can turn a rough broom of hair inside frequently to keep 

 it clean, and make sure that the smoke-opening, though 

 small, is kept clear, that the gas-smoke may escape out of 

 the house instead of being sent back again. The space- 

 of outlet should, however, be small, and the throat should: 

 have a plate across, to send the heated air back again like a 

 damper, with two otter small holes at the side to let it 

 escape. Then the next thing is to have a flange, or a hole 

 made at top and bottom for a one-inch lead pipe to be firmly 

 Boldered to each place, for connecting the top and bottom 

 pipes for heating. These will heat quickly if made of gal- 

 vanised iron or tin, bttt they will not last a lifetime like 

 the cast iron ones. Now, as already said, we will only have 

 two joints in these pipes, and that is in the middle of the 

 house. At both ends of the house we will use wooden plugs 

 for the ends of the pipes, and through these we will take the 

 connecting lead pipes. Thus for the flow-pipe, we will set 

 it in its place, make a plug — say 6 inches long, with a hole 

 in the middle of it scarcely an inch in diameter, and througli 

 that, and fastened securely with white lead, we will place 

 the end of the inch flow-j.;pe from the boiler ; the return- 

 pipe win be done the same way. Then we fasten the joints 

 of the pipes in the middle, seeing that they properly fit, and 

 after putting in some tow and red lead at the sockets, we fill 

 up firmly with the same, using a thin spatula and a mallet, 

 or even Portiand cement, pushed firmly in when as tough as 

 it can well be made. Then at the farther end, we use a 

 similar plug to each pipe, and connect them together with a 

 similar piece of lead pipe. Thus without bends, curves, or 

 more regular joints than two, the means of circulation aie 

 complete. 



But you have as yet no water in the boiler or pipes, and 

 have left no means for letting it in. We have thought, 

 however, of all that. We would in placing the flow-pipe of 

 nearly IS feet make the farther end some 3 inches higher 

 than the end next the boiler. At that highest end we would 

 drill a hole — say 1 inch — in the pipe, behind the plug, fix a 

 one-inch pipe into it securely by one end, and the other end 

 securely into the bottom of a small cistern, to rest on the 

 pipe — say 12 inches by 15. Wood will do as well as anything, 

 or :ine or galvanised iron. Here you put in the water slowly. 



