136 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 17, 1S63. 



by n& means disparage it. It is clean, convenient, not likely 

 to get out of order, and so very accommodating that the pipes 

 "will mount any reasonable height and descend also, and it is 

 difficult to say how far the hot water will travel. It will circu- 

 late through pipes of any kind or size ; for I have Been them 

 round, half-round ; flat, like a three-inch plank ; and edgeways- 

 up, like an inch deal. The last was, perhaps, the most foolish 

 way of any. Generally speaking, four-inch pipes are the most 

 convenient ; I have seen some double that size and more, and 

 ■we have one house here heated by tanks, through which the 

 ■water circulates freely, and it works well. In fact, it is eo diffi- 

 cult to put any limits to what may be done in hot water, that 

 I leave the further followiog-out of the subject to other hands. 



POLMAISE AND OTHEB MODES OP SUPPLYING HEAT. — Pol- 

 maise was certainly at one time as Btrongly advocated by its 

 patrons as orchard-houses are now by those similarly disposed 

 to ride a hobby, and doubtless, to a certain extent, both are 

 right. Polmaise has fallen into disuse or nearly so, to be now 

 and then revived, perhaps under another name and with some 

 supposed improvement ; nevertheless, when it works well, I do 

 not know of any mode of heating that will beat it for the welfare 

 of the plants. Unfortunately, it is extravagant of fuel, and 

 now and then such awkward misfortunes happen with it that it 

 cannot be called safe. Many years ago Mr. Ogle, at Eridge 

 Castle, tried it and reported upon it, but he has Bince abandoned 

 it. The only place I have Been it in use of late years is at 

 Sir E. Filmer's, Bart., East Sutton, where a Pine-pit is heated 

 very well with it, and the plants do remarkably well ; but Mr. 

 Skinner, the gardener, says it is expensive in firing. There 

 have been many variations of this mode of heating, some of 

 them differing but little from the old-fashioned flue ; it is, how- 

 ever, not in general repute at the present day, neither is it likely 

 to be restored to popular favour. 



Of the temporary modes of heating pits and small houses 

 ■with Arnott or brick stoves, I cannot say much. The care 

 required to attend to them is more than can at all times be 

 calculated on from an unwilling servant, but that the enthusiastic 

 cultivator will make them answer I have no doubt ; indeed, 

 there is very little but what the really industrious and persever- 

 ing man can accomplish, and this he will be Bure to do. Guard- 

 ing against unpleasant vapour, and supplying moisture, not to 

 the plants but to the atmosphere, will do much to prevent the 

 evil effects of a mode of heating that ought only to be adopted 

 in eases of emergency. 



Relative Merits op Hot Water and a Smoke Flue. — 

 I expect the conclusion that many would come to would be 

 favourable to hot water, but I am far from certain that its 

 adoption is prudent in all cases. Certainly there are none in 

 which it will not answer as well as the flue, but then it is much 

 more expensive ; and when the heat wanted doeB not, perhaps, 

 exceed 40°, an expensive heating contrivance ought to be avoided. 

 For such structures I would, therefore, advise a flue ; but 

 where anything like forcing is wanted, with a fire every day, 

 perhaps, for six months or more, then have hot water. It will 

 pay to have it in the latter case, although not in the former, 

 for reasons that will be obvious to every one. There are also 

 some other reasons which, in some cases, may operate one way 

 or the other : thus the expense of firing is an item that may 

 determine the kind of heating, for where fuel is expensive the 

 most economical mode of using it, even if Buch apparatus be 

 costly, will be the most prudent to adopt. Where firing is 

 cheap another view of the matter may be taken. To illustrate 

 this, I will mention the two extreme prices I have paid for 

 coals. The lowest was 1*. per ton, and the highest 42s. ! Now, 

 it required very little reasoning to show that an expensive 

 apparatus to lessen the quantity of coals wanted in the one case 

 might be advantageously entered into ; while in the other, where 

 the coals were cheap, it would be an unnecessary expenditure 

 unless accompanied by other advantages. More than this need 

 hardly be Baid, nevertheless I may again return to the subject. 



J. Kobson. 



ORCHIDACEOUS PLANTS. 



The third Part of " Select Orchidaceous Plants " by Messrs. 

 Warner & Williams is fully worthy of its two predecessors, 

 which is praise sufficient. It contains jEpidendrum prismato- 

 carpum, rare, pretty, and fragrant ; Lycaste Shinneri, the most 

 useful winter Orchid we possess ; Aerides nobile, " one of the 



most beautiful of its family ;" and Lcelia Turneri, " one of the 

 finest plants known among Orchids." The coloured portraits 

 of these are exquisite, and combined with the botanical descrip- 

 tions and abundant practical notes, will render it eventually one 

 of the most complete works upon Orchids hitherto published. 



GASTEOLOBIUM CALYCINUM (Labge-calyxel* 

 Gastbolobium.) 

 Nat. ord., Papilionacese. Linn., Decandria Monogynia. — 

 A showy greenhouse shrub, of considerable value as an orna- 

 mental plant. The branches are smooth ; the leaves are opposite 

 (or ternate), elliptic, somewhat keeled, glaucous, and terminated 

 by a long pungent awn ; at their base is a pair of spreading de- 

 curved spiny stipules. The flowers grow oppositely in terminal 

 or axillary racemes, and are very large ; the standard deep orange 

 with a yellow spot at the base margined with crimson ; the wings 

 and standard deep crimson ; they grow from the axil of a large, 

 obovate, membranous, inflated, strongly-nerved bract, the nerve 

 being extended into a recurved mucro ; the calyx is very large, 

 the upper lip much largest, bifid with very obtuse segments, 

 the segments of the lower lip ovate acute. The ovary is villose 

 and distinctly stalked. 



This interesting plant was raised by Messrs. Henderson, from 

 Mr. Drummond's Swan-Biver seeds. — (Gard. Mag. of Botany.) 



