March 10, 1863.] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAGE GARDENER. 



181 



Day Day 



of of 



1'nth Week, 



10 



11 



12 

 IS 

 14 



15 

 16 



Tu 

 W 

 Th 

 F 

 S 

 Sen 

 M 



MARCH 10—16, 1863. 



Lungwort flowers. 



Elm flowers. 



Wych Hazel flowers. 



C. Loddiges died, 1826. G. 



Squill flowers. 



4th, or Midlkkt Sunday. 



Whortleberry flowers. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Weather near London in 1862. 



29.959—29.876 

 29.828—29.618 

 29.697—29.642 

 29.990-29.914 

 30.112-30.084 

 30.098-30.013 

 29.950—29.813 



Thermom, 



degrees. 

 59—51 

 55-37 

 58—35 

 54—38 

 49—38 

 49—39 

 46-38 



Wind. 



S.W. 

 S.W. 

 S.W. 



N. 

 N.E. 



N.E. 

 N.E. 



Rain in 

 Inches. 



.24 

 .04 

 .06 

 .02 



Sun 

 Rises. 



m. h. 



28af6 



Sun 

 Sets. 



m. h. 

 53af5 



55 5 



56 5 

 58 5 



VI. 



2 6 



3 5 



Moon 



Rises 



and Sets 



m. h. 

 morn. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



20 

 21 

 < 



23 

 24 

 25 

 26 



Clock ! 



before Day of 

 Sun. Year. 



m. s. 



10 32 



10 16 



10 



CO 

 70 

 71 

 72 

 73 

 74 

 75 



Meteorology op the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-six years, the average highest and lowest 

 temperatures of these days are 50.6° and 33.5° respectively. &The greatest heat, 67°, occurred on the 10th, in 1826 ; 12th, in 1841 ; and 15th, 

 in 1828 ; and the lowest cold, 7°, on the 10th, in 1847. During the period 152 days were fine, and on 100 rain fell. 



^.$* 



THE RESPECTIVE MERITS OE HOT-WATER 

 AND FLUE HEAT. 



HE very courteous letter of 

 Mr. Craw, at page 9, on the 

 above subject, calls for some 

 further remarks ; and if in 

 giving my views on this or 

 any other matter, I shall in any 

 way depart from the line of cour- 

 tesy which graces Mr. Craw's 

 communication, I can only say 

 that rude contradictions, and still 

 less personal offence, are never 

 intended in any article of con- 

 troversy in which I am engaged. 

 There is the less chance of such 

 intention, inasmuch that, I think 

 it agreeable at times to find a dif- 

 ference of opinion on some of the 

 subjects brought forward ; and 

 when the merits of each of the 

 plans recommended are placed 

 before the reading public, a just 

 conclusion may be arrived at as to their respective ad- 

 vantages. John Bull has generally sufficient discern- 

 ment to know what plan will suit him best, and it con- 

 sequently receives the support it deserves. The subject 

 now under consideration is one of the utmost importance, 

 not only to the professional gardener, but to the numerous 

 class of amateurs who with limited means are anxious to 

 combine to the utmost economy with efficiency. 



A competition between hot-water pipes and flues is 

 likely to enlist a much greater number of advocates on 

 the side of the first-named plan tban on that of the other ; 

 but this does not dishearten me from advocating the 

 claims of the lesser favourite. It was in certain cases 

 only that I ever meant to urge its claims to distinction, 

 and the general reader will easily comprehend that my 

 purpose was not to urge it as suitable for all places re- 

 quiring heating, but for those so circumstanced as to fuel 

 and other things, as to make it advisable to adopt the 

 much-despised flue. To make my purpose clear, it will 

 be necessary to allude to collateral matters bearing on 

 the heating of glass structures. 



In large places where a number of forcing and other 

 houses are connected together, it is almost needless to 

 say that a well-constructed hot-water apparatus is deci- 

 dedly the best mode of heating yet known. I give this 

 opinion without any reserve whatever as to the price 

 of fuel or other local circumstances. The respective 

 claims of the various boilers and other fittings I will 

 leave until another time : suffice it here to say, that I 

 cordially agree with Mr. Craw, and others, that for such 

 large and varied structures hot-water pipes stand pre- 

 eminently before flues. But when an amateur puts up a 

 small greenhouse to contain a few plants, or, perhaps, a 

 vinery, which he is not particular about forcing very hard, 

 No. 102.— Vot. IV., New Series. 



it then becomes an object of consideration to him to adopt 

 the cheapest and most efficient mode of heating that he 

 can consistently with a tolerable certainty that it will 

 work well. 



Now, my experience teaches me, that although hot 

 water heats and does its work well on a large scale, it 

 does not do so when the parts are diminutive. Althoug h 

 a large or moderate-sized boiler answers admirably, a 

 small one is often a source of continual trouble and 

 vexation. The reason of this is obvious enough. A fire of 

 fair size will act and do itB work well ; but a very small 

 one fed by some of those self-feeding contrivances re- 

 commended by the inventor, is liable to go out altogether 

 before consuming one-fourth of the fuel, the fuel stick- 

 ing in the throat of the hopper or feeding channel. This 

 is one reason I have against heating small houses with 

 diminutive hot-water contrivances, and I have seen 

 several disasters from the cause I speak of ; while to avoid 

 them, a frequent and confining attention is required, 

 alike inconvenient and punishing to all but the ardent 

 admirer of the contents of the house. This is one of the 

 cases in which I either would advise the old flue, or 

 suggest another description of boiler and heating appa- 

 ratus than many of such as are now in use. 



The next case in which flues have advantages, is in such 

 a place as the one where I noticed they had been worked 

 so long — Ravensworth Castle, where coals are cheap, even 

 more so, I believe, than Mr. Craw has estimated them at. 

 But allowing them to cost 4s. per ton, it follows that it is 

 hardly so necessary to go to a great expense in erecting a 

 heating contrivance to economise coals at that price, as it 

 would be if they were 34s. per ton, and even greater 

 extremes than these sometimes are met with. In my 

 own practice, the highest price I remember ever giving 

 for coals was 40s., and the lowest Is., or Is. 6d., and it 

 appears that economy of fuel at the last-named price is 

 not a matter of sufficient importance to be worth spending 

 a large sum in the erection of a peculiar mode of econo- 

 mising fuel. It is, therefore, in places where coals are 

 cheap that I think the merits of the old-fashioned flue 

 are often overlooked ; for supposing the saving in coals to 

 be one-half, or even more, it is not an important affair 

 where they are so cheap, and in like manner where the 

 structure requires only to be kept at a low temperature, 

 as for instance, an ordinary greenhouse, where it is only 

 necessary to apply fire to prevent the internal atmosphere 

 falling below 40°, the number of times a fire is really 

 wanted is comparatively few. 



Take, for instance, the present winter — an unusual one 

 it must be admitted; but up to the time I write, the 

 16th of January, we have not had sufficient frost yet to 

 kill out-door Geraniums. Some variegated ones in a 

 rustic vase in front of my cottage, fully exposed, that 

 were injured and lost most of their leaves in November, 

 by some frosts we had then, have evidently not been 

 killed in the stem, as they are now shooting out again. 

 Firing for greenhouse purposes has, therefore, only been 

 necessary to drive out damp; and the frosty nights in which 

 a fire is required to protect the plants, will, most probably, 

 No. 754— Vol. XXIX., Old Series. 



