452 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 23, 1863. 



for a short time to see what prizes they have taken, and for half 

 an hour before the Show closes. 



The gardeners hare held a meeting, at which it was resolved, 

 and the resolution signed by fifty-four gardeners, that if they, the 

 exhibitors, were not to be admitted at a reasonable time after 

 the public, they would not on any account send their productions 

 to the Show. Are the exhibitors asking more than they have a 

 right to expect from the above Company ? The gardeners of 

 Belfast and neighbourhood will feel greatly obliged if the Editors 

 will pleaBe to give their opinion on this subject. — N. T. X., 

 Belfast. 



[To apply to the rule for such an exclusion of gardeners the 

 mildest term it deserves we reprobate it as very unreasonable. 

 At the London exhibitions gardeners are admitted at all times 

 during which the public are admitted, and at such exhibitions 

 gardeners certainly have as fellow- spectators members of the 

 community as high in position as they will have at Belfast. So 

 far from submitting, as the Belfast gardeners seem willing to sub- 

 mit, to be admitted " a reasonable time after the public," we 

 advise them not to submit to be admitted a second later than 

 any one else. They will have too much good sense, as have their 

 brethren elsewhere, to inconvenience any ono ; and, moreover, 

 "their presence is desirable, and we know of more than one 

 member of the aristocracy who delights in seeing and obtaining 

 information from gardeners at such gatherings. — Eds. J. or H.] 



BHOTAN EHODODENDEONS-AMAEYLLIS 

 CTJLTUEE. 



1 HAVE been anxiously expecting intelligence from Mr. Cox, 

 of Redleaf, respecting " the yellow-looking, smooth flower-bud," 

 exhibited by a Bhotan Rhododendron under his care. Have the 

 buds expanded, and what are the blossoms like ? Is it hardy, 

 and where can it be purchased ? I have heard of one this year 

 producing white funnel-shaped flowers, with a deep orange- 

 coloured centre, and most deliciouely fragrant. 



As to the Amaryllis and its varieties — I have read with much 

 interest Mr. Anderson's paper respecting this beautiful bulb, 

 and I am surprised that it is not more generally cultivated. I 

 have a fair collection, and flower them well with very little 

 trouble. When I first commenced their cultivation I had only 

 a few, but possessed a roomy hot pit, in which they grew and 

 bloomed vigorously, enabling me to make my drawing-room 

 gay during the dreariest days in winter. At my present residence 

 I have only a large greenhouse, with Melon-frames. In the 

 autumn and winter the dormant roots are stored away under 

 the flue, and kept there till my bedding Geraniums can be re- 

 moved from a deep pit, which is then filled with tan, and the 

 pots of Amaryllis, about one hundred in number, are plunged in 

 the fermenting material, and in about a few weeks come into 

 bloom, and become beautiful ornaments in my conservatory. 

 The warmth of the greenhouse enables them to mature their 

 foliage and ripen their roots. Many of my bulbs are seedlings 

 of my own, and though they might not " pass muster before the 

 Floral Committee," are really beautiful decorative objects. The 

 list of varieties given by Mr. Anderson in No. 113 is very 

 tempting, and it would be a kindness to me, and, perhaps, to 

 many others, if he would say where they are to be purchased, — 

 A Devonian. 



HEATING GAEDEN STEUCTUEES. 



(Conchided from page 436.) 



The small Araott boiler will heat 100 feet of four-inch pipe, 

 consume less fuel than any boiler known, and require less at- 

 tendance than most. 



Small boilers, however, consume more fuel proportionately 

 than larger, and take nearly the same quantity as a flue ; and the 

 firBt cost of one being nearly double that of the other, persons 

 ask themselves, " "What is the good of having a boiler when I 

 can get a flue for half the money ? " If you measure the growth 

 of plants by their cost, and can see goodness in cheapness, and 

 derive more pleasure from badly-grown plants than from those 

 Well grown, by all means keep to flues. 



A clever man may do as much with a flue as a bungler with a 

 boiler ; but give a clever man a boiler, and where is your flue ? 

 Gone for ever. If an amateur's experience is limited to flues, 

 how can he form an opinion of heating by hot water? I feel 



sure that many amateurs keep to flues for economy ; but were 

 they in a position to have a boiler, I have no doubt which 

 they would prefer. I also grant that some may have a houBe 

 heated by a flue doing good service, even better than his neigh- 

 bour's boiler ; but how much more indomitable perseverance is 

 possessed by one than the other ? More depends on a patient 

 dogged perseverance than on the merits of a system, and on a know- 

 ledge of details than all the fine theories possessed without ap- 

 plication. Diligent attention and the application of a few matters 

 will do more to insure success in cultivation than all the learned 

 ologies, as Mr. Fish puts it, with carelessness and no application. 

 Mr. Robson must take a similar view, for he wishes to heat a 

 house by hot water, which is strange considering that he pro- 

 nounces hot air as good for vegetation as hot water. Why does 

 he want hot water for a house to be kept at a high temperature, 

 when he writes flues are as good ? It appears to me as if he 

 was desirous of taking the opinion of others on this question, 

 and makes a few extreme remarks in order to provoke a dis- 

 cussion. The call has been only moderately responded to, and 

 I hope all of us will contribute our mite, and if we do, I am 

 sure the fate of flues will be sealed for ever. 



Though "E." prides himself in being able to heat a house 

 110 feet long with a flue for less money by half than the coBt of 

 a hot-water apparatus, I will not say that he cannot ; but I do 

 say he cannot keep the frost out of such a house unless he has 

 a blasting-furnace and a flue like a town sewer, and that he 

 would burn more coal in a month than will afford ample to last 

 a boiler a twelvemonth. I cannot Bee how he would heat the 

 house with one flue at all ; but he, no doubt, has a novel plan of 

 his own as rare and as simple as the one so lately given in this 

 Journal. "E." will, perhaps, tell us the quantity of space he 

 calculates a superficial foot of flue to heat, how hot a flue will 

 be after it has travelled 20 yards, to say nothing of 50, and 

 whether he could not roast a ham in the chimney after all. I 

 have known a flue fire traverse 30 yards of bricks and mortar, 

 and though the flue was not warmer than an adjoining wall, the 

 heat in the chimney was more than the hand could bear. Soot 

 in a flue, 3 inches or more thick, forms a barrier against the 

 absorbing powers of brick and prevents the flue heating, as any 

 housewife knows her oven heats badly unless it be clear of soot. 

 As "E." is so confident of his wondrous flue-knowledge, I 

 invite his attention to an estimate for heating a house for a 

 vinery 110 feet long, 20 feet wide, 5 feet high at Bides, the roof 

 a span at an angle of 45°. 



£ s. a. 



Boiler 12 



Sliding doors, &c _ 2 2 9 



Fire-bricks, snip, or fire-clay, common bricks, and mortar 16 

 Boiler-setting and chimney-building, mason and la- 

 bourer, four days, including firehole, digging and wall- 

 ing round 18 



520 feet of four-incb pipe, or 4 tons 4 cwt., at 5s. per cwt. 21 



Bends, elbows, &c, 4 cwt., at lis. per cwt 2 4 



Fixing pipes, with, materials 6 10 



45 19 

 This would contain 22,000 cubic feet, and 148 feet of heating 

 surface at a temperature of 212° would be required to heat it 

 and keep the temperature at 62° steadily ; but having also 3880 

 feet of glass, or cooling surface, four timeB that quantity of 

 heating surface will be required to secure a temperature of 55° 

 in all weathers, and six times a philosopher's calculation to 

 maintain a temperature of 60°. 



"E." will be so good as give his estimate, for according to my 

 notions he would want four flues and as many fires to obtain the 

 same heat and a result below par. The boiler would consume a 

 ton of coke fortnightly for four or six months aocording to the 

 Beason and the time the fruit is desired to be ripe, which at 6s. 

 per ton is £3 ; but his flues would consume a ton a-week of 

 small coal in all weathers (for flues do not burn coke well), two in 

 severe, which at 7s. 9d. per ton, would give 20 tons, £7 15s., being 

 £4 15s. in favour of the boiler, with one-quarter the trouble and 

 attention ; and whilst a gardener could leave his boiler and house 

 in perfect security at 6 P.M. in mild weather, and at 8 E.M. in severe 

 weather, "E." would have to stoker hard every three or four 

 hours, and go to bed late with a conviction in his mind that he 

 must be up early, long before nature is awake. Thus the boiler 

 would save £4 15s. annually, which in seven years amounts to 

 £33 5s., during which time the boiler would not coBt 6d. beyond 

 3s. 6d. in cleaning out once a-year, whilst " E.'s " flues would cost 

 at least 7s. Gd. in sweeping and washing with lime water, to say 

 nothing of repairs, and at ten years' end the boiler would have 

 saved its fust coat by consuming bo little fuel. The pipes would 



