January 5, 1871. 



TOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



for smoke and heated air, and yet a surface presented to throw 

 back the greater amount of rising heat over the boiler. 



There are here two things well worthy of attention. First, 

 many of our readers who are new to such matters become con- 

 fused in BO much talk about slits in furnace doors and con- 

 fining heat by dampers. This wonld be simplified if it were 

 understood that a good heat must first be obtained before either 

 regulating slit or damper can be used. In producing that heat 

 there is no means for preventing waste of heat up the chimney 

 at first. Thus, it we went to the furnace of " A. Y.," with the 

 •fire out, we would clean out the firebox, clinkers, &e., keep- 

 ing ;the ashpit door shut, then we would clean out the ashpit, 

 making for our own comfort as little dust as possible. In all 

 that " B. S." says of a clean ashpit we thoroughly agree. 

 Were this little matter better understood, we should not have 

 young fellows coming in dire perplexity telling us that the fire 

 would not draw, and no wonder, when the ashpit was stufi'ed 

 up to the bars with ashes. Any old washerwoman would have 

 shown more sense. Catch her suffocated with smoke because 

 the ashpit was filled up ! 



On lighting the fire we would leave the ashpit door open to 

 have a good draught, waste of heat notwithstanding, just as in 

 Sighting a fire in an iron stove we would leave the ashpit door 

 partly open until we had a good fire. It would only be when 

 we found the pipes from the boiler getting warm we would 

 partly shut the furnace door ; then when warm enough, shut it 

 altogether, and merely admit a little air by a valve or otherwise, 

 and shortly afterwards we would use the damper, as our object 

 would be to continue the heat by slow combustion, and not to 

 make it greater. It is possible by a careful use of the air at the 

 ashpit door that the damper may be rendered as unnecessary in 

 the case of a boiler, as in that of an iron or a brick stove, but 

 according to our present impressions we should like to have 

 the damper in addition. 



We have frequently stated that for a small single house 

 heating by hot water cannot but be expensive, as the waste is 

 so much greater in proportion to the small space heated. 

 Hence, for small detached greenhouses, heating by a flue 

 either above or below the floor will always be more economical 

 and require less trouble than hot water. In large houses, or 

 a series of houses, the matter is different. The economy con- 

 sists in the heat being pretty well absorbed in a clean flue 

 before the heat reaches the chimney, and then because the 

 material of the flue holds heat once given to it longer than 

 water. 



Our experience with stoves led us first to be thoroughly con- 

 vinced of what we had previously acted upon — the small quantity 

 of air sufiicient to keep up a slow combustion and the neces- 

 saiy heat after that heat had first been obtained. Just bear in 

 mind that the damper and ashpit v.ilve become valuable only 

 after heat has first been obtained. 



Here we may add, that provided " A. Y." has a close-fitting 

 ashpit door, he might have three or four holes drilled in the 

 centre of it, each about one-eighth of an inch in diameter, be- 

 fore going to the expense of brass valves, and it he do so, will 

 he kindly report the results ? We shall be sure to find better 

 data in such cases than from the furnaces of large places, as 

 there it is so dif&oult to get little matters attended to — even 

 valves are knocked to pieces with a stroke of a poker, or a 

 barrowload of fuel is pitched over them, and there is nobody 

 to bear the blame. Attentive amateurs will be our best help as 

 respects economic heating. 



The second matter to which we wish to allude is simply this, 

 that a small boiler and as small a furnace as possible are by 

 no means synonymous with economical heating. A gardener 

 of large experience, who has taken to a small nursery, has lately 

 told us the trouble he has had in heating a house with a small 

 boiler, and the furnace so small that two or three spadesful of 

 fuel fill it. Now, in such a case there must have been almost 

 constant poking, and, of course, valves and dampers must have 

 been at a discount. The boiler in this case was placed accord- 

 ing to what we believe to be a too-general error; small as it 

 was, it rested on the level of the firebars ; the belief somehow 

 having got about that the more the boiler formed the firebox, 

 the greater would be the heat absorbed. Now, in several such 

 cases as that referred to above, great advantage, and economy 

 in fuel too, have been obtained by letting the little boiler 

 remain as it was, and sinking the firebars beneath it to the 

 depth of one or two firebricks ; more firing could thus be used 

 at a time, and when the heat necessary was obtained, the con- 

 tinuous heat could be easily regulated by the ashpit door and 

 damper, without so frequently and wastefully poking the fire. 



We think these simple matters more important than what 

 " A. Y." further requires, " How large a fireplace should be to 

 allow of sufficient coal being put on to burn, and to keep up 

 heat during the night ?" but we shall be glad if some reader will 

 contribute to the object desired. For ourselves, long ago we 

 made some experiments in this way, but we found that dif- 

 ference of fuel and difference in circumstances made such 

 astounding differences in results, that we came to the conclu- 

 sion that no rule thus obtained could ever take the place of 

 careful watchful attention to individual cases. A furnace to 

 consume such fuel as " R. S." uses, may be much smaller than 

 a furnace to be supplied with ashes, cinders, breese, or the 

 cheapest and best heat-giving fuel. A very small furnace, 

 unless for a very small place, is generally a mistake every way, 

 and by the poking, and punching, and frequent supplies re- 

 quired, consumes more fuel than if it had been larger. A 

 similar error is constantly committed by those who have their 

 little houses heated by hot water, which houses could only be 

 safe in such severe weather as we now have, by heating the 

 water nearly to the boiling point. It would be far more eco- 

 nomical in the long run, and better in every way, to have a 

 third more piping, and never have the water higher in tem- 

 perature than from 160° to 180°. A first saving here is any- 

 thing but ultimate economy. — E. F.] 



NEW BOOK. 



The "Field Quarterly Blagazine and Review." Vol. 

 London : H. Cox. 



I. 



Four, issues of this quarterly publication are now united in a 

 well-bound volume. The contents are exclusively good selec- 

 tions from the Field weekly newspaper, and combine especially 

 information relative to all our national sports and the country 

 house. 



LATE PEAS NORTHWARDS. 



Aftee two mouths' silence Mr. Porter now says I put Veitch's 

 Perfection in the wrong place as a late Pea, which I emphati- 

 cally deny ; I say this as my own experience, which is more 

 than Mr. Porter can say, for had he grown it and Ne Plus Ultra 

 side-by-side, he would have proved the difference to be in 

 favour of Veitch's Perfection. If this has any weight, I may 

 say that I exhibited at the Prestwich Floral and Horticultural 

 Show in August, 1870, a dish of Veitch's Perfection as well as 

 Ne Plus Ultra, and the first prize was awarded to Veitch's Per- 

 fection, which also took the same honour in September at a 

 local show held a short distance from here. Has any practical 

 gardener (which Mr. Porter is not) accustomed to this part of 

 Lancashire seen Peas late in November ? Certainly neither Mr. 

 Porter nor anyone has done so this year, though it is a pity he 

 does not state the exact date (he says late in November), and i£ 

 he saw Peas growing after the 20th of November. Between 

 November 20th, and the same date of December, the frost at 

 night varied from 3° to 9°. 



Ne Plus Ultra is undoubtedly a first-class Pea, as I said at 

 page 324, but I have yet to learn that it is better than Veitch's 

 Perfection for late supply. I distinctly remembered that when 

 I pulled up, at the end of October, the haulm of Veitch's Per- 

 fection, sown at the same date as Ne Plus Ultra — though Veitch's 

 Perfection was a week later in coming in — Ne Plus Ultra was 

 quite dry, while the other was quite green. Though, as I stated, 

 I gathered the last dish on September 30th, it was by no means 

 the last of the Peas, as I found them very useful for soups up 

 to the end of October. I have no doubt what I gathered for 

 soups would have made some families dishes, but I ceased 

 gathering as soon as the cook said the peas boiled irregularly. 

 I intend seeing whether it is possible to gather good peas, say, 

 at the end of October and beginning of November. I have not 

 seen any at that time good, but merely fit for soup, whether in 

 Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, or Lancashire. — Stephen 

 Castle, Bent Hill Gardens, Prestwich, Manchester. 



DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA. 



Messes. Veitch & Sons have grown this plant for a con- 

 siderable time in their houses at Chelsea. 



In London, as in California, this curious plant possesses the 

 same irresistible attraction to insects, and as I have repeatedly 

 examined living plants at Chelsea, perhaps the following notes 

 may have some interest. 



■ihis so called Pitcher Plant, when fully grown, resembles in 



