January 12, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



33 



be pottfid early, so as to afford time for roots to form before the leaves 

 start into growth. Cinerarias are much injured in a temperature of from 

 60^ to 65^. They can be forced ; indeed we have now in a pit at 45"' to 50^ 

 upwards of a hundred plants that will flower finely nest month. They 

 are in S-inch pots. 01 Primulas in a temperature of tiO- to 65- we hare 

 no experience. Ours are now in fine bloom in a greenhouse at a tempe- 

 rature of 40^ to 45°, the highest temperature they require. "We know 

 that Geraniums may be packed away in autumn in a cool dry place, but 

 safe from frost ; and if potted in March aud encouraged with heat and 

 moisture, they will be in good condition by the end of May— quite as 

 good as those wintered iu a glass structure. We see nothing in your treat- 

 ment but what is sound. 



Increasing- Heat feo:j Hot Water (H. Fo;;).— You cannot do better 

 than as you propose — add another pipe all round, connecting the flow and 

 return with 1-inch piping. Strong pipes may be had with a screw 

 formed at each end ; or you may have one screw, and the other end to go 

 lirmly into a socket pipe. We have found that by connecting with inch 

 pipe in the mode proposed, if the inch pipe is inserted in the side, and 

 the added pipe is on the same level, the fresh pipe will be scarcely so 

 liot as the first are; but if the inch pipe is inserted near the upper sur- 

 face, and the fresh pipe is an inch or two higher all round, then the heat 

 will be about equal. 



Vines in Pots Injured {G. B. ^.}.— Under the circumstances we would 

 cat the Vines as low as convenient, and let them start naturally the first 

 season, taking one shoot from each. You can give a little extra heat in 

 summer and autumn to ripen the wood earlier. 



Gas Estixguished bv Down-draught (S. K.). — Try suspending a 

 thin sheet of talc or of iron over the gas lights. 



Air Circulating in Ice House (B. E. P.}.— The propriety of air 

 passing through an ice well, or house, would depend on whether the 

 house was empty, and whether the air was warm or frosty. In keen 

 frosty weather free air to the ice house would he an advantage. We 

 prefer dry straw to cover ice, though we seldom use any. 



Tax on Gardeners— Heat froic Dung {T. H. T.).— Every gardener, 

 whether he lives on tbe premises or not, subjects his employer to a tax 

 on his account. In fact, more than that, according to the celebrated 

 decision in the Duke of Marlborough's case, every old labourer who 

 carries a broom in a garden or pleasure ground, may render his employer 

 liable to a similar tax. Tiiis, however, is seldom resorted to in practice, 

 and it would be very hard if gentlemen who kindly employ a number of 

 extra men on their demesnes, when work is scarce in winter, would also 

 be mulcted by a tax on their generosity. Fresh dung merely thrown 

 • together into a bed will not keep heat long, hut will soon heat itself dry, 

 and especially in such weather as we have lately had. If you turn it over 

 now and add a little more water where dry, it \yill soon heat itself again. 

 If you caunot do that, then prepare a little more dung, get it hot, aud 

 take what you can away from the outside of the old bed, add the 

 fresh, and watch the results. We know of nothing better as a weeping 

 tree exposed to the sea air than a Weeping Willow, or a Weeping Ash, but 

 near Ilfracombe we would try the beautiful Sophora japouica pendula, 

 grafted some 13 or 15 feet from the ground. The wood has a beautiful 

 tinge even when the leaves have fallen. Cupressus macrocarpa planted 

 six years may be transplanted, if care be taken to trace the roots and 

 taLe* it up with a ball of roots. We would, however, defer the operation 

 until the end of March. 



Waedian Fern Case (E. S.).~We know of no makers but those who 

 advertise in our Journal. Write to Mr. Fox, Arcade, Royal Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, South Kensington. He may give you information. 



Cheap Hot-water Apparatus (iancosTit re).— Thanks, we will ascer- 

 tain if it is suitable. 



Hot-water- heating Failure {E. C. S.).— We think that if you will 

 read carefully ihe article of " R. S.,'* page 321, October 27th, and the 

 questions and the answers respecting it, at pages 8 and 9 of the current 

 month, you will most probably find out the cause of your want of success. 

 If your boiler is suScient for double the piping, it still must be rather 

 small, when, though tubular, it can hold only about half a bushel of coke. 

 In such a case we would not use the coke over-large, but break it sufS- 

 cientiy to be close together, but not to make it too small, yet so that the 

 largest pieces should be from the size of eggs to that of walnuts, and the 

 smallest from the size of beans. If you could obtain it we would have 

 half of the coal used by "K. S." The great cause, however, of your 

 failure from the fael caking, and the fire going out beneath it, we think 

 is owing to the admittance of too much air from the ashpit door. This 

 better attended to, with the last feeding of the furnace pressed down 

 rather firmly, and the help of a damper, would, we think, do away witn 

 your troubles. But this will not be the case unless two things be kept 

 iu mind and acted on: — First, That every furnace and every boiler, 

 though apparently scores of them seem exactly alike, will each have 

 some little peculiarity, and that peculiarity can only be knoivn by practi- 

 cal observation. Secondly, In adding fuel to a furnace for the last time 

 at night in severe weather, it is well to bear in mind, that the fuel added 

 is loss intended to raise the temperature in the house than to keep it 

 from falling over-much It is, therefore, important to have a good heat 

 before adding the last fuel. 



Hot-water Piping Necessary (W. G.).— For a span-roofed house 

 16 feet by 10 feet, we do not think that one 4-inch pipe as a flow, and a 

 similar pipe as a return, would be sufficient to keep up a temperature of 

 4.- in such weather as we have had lately. Such pipes all round would 

 be safer. Much, however, would depend on how near the glass comes to 

 the ground on each side ; if within a foot or so of the ground, a third pipe 

 at the side and end wouM, at least, be necessary, not but that the pipes 

 alluded to would throw off much heat if the water were near the boiling 

 point, but it is always a waste of fuel to make it so hot. Four-inch glazed 

 drain-pipes well cemented at the joints, would do for hot water just as 

 well as iron pipes. In the first house we saw heated by hot water, such 

 pipes were used. It is well to have an iron pipe for at least a yard from 

 the boiler — flow and return. Considering the number of ioints, if the 

 liipes are of the usual size, and their greater liability to accidents, they 

 are, on the whole, not equal to ii'on pipes. As you have them, you might 

 make your two iron pipes, with the exception of that near the bottom of 

 the boiler, flow pipes, let them terminate in an open cistern at the end of 

 the house alluded to, and from that take one or two of the glazed pipes on 

 a lower level as returns. We regret we cannot say more of Bishop's 

 boiler than is stated in the "Heating Manual," and page 13i of the twenty 



fifth volume of the old series, but the chief advantage of such a boiler 

 consists in its being made by a clever handy man. When tha* caunot be 

 done, it will generally be better to use a common saddle-back or conical 

 boiler. Boilers may be extremely simple and eflective, as Mr. Bishop's, 

 but then such boilers can only be made so as to be marketable where 

 i there is a good supply for them. Perhaps Mr. Bishop or Mr. Allen may 

 see this, and then give a more definite reply to our correspondent. For 

 houses of all such sizes we consider that hot water is the most expensive 

 mode of heating. Supposing that in this 10-feet span house the pathway 

 is in the middle, then a 6-inch-wide flow and return flue under the path- 

 way, with the furnace at onj end outside, would be by far the cheapest 

 and most comfortable mode of heating it. A small iron stove inside, 

 with a flat lop for an evaporating-basin, would cost much less than 

 either, but the firing would be more troublesome. However, let every- 

 body have hot water if it so please them. The heat ii genial, and there 

 is less likelihood of accidtnts. 



Heating a Portable House (New Subscriber). — ^It is very difScult to 

 secure all that you want, simplyand economically, because "the place is 

 so small, and all must be portable. The house is 12 feet by 8 fett, the 

 height at back 9 feet, in front 5i feet, all of 1-inch deal, except the roof 

 and front of glass. A hotbed is wanted for raising seeds, and we are 

 asked our opinion as to a flue, hot-water pipes, and tanks, bat all these or 

 any one of them must be portable, and require little attention iu stoking, 

 &c. We can hardly see how you could have a portable flue, unless it 

 were an iion one, and the furnace could not well be portable. We do not 

 know how you are situated, but if you could obtain gas easily, a gas-stove 

 aud small boiler would be the very thing for you. with a very small pipe 

 leading from the furnace to the open air. (Seels'o. 3U, on gas stoves.) 

 With such a stove in the centre of the ho'ase in front you could take 

 2-inch hot-water pipes each way, and the whole of that space you could 

 enclose in a chamber from IS to 24 inches ivide with sheet iron, and set 

 glazed cases over it for propagating, or you could do this, covering in 

 half of the length, leaving the other exposed for heating the house. We 

 have seen plans of gas stoves and boilers by a Mestrs. Wright & Co., 

 where the stove is fitted with three lengths of small piping for a space of 

 nearly 5 feet. Now the furnace boiler left exposed, and all the pipe part shut 

 in, would form your bed for seed-raising, &c. There is no pian so simple 

 as gas, where you can have it handy. Another simple plan and portable, 

 i would be to have a low, square, flat-headed, iron stove to he fed from 

 [ either the inside or outside of the house, a space shut in to form a cham- 

 ' b*r, the top of the chamber to be 2 or 3 inches higher than the top of the 

 ' stove. The whole space in front may be enclosed for IS or 20 inches in 

 width ; but the greatest heat will be next the stove. We would use stout 

 sheet iron for the top of the chamber, which would thus be the bottom of 

 the hotbed. A few sliding openings in the side of the chamber nest the 

 pathway would enable you to regulate the heat ol the house as desirable. 

 Once more, suppose you had a small iron stove to heat the house so as to - 

 keep yom- plants safe, and if you do not wish a large propagating-box, and 

 ! if you are at all near a kitchen boiler, what would you say to this ? — viz., 

 a stout wooden box, say from 3 to 4i feet long, 20 inches wide, and 

 3 iuches deep, set on any suitable height, made watei-proof inside, 

 covered on the top securely with plate iron, and furnis^hed with small 

 wooden boxes, pay two or three, or all in one piece according to the size 

 of the shaUow bos, and glazed with a moveable sash, if that should be a 

 single square or frame. There might be a tap at bottom to take out 

 water, and one pipe at the top to be closed with a cork when not wanted, 

 and to admit a funnel when necessary; and by menus of a potful of 

 warm water you could regulate the heat in your little propagitini^-bed to 

 a nicety, by simply drawing oS" cold water and addicg hot water. Twice 

 in the twenty-four hours would generally suffice, so far as heat was 

 concerned. 



MusHROoai-HousE SHELVES (W. 3/.).— We think you must have missed 

 what has been said as to the material of Mushroom shelves. The rusting 

 of iron was referred to, and ignorance confessed as-to how long galvanis- 

 ing would save iron from rusting. Your practice may warrant your pre- 

 ferring wood to slate for shelves, but we must own we never could 

 see much difference as respects the produce, when both have been 

 managed with equal care. Slate gives no harbour to some enemies, as 

 wood does, especially when it begins to decay. The mere extra coldness 

 in a house is of little moment. We use wood ourselves, but we by no 

 means disparage slate. 



Vines in Pots (W. U.).— We have no doubt that Vines in pots will 

 succeed very well on the top of the back flue in the vinery as you propose ; 

 and if the pot stands on a large flat, and the flat on the top of the flue, it 

 would be well to have three pieces of something inside the flat or saucer, 

 for an inch in depth, for the pot to stand upon, and the water in the 

 saucer should never be higher than the bottom of the pot. All watering 

 should be given at the surface, but if more comes into the saucer it should 

 be removed. Such Vines, according to their strength, may be left from 

 3i to 5 feet in length. Unless you make an unusually good bargain we 

 have little faith in your doing much with Vines sold at .53. each. Good 

 fruiting Vines in loots require so much care, labour, and room to well 

 ripen the wood, that we think good fruiting plants cannot be had for that 

 money, unless the holder is very anxious to sell. The mode refeiTcd to 

 — placing the pots in pans, is not so good as having a box separated from 

 the flue by a brick laid flat, and the box large enough to permit of the pot 

 being plunged in tan or leaves. The giving enough of heat iu the flue at 

 the back of the house, to stirt these Vines now will undoubtedly influence 

 the other Vines in the house and cause them to break sooner in conse- 

 quence, though not so soon as the Vines in pots. If you wish to keep the 

 house Vines back and get the pot Vines forward, you would require to 

 shut in with glass the pot Vines, and give more than the usual quantity 

 of air to the front of the house. By such means the Vines iu pots may 

 ho strong before those Vines planted in the house begin to s^ell. With 

 the house all open you may get the pot Vines to ripen their crops a month 

 earlier than the Vines in the house ; but where anything like two crops in 

 one house i^ desirable it is essential that one part should be shut in, or that 

 the late Vines should be taken out until it is deemed necessary to intro- 

 duce them. 

 Labelling Fruit Trees. — " W. R. J." prefers numbering the trees, 

 ; and having a plan aud numbers on it in his pocket, and his gardener 

 having another. This does not facilitate the acquirement of the names 

 by visitors or other members of the family. 



Auricula Shows.—" E. R," wishes to know when an Auricula Show is 

 to be held in Loudon or elsewhere. 



