October 27, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



321 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Month 



D ff 



OCT. 27— NOV. 2, 1870. 



Average Tempera- 



Rain in 



last 

 43 years. 



Sun 



Sun 



Hoon 



Moon 



Moon's 



Clock 



Day 



Week. 





ture near London. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



SetB. 



Age. 



Sun. 



Year. 









Day. 



Nik'ht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. s. 





27 



Th 





55.1 



88.4 



46.7 



27 



46af6 



41 af 4 



16 10 



49 af 6 



8 



16 1 



800 



28 



F 



St. Simon and St. Jude. 



54.5 



85 9 



45.2 



27 



48 6 



89 4 



84 11 



37 7 



4 



16 6 



301 



29 



8 





54.0 



85.7 



448 



20 



50 6 



87 4 



after. 



87 8 



5 



16 10 



302 



80 



Son 



20 Sunday afteb Trinity. 



54.9 



88.3 



46.6 



22 



51 6 



36 4 



31 1 



42 9 



6 



Hi 13 



303 



81 



M 





54.0 



88.0 



46.0 



22 



53 6 



84 4 



8 2 



52 10 



5 



16 15 



304 



1 



Tn 



All Saints. 



548 



87.9 



46.1 



25 



56 6 



82 4 



40 2 



morn. 



8 



16 17 



8 5 



2 



W 



Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit, Floral, 

 [and General Meeting. 



54.4 



87.3 



45.8 



19 



57 6 



31 4 



5 3 



8 



9 



16 18 



806 



From observations taken near London during the last forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week 



is 5-1.4°, 



and its night 



temperature 87.3°. The greatest heat was 67°, on the 81st, 1854 ; and the lowest cold 22°, on the 28th, 1S36. The greatest fall of rain was 



1.08 inch. 







SLOW COMBUSTION— ENDURING FIRE- 

 ECONOMY IN FUEL. 



HAVE read with interest the various notices 

 which have from time to time appeared in 

 the Journal, giving particulars of different 

 boilers and modes of heating glass houses. 



The plan I have adopted, and which has 

 been attended with marked success, although 

 not new, yet is not sufficiently known, and 

 therefore may be of interest to those amateurs 

 who, like myself, are obliged personally to 

 attend to the work required. 

 I must preface my statement by mentioning that my 

 house is 35 feet long, 14 feet from back to front, and 13 feet 

 high. It is heated with hot water by one of the smallest- 

 sized tubular boilers, having 4-inch flow and return pipes 

 running round the two ends and back of the house. 



Whether or not it was from the position of the furnace 

 house I cannot say, but whatever the fuel I used I found 

 a difficulty in keeping the fire burning for any length of 

 time so regularly as I desired, in consequence of the draught 

 through the ashpit door setting on one side of the fire. 

 As a result it frequently went out, and the heat was irre- 

 gular. After trying several plans to prevent this, I at last 

 had two holes, each about the size of a crown-piece, drilled 

 in the ashpit door. Over these I had soldered a good-sized 

 brass sliding valve, similar to those frequently used in doors 

 to ventilate rooms. The result was all I desired. By 

 this simple plan I obtained a properly distributed draught 

 under the whole of the fire, and by a little attention to the 

 damper and quantity of air admitted through the valve, I 

 was soon able to ascertain the amount of draught requisite 

 to keep the fire at its proper heat. 



I also found that by only feeding the fire twice a- day — 

 the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at 

 night— and just clearing the bars, if needed, the fire was 

 kept constantly going, and during the three winters once 

 only has the fire gone out, and on several occasions it 

 has burned for twenty-four hours without additional fuel. 



I have often been surprised at the small amount of air 

 needed to keep up a bright clear fire. With the valve 

 open in each span not more than the thickness of a new 

 sixpence, I have kept the house at from 40° to 45°, with 

 an external atmosphere showing 16° of frost. With a 

 temperature of 6° to 8° below freezing I have kept the 

 house at 40°, at the same time having the two end venti- 

 lators open. 



_ The great advantages of the plan are— the length of 

 time the fire can be kept burning at a proper heat with- 

 out attention (a great object to an amateur engaged, 

 like myself, in business away from home), and the per- 

 fect control over the heat, be it little or much. One 

 essential to success is keeping the ashpit clear of dust and 

 ashes ; I have it cleared out two or three times a-week 

 if needed. 



During the last two years the fire never went out from 

 the time I commenced until I ceased heating the house 

 (about five months each season), excepting when I drew l 

 No. 500.— Vol. XIX., New Semes. 



the fire to clear the bars, and this I did about once 

 a-month. 



Not wishing to annoy my neighbours with smoke, I 

 tried various kinds of fuel — breese from the dust yard, 

 coke breese, furnace coke, gas coke, and Welsh anthracite 

 smokeless coal. I carefully noted the cost and result of 

 each kind, and finally adopted the Welsh anthracite coal 

 as being the cleanest, as cheap as any, if not the cheapest, 

 and by far the easiest managed. Residing in a northern 

 suburb of London, I have no difficulty in procuring this ; 

 and, at 25s. per ton, I find its cost does not exceed 3s. 6d. 

 per week. I have been surprised how little this cost was 

 exceeded, when on several occasions, by way of experiment, 

 I gave an increased draught to test the power of the fire 

 under the plan adopted. For the reason stated, I have 

 always a smokeless fuel, and therefore cannot say how 

 ordinary coal would answer. 



The size of the brass valve is 6 inches long, and the 

 whole affair cost about 8s. 



I may attach a fancied value to the results of my 

 experience, but I give the particulars for the benefit of 

 your amateur readers, if you think them worth inserting 

 in the Journal. 



I found by repeated experiments that by using the valve 

 only I could drive the heat far in excess of anything I 

 might require, and I also had the satisfaction of knowing 

 that, however sharp the frost might threaten to be before 

 morning, I could always retire to rest without any fear 

 about the greenhouse fire. — R. S. 



JASMIN UM GRANDIFLORUM FOR AUTUMN 



AND WINTER FLOWERING. 

 There are some flowers which from their purity of 

 colour, beauty of form, and perfume are general favourites, 

 and of these the Sweet Jasmine is undoubtedly one. It 

 may not be in such high repute as the Rose, but it is one 

 of many old plants without which no garden is complete. 



Jasminum grandiflorum, though not such a favourite as 

 the old Sweet Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), is neverthe- 

 less an old plant, having been introduced in 1629. It has, 

 no doubt; found a home in some gardens since that time, 

 yet it was only of late years that this plant came to be 

 cultivated, and even now it is not so common as it deserves 

 to be ; indeed, it ought to be grown in every greenhouse. 

 Those who do not possess it would by now securing plants 

 obtain a fine, white, sweet-scented flower that may be had 

 in blossom early in spring by slight forcing, and the same 

 plant will flower again in autumn, and continue expanding 

 its blossoms successively during the dull autumn and early 

 winter months. 



In appearance it is a fac simile of the Sweet Jasmine, 

 with this difference, that its leaves are larger, the flowers 

 more than twice the size, some double, but not twice as 

 sweet, though it is very sweet-scented, and all the flowers 

 do not open at once, but succeed each other as in the 

 Sweet Jasmine. We cannot cut the whole produce of 

 a stem at once, but each flower has a good stalk, and is 

 quite large enough by itself. It would be useless attempt- 

 No. 1152.— Vol. XLIV., Old Series. . 



