370 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 10, 1870. 



direct from Messrs. Sutton. I think MeBBrs. Carter should make 

 allowance for different qualities of soil and situation before they 

 make such sweeping assertions as those expressed in the letter 

 from which I have quoted. 



I should be happy to give you some information as to the 

 results I have experienced after cultivating in this northern 

 climate a variety of dwarf Pear and Apple trees purchased 

 from Mr. Rivers in 1864, if it would be of any interest. — 

 E. H. D., Lattendales, Penrith, Cumberland. 



[We shall be obliged by your notes. — Eds.] 



PORTRAIT OF MR. RIVERS. 

 The following additional subscriptions have been received :- 



£ s. d. 



Fisher, Holmes, & Co., Sheffield 2 2 



Fish, D. T., Hardwicke Gardens, Bury St. Ed- 

 munds 10 6 



Newton, W., Esq.. Hilltide, Newark 1 1 



Press, W., Esq,, 6, Crescent, Cambridge 110 



Smith, C. Keche, Esq., F.S.A., Strood. Kent 1 1 



Warner, Mr. Thomas, Leicester Abbey 110 



Chapman, Mr. John, Kingston Lacy 3 



Messrs. Carter & Co., High Holborn, have issued a list 

 of very liberal prizes which they offer for Mangel, Swede and 

 other Turnips, Carrots, Beet, Parsnips, and Cabbages. Those 

 who intend to compete should send at once for a schedule, as 

 specimens must be sent by the 20th inst. 



USE OF A DAMPER— CIRCULATION OF HOT 

 WATER. 



What is a damper fixed into a furnace chimney for ? I say 

 it is to regulate the draught of the fire from the boiler, and 

 ought to be kept closed, or nearly so, when the heat in the 

 houses is up to the degree wanted, as the damper confines 

 the heat round the boiler, and also keeps the fires in during 

 sharp frosty nightB. 



One more question. I can never get our fernery heated to 

 more than 55° this dull weather, and often find the temperature 

 down to 40° or 38° these cold mornings. Last winter I could 

 hardly keep frost out at all. There is plenty of 4-inch piping 

 all round, but it is the setting, for where the pipes which go all 

 round the house enter from the boiler, they are higher than 

 the other end by nearly a foot; consequently the water does 

 not circulate. At one end of the house the pipes are hot, and 

 at the other nearly cold. My employer says he had this done 

 to keep one end warmer, but I think it a very unscientific 

 idea altogether. Did ever hot water go down hill? I will not 

 believe it will, and as a proof, last winter was so severe, and I 

 had to keep up such a large fire, that in trying to get the house 

 up to a certain heat the pipes burst close to a joint through 

 the pressure. There are no air-pipes in the elbows. What can 

 a gardener do ? Just for the sake of a few shillings to have the 

 pipes readjusted in a proper position, and not to hear reason, an 

 employer sees his plants half dead all the winter ; besides the 

 double amount of fuel consumed, and argument and strife be- 

 tween employer and employed. — Poor Gardener. 



[On the general question I agree with you, if the matter is 

 stated correctly, and consider that your employer's ideas on 

 heating are altogether wrong, and if continued to be carried 

 out will uot only be a source of unpleasantness to the gardener, 

 but of great loss and waste of fuel to himself. There is one 

 matter to which I would allude, and that is the question 

 " Why should an employer interfere with a head gardener's 

 management of his fires, &c." Why, indeed ! But then you 

 must own he has a perfect right to do so — nay, more, it would 

 often be to the general advantage if this were more done than 

 it is. Many a ton of coals would be saved, and the labour of 

 the stoker made lighter, if employers more thoroughly entered 

 into this and other matters. I say thoroughly, because no in- 

 telligent gardener could long put up with mere ignorant med- 

 dling for the sake of meddling. But this I will say, that the 

 employer who knows most about firing and stoking will be the 

 most considerate in estimating the labours and attention of the 

 firemaD. The more generally intelligent even on gardening an 

 employer is, the worse it will be for a mere pretender but the 

 better it will be for an intelligent attentive man, who does not 

 only know but practise what he knows. In many cases here- 



tofore I have shown that I can stand up for the gardener, but 

 with all that I must still come to the conclusion that the man 

 who spends the money in a garden has a right to spend it in 

 his own way, and if one of these ways should be that heated 

 water is to be forced to run downwards as a general principle, 

 then the gardener, having courteously stated his opinion, and 

 finding that the places cannot be heated on that principle, 

 must be content with these disadvantages or take his services 

 to a more appreciative market. 



Now to the general matters. I never like a damper to be 

 quite closed, as that is dangerous, and, perhaps, a hole from 

 half an inch to an inch in diameter in the centre is as good a 

 safeguard as any. If the damper is not for the purpose yon 

 state, what is its use at all ? If your employer is right in having 

 it always out, what is the use of having it ? Would it not be 

 better to have none ? Or, by the way, does he think that by the 

 damper being always out there would be a stream of cold air 

 always beating back the hot air round the boiler ? I would 

 rather use even in this respect the dimper in the usual way, 

 and have a small opening for fresh sir beneath it. I can think 

 of no other reason why a scientific engineer should wish the 

 damper always to be out in connection with a furnace that 

 heats a boiler. 



I do not see how you can heat the fernery properly — though 

 there are plenty of pipes — with the pipes where they enter the 

 house a foot higher than at the farther end, and no openings 

 or air-pipes. No wonder your pipes burst, and you get no heat 

 to speak of at the farther end. Still it would be wrong to say, 

 "Did ever hot water go dewn hill?" for with atmospheric 

 pressure it will do so, though not in such close pipes as yours. 

 With an elevated cistern open, and an open air-pipe at the 

 farther end, there would be circulation. Even with an open 

 air-pipe a couple of feet above the pipe where it enters, and one 

 3 or 4 feet nigh at the farther low end, I would not despair of 

 circulation — in fact, I see it in operation daily, but then the 

 plan is not so good as when the pipes are on a level through- 

 out, or with a slight rise to the extremity, and a small air- 

 pipe inserted at the highest point. The air-pipes might be 

 tried before lifting the pipes ; but if even that be done, the 

 heating will never be properly effected, and the firing must be 

 alike expensive and dangerous. As to advice, I do not see how 

 I could further help you. There are matters with which a 

 stranger cannot well intermeddle. I know this, that no gentle- 

 man will find it to his advantage to lower a head servant whom 

 he wishes to keep before that head servant's assistants. 

 Another thing I have often thought of. I once heard some 

 man complaining of a grievance to the late Dr. Lindley. 

 " Well," said he, " I cannot sympathise much with you, I have 

 got now such a rhinoceros hide that such bitings as these would 

 never be felt by me." Well, I suppose some of us get thicker- 

 hided as we grow older ; but there are some things which one 

 cannot stand, and should make one change rather than endure. 

 — R. Fish.] 



AMONG THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Go into what quarter of London you will, there at the pre- 

 sent season you are sure to meet with this autumn flower. In 

 some cases you will find it, to use a gardener's expression, 

 " well done," in others " ill done ;" but still you will find it. 

 Up north and to the west you will find it in perfection ; on the 

 south side very good ; " down east " we have not travelled much 

 of late, yet we are assured, despite all drawbacks — smoke, and 

 foul air, and poverty — there, too, the Chrysanthemum is 

 cherished. Well it deserves to be so ; it enlivens what is 

 generally in London the gloomiest month of the whole year ; 

 in the poor man's fore-court, in the rich man's conservatory, it 

 is equally welcome ; it flourishes in an old teapot in an attic 

 window, and adorns a costly vase. Its powers of withstanding 

 smoke, and the brightness and variety of its colours, render it 

 one of the best of London plants, and by Londoners it is duly 

 appreciated. It is, however, more especially up north that the 

 Chrysanthemum has found a home. Stoke Newington was the 

 place where the mother Chrysanthemum society took its origin, 

 there the flower is still fostered with every care, and thither 

 we shall first bend our steps and visit 



Mr. Forsyth's, Brunswick Nursery.— Here the show house, 

 arranged much the same as in former years, is certainly quite 

 as attractive. It would be tedious to name all the fine varie- 

 ties which are here to be seen, especially as we have given them 

 from year to year, but a few of the best we will particularise. 

 White Globe is this year generally fine, and the blooms 



