August 8, 1872. 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



Ill 



tion at Birmingham was not theory only, but an illustra- 

 tion of what has been, in its measure, a successful outcome of 

 more than one failure. The exhibition of the means by which 

 success has been attained may perhaps have deserved (if I am 

 not unduly partial in saying so) , a criticism somewhat less sweep- 

 ing than the broad assertion " that no system of hot air has 

 yet been invented in which all the heat has been extracted 

 from the fuel in a stove, and given up to the buildings to be 

 heated." That's so ! as a Yankee would say. There never 

 has been, and there never will be, such an invention. But then, 

 I do not believe that any such claim would be made on behalf 

 of hot water, not even by Mr. Cannell for his " circulator." I 

 am more concerned with the truth or falsity of the dictum 

 that " the heat in the chimney in stoves is invariably great, 

 and must, unless economised by a flue, be wasted." It shall be 

 ■freely admitted that if I cannot reduce my chimney tempera- 

 ture to the chimney temperature of any apparatus doing like 

 work, under like conditions, so far I have failed. Every degree 

 of superfluous heat in a chimney is a price paid for some 

 advantages real or supposed, and if these advantages are not 

 worth that price the system must fail. All this is matter for 

 argument or demonstration, but I am unable to reply to your 

 reporter's observation that the heat produced by a certain 

 system "is not good for plants," except by saying that the 

 system referred to is precisely the one I do not adopt. 



However, although the writer of the remarks has failed to 

 notice how some poor attempts are made by me to obviate the 

 very difficulties which he points out, still his observations 

 show where the difficulties do lie. 



I dismiss the flue at once. It has one cardinal merit — 

 it is an admirable heat-exhauster. Continue it far enough 

 and you arrive at that point of exhaustion of heat which leaves 

 just enough to create draught sufficient for combustion and 

 nothing over. But if made secure it is costly, and dangerous 

 even then, exigent of supplies of moisture, and utterly in- 

 capable of adaptation to varying wants. Therefore, with all 

 deference I place the smoke-flue as being, after a bare stove, 

 the most imperfect form of heating. 



Next, as so much turns upon chimney heat, it may be well 

 to consider the conditions under which this must be augmented, 

 or may be diminished. Under no system can all the heat of the 

 fuel be devoted to heating the building, consequently it must 

 be divided into two portions. A certain quantity must be used 

 in creating draught through the fuel, and not one vibration 

 of this will be available for heating purposes ; the residue 

 is what we have to use or to waste, as the case may be. Our 

 business, then, is to cause the quickest and most complete 

 consumption of fuel by the expenditure of the smallest quantity 

 of chimney heat. The first two conditions represent power, 

 the last represents economy. Attach two furnaces similar in 

 all respects, the one to a tall smoke-shaft, the other to a short 

 one. The ignition in the first shall be kept in vivid glow 

 with a chimney temperature mild as milk, while the like in- 

 tensity of combustion in the second must be purchased at the 

 cost of just so much fuel as, being consumed, will urge the 

 current in the shorter shaft to a velocity equal to that obtained 

 by the superior altitude of the taller. 



Here, par parenthese, I would observe that I saw no regu- 

 lation of the height of the smoke-shafts in the boiler trials at 

 Birmingham, and yet additional height of shaft is equivalent 

 to an additional supply of fuel. A furnace that may work 

 with the utmost economy with a tall shaft, and so carry all 

 before it, may be of little use, or refuse to burn at all, in situa- 

 tions where only a short shaft is available. Here we see the 

 difficulty of the old stove-heating. So long as stoves were of 

 small superficies intense combustion was the essential con- 

 dition of their power, but very few were the cases in which this 

 intense combustion was excited by the cheap means of a lofty 

 smoke-stack. It was excited by the dear means of extra fuel 

 consumed in the furnace ; and if attempts were made to 

 utilise the draught heat, the inevitable result was the diminish- 

 ing the power of the stove in more than equivalent proportion 

 to the gain from the flue. 



But now we improve upon these conditions of stove-heating, 

 and, widely extending the heating surface by the gill arrange- 

 ment, we impel upon it, with the greatest velocity at our 

 command, currents of moistened air, which, as Count Bumford 

 has demonstrated, are far more powerful in abstracting heat 

 than dry currents are. Thus we are able to obtain quantity of 

 warmth instead of intensity ; and burnt air, and scorched 

 plants, and split furnaces are no longer causes of dread. It 

 seems almost superfluous to observe that a stove of this kind 



standing free in a shaft, and for ever swept by rapid currents 

 of air, must yield up more heat than a boiler bedded in masonry ; 

 and seeing how often hot-water pipes are, for the sake of 

 appearance, sunk in flues beneath the floor, there seems to be 

 no valid reason why such flues should not be used without the 

 pipes. — Edward Housman. 



Mr. E. Housman has invited discussion on " hot air versus 

 hot water," see pages 74 and 75. Now I think very few gar- 

 deners, if any, will be in favour of introducing the system of 

 hot air for heating horticultural buildings. I well remember 

 when an apprentice the Polmaise system of hot air being in- 

 troduced to heat an orchard house, and although evaporating 

 troughs were used on every available space, the red spider — 

 that terrible pest to gardeners — took a strong hold in spite of 

 syringing and other means employed to check it. I shall be 

 anxious to hear what one of our most practical gardeners has 

 to say respecting it, I mean Mr. Fish. I venture to think he 

 will agree with me in favour of hot water. The outlay may 

 be more at first, but the advantage and benefit accruing in 

 the genial temperature obtained will more than compensate. 

 Whatever scientific argument Mr. Housman may bring to bear 

 in support of his system, he will fail in convincing horticul- 

 turists generally that hot, fervid ah' coming in contact with 

 vegetation, which undoubtedly it must, will be beneficial to 

 its well-being. As a practical man who has had experience in 

 all the different ways of heating, but never found any to super- 

 sede hot water, I give my veto decidedly against hot ah' for 

 horticultural purposes. — J. C. M. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 August 7th. 



This Show had for its leading feature Variegated Pelar- 

 goniums of the several classes commonly known as Gold and 

 Silver Tricolors, Gold and Bronze, Golden Selfs, and Silver- 

 edged; but no one could doubt that these, and especially the 

 two first-named, must have greatly declined in popularity, for 

 the competition was anything but strong. The general im- 

 pression seemed to be that the thing had been overdone. 

 The Show, held in a small tent near the Council Boom, was, 

 however, good for this season of the y^ar; and though Messrs. 

 Downie & Co.'s Phloxes had been beaten severely by the late 

 rains, they constituted its most important part, occupying as 

 they did nearly the whole of one side of the Exhibition tent, 

 and forming a brilliant display. 



The best collection of Variegated Pelargoniums came from 

 Mr. Turner, of Slough, who had no less than fifty. Among the 

 best were — Golden Tricolors, Mdlle. C. Nilsson, Mrs. Headley, 

 Lady Cullum, Lucy Grieve, Mrs. Turner, Macbeth, E. B. 

 Benyon, and Sir B. Napier ; Silver Tricolors, Lady B. Brydges, 

 Princess of "Wales, Italia Unita, and Mabel Morris ; Silver- 

 edged, Silver Star, Miss Bridges, May Queen, and Princess 

 Alexandra. There was only one other collection — that from 

 Mr. Pestridge, Greenway Nursery, "Oxbridge. In it the most 

 conspicuous Golden Tricolors were E. B. Benyon, E. Horner 

 Beynard, Brilliant, Prince of "Wales, Mrs. Dunnett, Howarth 

 Ashton, Mrs. Grieve, Sir B. Napier, and Florence. In Silver 

 Tricolors, the best in this collection were Miss Burdett Coutts, 

 Lass o'Gowrie, Mabel Morris, and Mrs. J. Marshall. 



Class 2 was for three plants of the best Golden Tricolor. Mr. 

 Pestridge was first with Sir Bobert Napier, very dark zone. 

 Mr. Turner was second with Peter Grieve. For the best Silver 

 Tricolor, Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing were first with Mrs. 

 Laing, very finely coloured. Mr. Turner was second with Mrs. 

 Bousby, and Mr. Pestridge third with Charming Bride. The 

 first prize for the three plants of the best Bronze and Gold 

 (Bicolor) Pelargonium went to W. E. Gumbleton, from Messrs. 

 Downie & Co., having a very broad dark chocolate zone, a very 

 distinct variety. The best of the other varieties were Mrs. 

 Harrison "Weir and Prince Arthur. 



In Golden Selfs the first prize went to Golden Banner from 

 Mr. Pestridge, and a third to Yellow Boy, rather coarse, from 

 Messrs. Downie & Co. For a Silver-edged variety. Mr. Turner 

 was first with finely grown plants of May Queen; Mr. Pestridge 

 second with Blushing Bride, not so pure a white. The only 

 Nosegay Pelargonium in bloom came from Mr. Turner, the 

 variety being Mrs. Quilter, fine lively pink with a white eye. 

 In double varieties Mr. Pestridge was first with a remarkably 

 good plant of Victor Lemoine, scarlet ; Messrs. Downie & Co. 

 second with Macleod, of the same colour, but the individual 

 flowers larger. 



Among the exhibitions in the Miscellaneous class were a fine 

 collection of Tricolor Pelargoniums from Messrs. E. G. Hender- 

 son & Son, with a fine white-variegated Ivy-leaf variety called 

 Ariosto. From E. A. Thompson, Esq., came a collection of 



