August 8, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



113 



for ; now such is the case ; also their competing -with a boiler for 

 500 feet of 4-inch piping, when it was well known by the agent 

 that this boiler was at first entered for 1000 feet; also as regards 

 the three trials of their boiler, which were anything but satis- 

 factory, even after the boiler had the addition of new doors and 

 frames, new soot -bos, and refixing. The pipes, it was well known 

 by all, were cold the next morning. The quality of coal sup- 

 plied to them on their third attempt to conquer was much 

 superior to any used by others. This 1 saw myself with others ; 

 there was upwards of 2 cwt. brought on the ground in a large - 

 barrow. Mr. Johnson knows it, and will, if straightforward, 

 attest the truth of what I say. I have also a letter from Mr. 

 Mee, of Liverpool ; he with the rest is much aggrieved at the 

 proceeding; he also states the boiler tried by Messrs. Hartley 

 and Sugden cannot become a useful one, as the expense attend- 

 ing the making of such would always preclude its general use. 

 My opinion also is just the same. I have been amongst iron- 

 work all my life, my father before me, and I think I understand 

 what is right and what is wrong. This gold-medal boiler can 

 never be useful, even if it had gained the medal honourably. 



" To Mr. Cannell, " I am, dear sir, yours truly, 



"Woolwich." (Signed) "B. Hablow. 



" P.S. — I shall be glad to hear from you again respecting the 

 unjust award. I have sent a letter I received from Mr. Mee to 

 Mi'. Lumby. Now let this matter be gone into at once without 

 the least delay. You know Mr. Hartley is a very particular 

 friend of Mr. Hassall's. It seems very remarkable every com- 

 petitor seemed suspicious all along that the award would drop 

 into the hands of Hartley & Sugden. 



(Signed) "Benjamin Hablow." 



[FROM MESSRS. HARTLEY & SUGDEN.] 



"Atlas Works, Gibbet Street, Halifax, 



"Mi-.B. A. Hallam, " July 30th, 1872. 



" Dear Sib, — Our attention has been drawn to a letter from 

 Mr. Cannell to you, enclosing one received by that gentleman 

 from Mr. J. F. Mee, of Liverpool, on the subject of the recent 

 award of the Judges of the Royal Horticultural Society for hot- 

 water apparatus. We perused these letters with the utmost 

 astonishment, and cannot but believe that the writers have 

 chosen to ignore the real facts in connection with the trials, 

 and allowed their disappointment at the decision of the Judges 

 to overcome their discretion. We therefore beg respectfully 

 to request that you will, in justice to us, place this communi- 

 cation before the Local Committee, to whom it would seem Mr. 

 Cannell has made his complaint. While doing so we cannot 

 help remarking that both he and Mr. Mee would have shown 

 much more dignity had they taken care that their assertions 

 were accurate before rushing so impetuously into print upon 

 the subject. 



" With respect to the allegations of unfairness and partiality 

 -on the part of the Judges, and particularly of Mr. Hassall (who 

 is styled, with what warrant we are at a loss to conceive, ' the 

 principal Judge '), we think we may very well leave those 

 gentlemen to protect their own reputation. Their desire to give 

 every competitor ' a fair field and no favour ' will, we are sure, 

 have commended itself to the Local Committee, rendering any- 

 thing we might say on their behalf quite unnecessary and 

 superfluous ; but inasmuch as our own honour and character 

 .are thus impugned, we beg most emphatically and indignantly 

 to repudiate Messrs. Cannell and Mee's implications. 



" And now for the alleged facts which our opponents give as 

 Teasons why the award should be reversed. Our trial with Mr. 

 Dennis on the 26th June was anything and everything but a 

 * dead failure.' Our boiler got up the heat so quickly, and to 

 such a satisfactory temperature, that we were prepared to rest 

 ■our chances of success upon its results. During the course of 

 the competition we learned, however, that a new trial had been 

 granted to other competitors, and alterations in their setting 

 allowed ; and as we found that by increased size of dead plate, 

 which necessitated a new front and flue-box, our boiler would 

 be rendered very much more efficient, we applied for a further 

 trial, which was granted on the 3rd of July, being the day on 

 which Mr. Mee was proceeding with his second trial (through 

 the connections having given way) with 500 feet of pipe, our 

 trial being conducted with the remaining 500 feet. The altera- 

 tions thus made in the dead plate necessitated an alteration in 

 the front, and Mr. Cannell himself also altered his dead plate to 

 at least a similar extent. Our alterations caused us to have to 

 bring out our brickwork 6 inches only — not 15, as Mr. Mee states. 

 As this course was also allowed to other competitors, where was 

 the special favour accorded to us thereby? With respect to 

 our having obtained these fittings from Mr. Hassall, we have 

 only to say that to our knowledge four, if not more, of the com- 

 petitors did the same, one of whom, indeed, brought only his 

 boiler to Aston, obtaining not only fittings, but all connections 

 required for working, from Messrs. Hassall & Singleton. 



" With the result of this trial our boiler more than justified 

 our highest expectations, as in the space of thirty-five minutes 

 from the time of lighting the fire it caused a perfect circulation 



of heated water through the whole 500 feet of pipe, and in two 

 hours and fifty minutes the heat was so intense as to force the 

 water out of every one of the six air pipes, .which were pro- 

 vided for testing, being at, or very little under, boiling point. 



"With respect to our boiler being allowed to compete for 

 500 feet, although originally entered for 1000, the circumstances 

 are simply these. The original entries were made by corre- 

 spondence, and not until we arrived on the ground did we find 

 that other competitors were trying boilers very much larger, 

 and with considerably more heating surface than our own. The 

 further trial for 1000 feet was not made at our request, and was, 

 we presume, for the purpose of more fully acquainting the 

 Judges with the merits of the respective boilers. We may state 

 that with the 1000 feet of 4-ineh pipe we got a perfect circulation 

 in one hour and forty-five minutes, and in about five hours the 

 whole of the water was up at 185°. After being banked-up for 

 twelve hours there was a fair fire, which burnt till two o'clock 

 the following day, when it was put out. 



" With respect to the weight and cost of the boiler, Mr. Mee 

 is entirely and unmistakably in error. The weight he gives — 

 9 cwt. 3 qrs., included furnace front, with fire and ashpit doors, 

 soot-box the width of the boiler front, dead plate, and one 

 4-inch flow and two 4-inch return sockets. Now, as both Mr. 

 Mee and Mr. Cannell know, these are invariably charged extra 

 to the cost of the boiler ; and as to the price being %hd. per 

 pound, it is simply absurd. 



" This reply disposes of the whole of the complaint in 

 Messrs. Mee and CanneU's letters, and we think it needless to 

 add that our motives in the competition have been from the 

 first pure and irreproachable, and we confidently leave the issue 

 in the hands of the Judges, the Committee, and the public, 

 feeling sure that the justice and perfect fairness of the award 

 will be upheld. 



" We remain, dear sir, your obedient servants, 



(Signed) " Hartley & Sugden." 



EATS IN VINE BORDERS. 

 The following is in answer to " J. C. J. B.," page 74. 

 With ferrets, dogs, and guns destroy all that come out ; then 

 reduce rotten turf to thin mud and run the holes full to within 

 a foot of the surface ; next ram in turf, in which stick plenty 

 of broken glass edgewise, and put mortar and tar over every 

 hole about the premises. A cat may also be secured to a wire, 

 so that she can go the whole length pi the house, whilst her 

 kittens may be left free. — C. P., Goldthorn Hill. 



M. GRIN'S SYSTEM OF PINCHING THE 

 PEACH TREE. 



Theee is always an eye at the base of the leaves, which, in 

 fact, act as nurses to it, and as regards pinching they may be 

 looked upon in the same light as a shoot. If, then, a leaf is 

 pinched before it has attained its full size, the sap which would 

 have gone to make growth will be diverted to the eye at 

 the base of the leaf, and, according to the time of pinching 

 and the vigour of the parts pinched, the eye will swell, or, 

 while remaining latent, will undergo a change in its nature ; 

 it may even become a shoot. 



It has been just remarked that at the base of every leaf 

 there is at least one eye ; indeed there must always be more, 

 for every leaf is developed from a bud, and every bud before 

 its expansion is composed of scales, which, being rudimentary 

 leaves, have always at then: base an eye, likewise rudimentary. 

 This rarely pushes, but under some conditions its development 

 proceeds, and flowers or shoots are the result. AH this goes 

 to prove that, according to circumstances and the treatment 

 given to the various parts of a plant, different results can be 

 obtained. 



It must also be observed that when the leaves are pinched 

 soon after they have appeared, but always before they have 

 attained their full growth, not only the eye is formed and 

 becomes larger, but it also establishes itself, so that, although 

 the shoot may grow longer, it invariably holds its own after 

 the leaf has been pinched. This is very important, especially 

 as in luxuriant shoots the growth is so rapid, that the first 

 leaves are so high up the shoot that its base is destitute of 

 eyes, and then we have premature shoots. The whole of the 

 lower part of the shoot being without eyes, it must, in pruning, 

 be left very long, and the evil of this is all the more felt be- 

 cause the setting-on of these premature shoots is always very 

 large and entirely destitute of even rudimentary eyes. By 

 judicious pinching at the proper time not only can these draw- 

 backs be avoided, but even in the year in which they are 

 formed these premature shoots can be converted into fruitful 



