214 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



[ September 12, 1S72. 



the stove, the best and easiest remedy I have found being an 

 occasional application of the "Abyssinian Mixture." When 

 plants are large it is somewhat difficult to dip them, but the 

 result will warrant any trouble taken, whilst in the case of 

 young plants nothing is more easy. — Expeeto Ckede. 



HEATING SMALL GREENHOUSES. 



All things considered, there is no such easy and economical 

 mode of heating a small greenhouse, say 20 to 30 feet by 

 10 feet, as by an iron stove, because it can be so easily moved 

 out of the way from April to the end of October. The numerous 

 failures of which we hear are chiefly owing to the stove being 

 made too hot, and very hot iron will ever be hurtful to plants, 

 because the air round the stove is burned and deprived of its 

 oxygen. This, again, is the result of having a single iron 

 barrel stove with the firebox abutting against the side iron, 

 and not only in plant houses but in workrooms I have seen 

 the iron opposite the firebox red hot. No wonder if plants 

 suffer, and young women and lads faint and get knocked up. 

 No such single-barrel iron stove ought ever to be placed in a 

 plant house. Either the stove should be wide enough — say 

 from 12 to 15 inches square or in diameter, so as to have an 

 8 or J-inch firubox standing in the centre, with a space all 

 round it so as not to abut on the sides, or there should be a 

 firebox made of the best firebrick. In either case the iron at 

 the sides opposite the fire never becomes much warmer than 

 the rest of the stove. 



For several seasons I kept the frost out of an ornamental 

 house, a lean-to, some 50 feet long, 10 feet wide, front glass 

 12 feet high, with a hipped roof considerably higher, by a 

 cylindrical iron stove, with the fireplace lined with firebrick, 

 and the plants near the stove suffered nothing from the prox- 

 imity. Of course, I prefer hot water, and have it, but there is 

 no comparison between the two systems as regards expense. 

 The purpose for which I chiefly write this is to guard those 

 who have a little house against getting a single-barrel iron 

 stove with the fireplace abutting against the sides, as these 

 will be sure to become red hot. Two years ago I saw such 

 a small rusty stove some 18 inches high, and 7 inches in 

 diameter, in a small house in the shape of a balcony from the 

 third floor, and even that small stove gave heat enough, but it 

 was burning, parching, destroying heat. For about double the 

 money a stove with the fireplace lined was procured, and there 

 was no more parching and burning. For a house such as I 

 have referred to, instead of having a trumpery stove, it would 

 be the truest economy to purchase at once, at the expense of 

 £3 to £4, a good article, offering the conditions to which I 

 have referred. But for the ease in moving, I would prefer a 

 brick stove to an iron one. 



I am the more anxious on this point because, after all that 

 has been said on the subject, people will persist in getting a 

 thin paltry iron stove with the fuel abutting against the sides. 

 I say emphatically that no stove where the burning fuel comes 

 in direct contact with the iron sides is fit to go into a house of 

 plants. This matter clearly understood, I have no doubt that 

 many thousands of smaU houses would be heated comfortably 

 for a mere trifle in winter, that now are little better than a 

 desert in the winter months. For small places I honestly be- 

 lieve that no other mode of heating will be so economical, and 

 a little practice makes it cleanly and effective. — R. Fish. 



A PLEA FOR GARDENERS WHO HAVE 

 CHILDREN. 



I am om of those gardeners, and I feel quite justified in 

 making an appeal to the general readers of The Jouenal of 

 Hobticcltuee to try and remove the unjust punishment which 

 we who have children have for a long time suffered. How can 

 anyone with common sense expect that if a young healthy 

 couple marry they are never to have a family ? It is true there 

 are several who do not have any, but they are seldom happy or 

 contented ; they have no idea of the comforts derived from 

 children, and as years pass on and they become old, what 

 can be more distressing than to see one of either sex, whether 

 rich or poor, left without son or daughter, perhaps on a death- 

 bed, with no one to whisper comfort ? 



I am sure that many good gardeners are passed by because 

 of their family, and in many cases they are the best men ; they 

 are more thoughtful and more persevering — in fact, circum- 

 stances compel them to be so. It is a very hard case when a 



gardener with a family leaves one situation, and, hearing of 

 another going, makes application for it, and finds because he 

 has a family he will not do. Scarcely a week passes but we see 

 an advertisement with the words, " No incumbrance." It is 

 very much like the advertisements that may sometimes be seen 

 in the daily newspapers — viz., " No Irish need apply." 



Then what is a family man to do ? The best thing for him 

 is to emigrate to some newer country, where his family in- 

 stead of being a hindrance to him will be a blessing ; but in 

 my opinion it is a disgrace in a country like England to lose 

 a man with a good character and good abilities, and who is 

 also able to do all sorts of work. 



I am happy to be able to say there are a few kind and 

 thoughtful gentlemen yet who do not despise us, msstly fathers 

 themselves, who know what it is to bring up a family — know 

 the anxiety, the thought, the trouble, and with all this there 

 is a pleasure that none but a parent can enjoy. Again, I am 

 sure that in boys whose fathers are gardeners, and who are 

 sometimes allowed to visit the potting-shed — in them we gene- 

 rally find our best gardeners. The boy generally learns to 

 crock pots, he learns all the different sizes of pots, the names 

 of all garden tools, the names of the different soils, and, be- 

 sides, he learns the names of many plants, and when it is 

 time for him to leave school (provided he take to the pro- 

 fession) he is already conversant with all the minor details of 

 an ordinary garden. 



I have been a constant reader of the Journal for the last 

 ten years, and I do not remember anyone writing much on 

 this subject during that time. It is true our friend " Wilt- 

 shiee Rectoe" did write a little on the death of poor Mr. 

 Chitty, but I hope that he, or some one as able, will take our 

 case in hand, for we feel at present something like a very large 

 Dahlia without a stake. — Jaiies R. Pocock, Gardener to B. N. 

 Dale, Esq., Prince's Park, Liverpool. 



GREEN ROSES. 



I have no doubt many of your readers will feel much inter- 

 ested with the record and accompanying accurate illustration 

 of the green Rose given at page 132 of the Journal. I remem- 

 ber taking note of one which was, and I believe is still, grow- 

 ing against the ornamental brick wall which encloses and 

 separates the herbaceous department from the other botanical 

 pleasure grounds in the Royal Gardens, Eew. There, in rather 

 a northern position, in company with other miscellaneous 

 climbers, it was growing luxuriantly, and producing abundance 

 of blooms quite as green as the foliage. From this it may 

 be inferred that there is nothing peculiar in its cultivation. 

 As in the engraving, the petals were of ragged outline, the 

 entire bloom being deficient of that desirable symmetrical 

 form characteristic of the queen of flowers. The unattrae- 

 tiveness of the bloom, or rather the want of a contrasting 

 colour, will not secure its extensive use, as, unless when closely 

 inspected, the bloom is scarcely distinguishable from the 

 foliage ; nevertheless, its singular distinctiveness from all others 

 will gain for it a place in the most unpretentious collection — 

 that is, when it becomes more plentiful. At present I believe 

 it to be as rare as it is curious. — J. M. C. 



HEATING BY HOT WATER AND BY HOT AIR. 



I ventdee again to trouble you, this time with some notice of 

 the remarks made by your correspondent, "J. C. M.," and by 

 your reporter. It seems to me that dogmatic remarks such ns 

 those made by " J. C. M.," at page 111, do not aid in deciding 

 the questions raised. I do not see how "J. C. M.'s " veto 

 acquires force because some one once hatched red spider by 

 Polmaise when he was an apprentice. My plan is not Polmaise. 



For the remarks of your reporter I am much obliged. I 

 think, nay, I arn sure, that many of the reasons he gives for his 

 opinions are wrong; but reasons are given, and candidly and 

 courteously stated. I hope to be able to point out, without 

 giving offence, where I think that his mistakes lie. The opinions 

 of my plan which he holds must have been formed after a 

 cursory inspection only, at least, so far as respects the stove ; 

 for, far from " the iron being heated through a thickness of 

 brick," the gaseous products of combustion play directly on the 

 interior surface of the gilled iron dome, if I may so call it. The 

 mass of ignited fuel is below, in a firebox of masonry. This 

 box of masonry is by some, especially by iron-founders, ob- 

 jected to as cumbrous ; but as it prevents contact of the fuel 

 with metal, and affords a reservoir of heat in cases of careless 

 stoking, I cannot dispense with it. Just before writing thus 

 about the stove, your reporter makes a broad assertion, " That 



