November 7, 1S72. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEP. 



361 



■with some small hot-water apparatus not requiring any observa- 

 tion. 



This concludes our notice of the boilers exhibited at Bii-ming- 

 bam, and which formed a very interesting collection. Ws can- 



not conclude, however, without an expression of thanks to the 

 Local Committee at Birmingham for their endeavours to give 

 the public the benefit of a trial of boilers, in order that by 

 practical test something more might be known of the relative 



value of boilers, not only in an economical point of view, but 

 in a practical one with regard to circulation, and we again regret 



that the conduct of the Judges was impugned. We hope the 

 Council of the Royal Horticultural Society will undertake a 



trial of boilers next year at South Kensington, where the trial 

 could be conducted under more favourable conditions, and 

 where, perhaps, other boiler-makers who have hitherto refrained 

 from competition might be represented, as not only were there 

 many boilers at Birmingham not competing, but there are 

 several other good forms of boilers, as Machin's twin boiler, 

 Foster's, described in the pages of the Journal some time ago 

 (vol. xvii., page 9), and Jones's double L, the latter of which, 

 for its size and price, is one of the best boilers in our opinion 

 of any. 



Where, however, there are so many good boilers it is difficult, 

 without an extended trial, to say which are the best; but 

 among upright tubulars we should choose Clarke's, among 

 horizontal tubulars Dennis's, and among tank, saddles, and 

 modifications we should take the Whitley Court flued saddle, 

 Mee's double saddle, Ormson's convoluted, and Hartley & Sug- 

 den's saddle with extended water-way. 



The much-vexed question of the relative value of cast or wrought 

 iron greatly depends on the quality of the water employed, 

 as well as on the iron which is used for casting, and cannot be 

 decided by the dictum of any boiler-maker. Soft water ought 

 always to be used where it is available, but with wrought-iron 

 boilers it is not a bad thing to use hard water for the first few 

 months, which helps to form an inside crust on the iron and 

 prevents corrosion, soft water being used afterwards, so as not 

 to allow the return-pipes to be encrusted up too much. Of this 

 much we are certain, that the motive power, as we have before 

 said, in boilers is so weak that nothing ought to be allowed to 

 interfere unduly with circulation, which is the first essential 

 test of the value of a boiler. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY— Nov. 6th. 



^ The Exhibition on this occasion took everyone by surprise. 

 The floral department was well represented for the season, and 

 despite all that has been said of the scarcity of fruit, and great 

 and grievous we know it is, there was such a show both in the 

 Society's classes and more particularly in the associated In- 

 ternational competition, as, taking the two together, has been 

 rarely equalled. The quality for a season in which the out-door 

 fruit crop has been almost a failure throughout the length and 

 breadth of the land was something marvellous, and no marvel, 

 then, that the Show, held in the conservatory, was crowded to 



excess, and had it but lasted another day it would, doubtless, 

 have been visited by thousands more. 



Chrysanthemums were not so good as'usual ; there were a few 

 very good cut blooms, but the quality of those on the pot plants 

 was below the usual standard. In Class 1, six large-flowered, 

 the first prize went to Messrs. S. Dixon & Co., Amhurst Road, 

 Hackney, for exceedingly well-grown specimens of Prince of 

 Wales, Annie Salter, Mrs. Rundle, Lady Hardinge, Dr. Sharpe, 

 and Bernard Palissy. Mr. E. Rowe, gardener to Mrs. Lewis, 

 The Rookery, Roehampton, was second. For six Pompons, 



