December 13, 1664. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



469 



The above are what I recommend. The following are 

 magnificent and very hardy, hut I cannot tell whether they 

 would open in the north of England, Ireland, and Scotland : — 

 Maurice Bernardin, Due de Rohan, Auguste Mie, Souvenir 

 de la Reine de 1'Angleterre, General "Washington, and 

 Duehesse d'Orleans. Those with an asterisk had better be 

 put near or close to a south wall. As regards the preceding 

 six people must please themselves. 



If you intend to have a large rosarium, the proper way 

 to begin is to have 100 each of Jules Margottin, Senateur 

 Vaisse, Cecile de Chabrillant, and Charles Lefebvre, and 

 others in proportion. Instead of heaps of varieties, accu- 

 mulate fewer and really good sorts. Subject to the obser- 

 vations made, I am sure that the persons for whom the 

 selection is made could not mate a disappointing collection. 



One word to "Loch Ness." Acidalie is a very strong 

 grower ; Triomphe de Lyons and Dr. Brettonneau are bad 

 growers ; Celina is only fit to bud upon ; Auguste Mie must 

 be taken up annually, and have the roots cut back. In 

 strong lands Manetti' Roses should be root-pruned annually 

 in. loco, or be taken up and root-pruned. They will then 

 give their flowers, and be less likely to run blind. — W. F. 

 Radclyffe, Rusliton. 



SEEDLING MSDLAES. 



I should be glad to learn from some of your numerous 

 readers if they have ever succeeded in raising Medlars from 

 seed. I have often examined the stones, but have never 

 been able to find any kernel in them; yet in spite of that 

 I have sown them, and waited one or two years, hoping that 

 a perfect seed or two might have escaped me, but no plant 

 has ever made its appearance. I enclose a few seeds taken 

 from the Nottingham Medlars, of a full size, and quite ripe. 

 I confess to being quite at a loss to account for this kind of 

 fruit, a native of our climate, not maturing its seeds. — 

 Mespiltjs. 



[Gartner says that the stones of the Medlar are one- 

 celled, the cell containing two seeds, one usually abortive ; 

 the other is obovate, compressed, whitish, with a brown spot 

 near the top. Miller says that if the seed be taken as soon 

 as the fruit is ripe, and be sown the same autumn, the seed- 

 lings appear the following spring. "We never tried thus 

 to propagate the Medlar, and shall be obliged by any one 

 informing us of their experience. — Eds.] 



A VINERY FURNACE. 

 I am about to give you a little of my experience, and in 

 return, at the conclusion, ask a little of your advice. In 

 April, 1864, I built a small vinery 17 feet wide and 22 long ; 

 a pit in the middle 4 feet wide and 10 long ; flues round the 

 pit, with an air space between them and the pit wall; the said 

 air space coming over the flue at the hottest part from the 

 outside, as mentioned in one part of the last volume of the 

 Journal ; all made as there stated, except that over the fire- 

 grate the flame can rise up to the top of the flue ; and oppo- 

 site the flue end is a door, from which, down to the grate, 

 may be 3 feet. I have an ashpit door to regulate draught ; 

 there is also a furnace door at the proper place ; the fire door 

 is opened, and the fire made, in the usual way. "When the fire 

 has burnt up I close the proper fire door firmly, and open 

 this at the flue end, and then fill the fire-box any depth with 

 coke or cinders, which I can then regulate to burn any 

 number of hours under twelve. I fancy the furnace heats eco- 

 nomically, but as it has not been used in forcing I cannot as 

 yet well affirm that this is the case. Now, between the pit 

 and the front of the house is a border 4 feet wide, 3 feet 

 deep, 1 foot stone and concrete, then soil from turves, mortar 

 rubbish, and a few bones. In it were planted on May 17th 

 seven Vines, their roots only covered 3 or 4 inches. No. 1 Vine, 

 Black Hamburgh, grew 3 feet ; wood ripe now, and leaves 

 all off; but this is just at the end of the house. 2nd Vine, 

 Black Hamburgh, only grew a foot ; wood ripe, leaves off. 

 3rd Vine, Black Hamburgh, grew 7 feet ; wood ripe, leaves 

 yellow. 4th Vine, Muscat Hamburgh, grew 6 feet; wood 

 ripe, leaves on. 5th Vine, Purple Constantia, 3 feet ; wood 



ripe, leaves partly off. Gth Vine, Bidwell's Seedling, grew 

 3 feet; leaves partly off, ripe all but the end. 7th Vine, 

 Royal Muscadine, grew 8 feet; wood ripe, and leaves yellow. 



t— r 



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a 







— L — 1 

 1 



1 









! 







I 





* 



1 









a 





n. Top door 



b, Ordinary door 



c, Ash-pit 



d, Fuel 



All the Vines were 3 feet 6 inches apart except the Muscat 

 Hamburgh, and it is planted close to a Black Hamburgh. 

 Some of the Vines had half-inch wood when planted, the 

 others three-eighths ; of the new wood none exceeded three- 

 eighths. Now what am I to do to these Vines — cut them 

 down to two or three eyes ? The front rods are 4 feet long, 

 and all eyes are rubbed off, as the place is 4 feet 6 inches to 

 rafter bottom, and the house is 15 feet high at back. Any 

 further advice wDl be very acceptable to me, as I am a new 

 beginner. Some of the eyes are very small, the others 

 pretty prominent. I have Sanders on the Vine. 



Wili you tell me how to get a stock of bedding plants 

 without obtaining too much from the nurseries, as that is 

 expensive ? — "W. "W., Northallerton. 



[Your construction of furnace is excellent, and the top 

 door for feeding the furnace must be a handy and a cleanly 

 mode of feeding, besides acting on the slow-combustion 

 principle. It is a move in the right direction. For the 

 future good of the Vines we would cut them all back to 

 two good eyes about the middle of December, and when they 

 pushed select the strongest shoot, rubbing the other off. 

 There must have been unaccountable reasons for the poor 

 growths made ; ours, planted in the eye, shot out to a length 

 of 20 feet. 



You do not say what kind of plants you wish to get a 

 stock of, nor the kinds at present in hand ; but if you give 

 us the names of those you have we will tell you how to 

 obtain a stock from them. Once you have the sorts there 

 is no necessity to go to the nurseries except for new BOrtSj 

 and to repair misfortunes.] 



INTERRUPTION OP BOTTOM HEAT. 



I have just built a small stove, with two pipes for top heat 

 all round, and two four-inch pipes under each bed for bottom . 

 heat. The pipes are in a chamber covered with slates, 

 upon the slates are a few inches of broken bricks, &c, and 

 then a bed of leaf mould, full of sticks and very rough, for 

 about 18 inches in depth ; in that I have plunged the pots, 

 but I find I can get very little bottom heat, not nearly 

 enough for propagating, and sometimes the soil even feels 

 quite cold, a"nd yet the top pipes are quite hot, and the 

 temperature of the house is between 70° and 80°. Bo you 

 think any other material than leaf mould would be better ? 

 The leaf mould is also full of worms, woodlice, and many 

 other insects. If I retain the leaf mould, how can I best get 

 rid of the worms ? Would tan or cocoa-nut refuse be better 

 than the leaf mould in respect to letting the bottom heat 

 penetrate ? From the bottom pipes to the surface of mould 

 Is about 2 feet.— S. E. H. 



[There is no doubt that your top pipes for heating the 

 ah- of the house act efficiently. Have you felt the pipes in 

 the chamber to see if they are equally hot ? because if not, 

 i there is something to be done to secure a free circulation in . 



