September 23,1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 281 
fire?, a little clear spot inside the door being all [the’means left to 
drive the fire. Coals are thrown on to such a fire, but they are 
never properly consumed. Small red fires produce the most heat. 
When a fire is half burned down many throw more coal on it—a 
very bad plan, as in this way a great quantity of coals are used 
and little heat produced.™ 
When a fire is started any time during the day, do not beap*it 
up as if it was not to be looked to again for a week, but put on a 
small quantity and let this burn well down into a glowing mass 
before more coal is added. Using a large quantity of coal is by no 
means a sure sign that much heat is being produced ; very often 
it proves the reverse. During warm days and cold nights the 
fires should be cleaned out in the morning as usual, then put on a 
Pig. S6.—Kubus rosasfolius coronarius. 
fair quantity of coal, the large pieces at the bottom and the 
smaller on the top ; close the ashpit door, and lower the smoke or 
chimney damper, and everything will remain safe until the after¬ 
noon. When the fire is started again it is only necessary to break 
up the coal placed on in the morning with the poker, and a good 
fire will be the immediate result. No more coal should be 
put on then until the heat is well up and the fire well burned 
down. When the fire chances to burn very low, placing a large 
quantity of coal on it will effectually prevent the heat from rising 
for a long time, but if only one or two shovelfuls are put on it 
will burn up quickly. These appear small details but they are of 
great importance, as it is by neglecting these small matters that a 
good system is spoiled. When the fires are attended the last thing 
at night more coal has generally to be put on than is used at any 
other one time, but those who take an interest in their fires soon 
find out what quantity of coal will last for so many hours and 
work accordingly. In windy weather fires burn much quicker 
than at other times, but they can always be regulated by the ash¬ 
pit door or damper. The number of times to attend to fires 
during the day or evening must be ruled by the heat to be 
occurs where the heat is greatest in combination with abundance 
of moisture, both of which in the extreme are adverse to the 
health of all except the lower forms of the animal kingdom.—S. 
RUBUS ROSiEFOLIUS CORONARIUS. 
In reply to a correspondent who desires information concerning 
this plant, we are enabled, by the kindness of Messrs. Yeitch and 
Sons of Chelsea, to give the accompanying illustration of a really 
beautiful and useful plant. The flowers are very double, pure 
white, and of neat form, and being produced during winter and 
spring they are of considerable value wherever flowers are in 
demand ; moreover, the leaves are very elegant, being pinnately 
divided, the pinnae small, acute, and dark green. 
The plant is compact in habit, and well suited for 
culture in pots in any cool house, particularly a 
greenhouse, where it succeeds with but little atten¬ 
tion. A moderately rich compost of loam, sand, 
and leaf soil with a small proportion of well-decayed 
manure suits the plant admirably. 
Both the species and the variety are stated by 
Paxton to be natives of Mauritius, but later writers 
consider the Himalayas as the chief locality where 
the plants occur in a wild state. They have now 
been in this country about seventy years, and it is 
surprising that such attractive plants should have 
been so long neglected. 
STOKING. 
Now that the dull short days and cold long nights 
will soon be here again, boilers, hot-water pipes, flues, 
stokeholes, and stoking will require attention, and 
the most important of all, in my opinion, is the 
stoking. Many different shaped boilers, various 
sized pipes, and many kinds of flues will all produce 
heat, but whether that heat be much or little, pro¬ 
duced with economy or extravagance, all depends 
on the person who has to attend to the fire. So far 
as my experience goes, there is nothing more trouble¬ 
some than to induce young men to attend to the 
fires properly. One will continually have the fires so 
low that they are always half out ; others will per¬ 
sist in throwing large quantities of coal on when¬ 
ever the fires are looked to, regardless whether that 
which was put on previously is burned down or 
not. This is a very common and most extravagant 
way of firing, because much coal is wasted, but there 
is little obtained from it, as a mass of smouldering 
black coal never does emit much heat. Another 
way is to fill up the fireplace with as much coal as 
it will hold, and not look at it again until the whole 
has burned down. This is a good way to save labour; 
but for economy in coal, steadiness in heating, and 
satisfactoiy results in every way, this system can 
never be carried on with success. 
Nothing will give a gardener or employer more 
satisfaction than seeing the fires well attended, and 
when once a person takes an interest in it the whole 
is easily done. When the fires are used constantly 
the ashpits should be cleaned out daily. An old 
man or boy is employed in many gardens to do this 
work as well as to take in the coal. Those making 
gardening a profession need not be expected to do 
this except when there is no one else to do it—when a fire is only 
lighted for a night or two on the occasion of a little frost, See,, and 
then allowed to go out for days or weeks afterwards. Cleaning 
the place out thoroughly should not be left until the fire is needed 
again, as this generally leads to much confusion. 
Cleanliness should always be one of the leading orders in the 
stokehole. Coals and ashes mixed together and covering every 
inch of the floor indicates much carelessness and waste, besides 
adding, to the work of the fireman and detracting from his comfort. 
The floor should be clean, ashes and coal in their proper places, 
and all in good working order. Stokeholes are often associated 
with dust and dirt, but it is only by allowing these to accumulate 
that anything of the kind becomes troublesome, and in a tidy 
stokehole any one might stir up the fire or throw on coal without 
making more dust than comes from any ordinary kitchen range. 
One of the principal matters to be done to insure good firing is 
always to keep the fireplace clear of exhausted fuel. A heap of 
clinkers at one side and a large quantity of black ashes at the 
back will most effectually stop the fire from burning well and 
cause a deficiency of heat; this is always found in bad-managed 
