December 24, 1S85. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
559 
A. Turner, E. R. Wliitsvell, E. Wilkins, Rev. W. Wilks, W. H. Williams ; 
Hon. Auditors, J. D. Pawle and F. T. Wollaston. 
A discussion took place respecting the locality of the provincial show 
in 1887, as it has been found necessary to make the requisite arrange¬ 
ments a considerable time in advance. Numerous towns were mentioned 
as suitable, several members naming towns in the west of England, such 
as Worcester, Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Bath, but it was generally 
decided that for various reasons these are undesirable, one of toe principal 
reasons being that the districts named are rather too early, and another 
being that the western counties are well supplied by the annual Rose 
Show at Rath. Shrewsbury, Chester, Hull, and others were also named, 
but though no decision was arrived at, the majority appeared to be in 
favour of Nottingham if satisfactory terms could be arranged. 
Another matter of much interest came under consideration—namely, 
the improvement of the medals offered by the Society, which it was said 
had given dissatisfaction to some recipients. It had been previously 
determined that some alteration was desirable, and Mr. T. W. Girdlestone 
was entrustei with the task of communicating with Mr. Pinches with a 
view to obtain a more artistic desigD, and at the same time increasing the 
value of the silver medals. Designs for both the gold and silver medals were 
now submitted, and gained general approval, being most artistically exe¬ 
cuted, and such as cannot fail to give satisfaction to all. It was pro¬ 
posed by Mr. G. Bunyard, and seconded by Mr. T. W. Girdlestone, that 
the new designs be adopted, and that the dies be prepared. 
The lists of varieties admissible in the classes provided for new Roses 
were placed before the Committee, and it was decided that a clause 
should be inserted in the schedule to the effect that “new varieties first 
announced in English catalogues in 1884 or subsequently should be 
admitted." H 
The meeting concluded with a hearty vote of thanks to the Chairman, 
proposed by Mr. G. Paul, and seconded by Mr. Appleby. With a few ex¬ 
ceptions the members present at the meeting remained to the dinner, 
which took place at 6 p.m. 
FKUir AND PLANT HOUSES. 
(Continued from page 515.) 
In the cultivation of fruit trees and plants of warmer climes 
artificial heat is important. It is essential that our climate he made 
equal by artificial means to that the plants enjoy in their native 
habitats. Upon the different modes of heating I shall not make 
any lengthened observations ; suffice it to state that heating by 
flues or hot air is obsolete. It answered and still answers where 
parsimonious considerations are permitted to override those of 
efficiency and economy. Cheap first costs almost invariably bring 
dear after costs. The investment of a pound sterling should bring 
in a per-centage of interest, and will if a profit can be made of its 
employment ; but if it be only half of what is needed to insure 
profit it must prove a loss in proportion to its inefficiency to insure 
the purpose intended. Nothing is so dear as poor fuel or an obsolete 
boiler. It is no use trying to get as much heat out of breeze as 
coke, or out of coke as coal. Breeze is the refuse of coke, and coke 
is the refuse of coal. Breeze is not much used, indeed it need not 
be taken into account as fuel, and wood is so little used that it may 
be left out. Cinders, the result of the ashpit after the smaller 
particles have been removed by sifting with a sieve having half-inch 
mesh, I find pay, especially as I use the sifted material for earth 
closets. The ashpit ought to be distinct from the dust or rubbish 
bin. I have two compartments—that for the ashes under cover, so 
that the work of shifting can be done in unfavourable weather 
for outdoor work, and the dusthole is exposed, and emptied weekly. 
The cinders from the house, containing as they do much small coal, 
are, I consider, quite equal to coke from the gasworks in heating 
power, and burn in any ordinary boiler furnace. 
Gas coke, or the coke resulting from the manufacture of gas, is 
that mostly used in boiler furnaces, and it answers very well, espe¬ 
cially in those that have considerable capacity for fuel, and are 
constructed upon the slow-combustion or self-feeding principle, so 
as to need attention at several hours’ interval. The principle itself 
necessitates a large furnace, and a large furnace needs a large quan¬ 
tity of fuel of no very great heating power, or rather of slow 
ignition or combustion. If we take an ordinary boiler furnace we 
find it will only need one-fourth the coke to charge it as it would 
of coal, it being so much lighter and more open, so that whilst we 
use a quarter cwt. of coal we have only a quarter the bulk of coke 
of the like weight. We get out of the 28 lbs. of coal not much 
less heat than we do out of the 28 lbs. coke, with the difference 
that the coal does not act on nearly the same extent of surface 
through our system of stoking at distant intervals as the coke does, 
and in result we do not obtain anything like as much heat from 
the quarter cwt. of coal as from the quarter cwt. of coke. We get 
the same heat, but with the coal, owing to the large space in the 
furnace, it does not act on the surface wanted heated, and it passes 
off with the air entering to insure combustion by the smoke flue 
or chimney being cooled by the air entering the furnace but not 
passing through the fire, therefore not consumed, and if not con¬ 
sumed it is only so much cold air mingling with the heated in the 
furnace and diminishing its heating power proportionately. Now 
this is the principle of all heating—viz., the heat concentration on 
the surface required to be heated, and the way to secure it is to 
proportion the size of the furnace to the fuel used rather than 
the surface wanted heated. If we use coal we want a smaller 
furnace than if we use coke, and we also must have the surface to 
be heated brought as near to it as possible—in fact into direct con¬ 
tact with it, or directly in the fire. This would point to the coil 
or pipes passing directly through the furnace or fire as the best 
system of abstracting heat, and I am not certain that it is not the 
difficulty being in its application. Direct contact I hold to be of 
primary importance, or if not that the full force of the products 
of combustion concentrated on the abstracting surface, for the 
greater the heat acting on a given surface the more heat we obtain, 
as the force is in proportion to the circulation, and vice versa. For 
instance, if we concentrate the heat of the furnace on 3 feet of 
surface instead of 6 feet we more than double the force of the heat 
and the circulation, consequently obtain more heat off the lesser 
surface than the larger. This gives a large boiler more power pro¬ 
portionately than a small one, inasmuch as we obtain a larger 
action of the fire, not really much greater in size in the large than 
small boiler, on a larger surface, and obtain more direct heat. 
Of the forms of boiler that answer these conditions best we 
have first of all the saddle. It fits directly over—in fact, encom¬ 
passes the fire—forming the three sides of the furnace, and is 
brought as near to the fire as is consistent with holding or 
affording space for sufficient fuel to last under slow combustion not 
less than eight hours. We have direct contact at the sides, and 
what heat escapes action there is concentrated on the crown of the 
boiler, and with a check end we still further obstruct the heat, and 
all obstructing surface means heat extraction. If we have hollow 
grate bars we have the fire resting on, surrounded by and obstructed 
in its passage outward by a surface containing water required to be 
heated. The saddle, therefore, is a heat-extracting useful boiler, 
which from its simplicity is not likely to get out of order, and 
suffers little depreciation through wear and tear. 
The upright or conical form of boiler is also useful. The 
furnace is surrounded by heating surface, the fire must pass over a 
large surface even in the slow-combustion boiler, and be concen¬ 
trated upon the crown before the heat makes its exit by the smoke- 
flue or chimney. 
There are modifications of these forms of boiler, the chief 
object of which is to make the fire or heat pass through alongside 
and over the outer surface of the boiler, and I pass one verdict 
upon them—viz., the futility of seeking to utilise what has been 
wasted in the furnace. In the side flues we heat the bricks more 
than the boiler, and these passages are so often clogged with soot 
as to be practically useless. 
We come to the blacksmith’s mode of heating—thrust the boiler 
right into the fire or furnace. Instead of the boiler forming the 
outside of the furnace it is placed directly in it, so that the fire or 
heat acts upon all its surfaces, the surfaces forming the furnace 
having great heat-absorbing power, being formed of firebrick find 
fireclay, and as this is prevented striking laterally or vertically, being 
isolated from external influences by a cavity filled with sand, we 
get the greatest heating power. This we have in the tubular 
boilers, which differ only in having the tubes upright or horizontal. 
The upright was originated by Messrs. Weeks and the horizontal 
by Messrs. Messenger, and upon these there have been various inno¬ 
vations and improvements. For heating a large extent of piping 
the tubular boiler is pre-eminent, but for less than 1000 feet of 
4-inch piping I do not consider them suitable ; suffice it to state that 
by diminishing the size of boiler we do not get a surface at all 
equal to the size of furnace as we do in the larger boilers, and they 
are not economical, but for heating extents of piping over 1500 feet 
I consider the tubular unrivalled. 
As to form, I have a decided preference for the upright boiler, as 
this form has more heating power, but it labours under the disadvan¬ 
tage of not being suitable for any or every kind of fuel, as to work 
it satisfactorily it requires coke. Horizontal tubulars having for 
the most part check-end waterways are very powerful, and have 
two advantages over the upright, in that they will burn any kind 
of fuel, and>do not require a deep stokehole, which are very great 
advantages in places where coke is not readily procurable, and 
where the water naturally is near the surface and drainage difficult; 
For heating 1500 feet of 4-inch piping or less I consider the saddle 
form of boiler most suitable ; whether we have the Cornish Trenthanr 
boiler with waterway terminal end, the Terminal End Saddle and 
Flue, or even Cruciform Saddle or Gold Medal, the principle is 
the same—viz., bringing the heating surface as near to the heat as 
possible, and so that it will be concentrated upon it with the 
greatest force. 
