PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
XXXI 
(L r M.mponi)tncc. 
Jersey, January 1st, 1866. 
Dear Sir,—If you deem the following worth communicating to the Committee 
for publication, he so good as to do so. I am aware that the tank system of 
heating and forcing has been practised by many in past years on a large scale. 
This led me to consider how, for amusement, which watching the growth of 
plants daily might afford, it might be practised in my breakfast-room. Accor¬ 
dingly I got made a pan of stout zinc, of the following size—twelve inches wide 
at top, ten inches deep, and nine inches wide at bottom ; below' this is a false 
bottom three and a-lialf inches deep, to contain boiling water. To this lower 
part is affixed a short spout, to be closed by an ordinary cork, or, if preferred, 
a tap. On this side of the pan is a small pipe soldered, with a wide mouth, 
all of zinc, by which to pour the hot w’ater into the lower space. Within the 
pan broken oyster shells or any convenient drainage is placed, two or three 
inches in depth, through which the warm air from the hot water is carried 
into and absorbed by the earth above it, which should be seven or eight inches 
deep—any mixture of soil which the amateur may fancy. 
Plants from the seeds of geraniums, camellias, acacias, liliums, and others, 
besides cuttings, have been raised by me in this way; every morning at 
breakfast-time letting off the cold water into a convenient vessel, corking the 
spout close, then pouring in a teapotful of boiling water. 
Persons residing in tow r ns, not having a garden but possessing a greenhouse, 
would find this a cheap and entertaining mode of raising plants from seed. 
They should be transplanted or potted as if grown in ordinary garden frames. 
It may be added that such forcing pans may be made of any size; I have 
one three feet long. 
I am, dear Sir, yours truly, 
J. Le Couteur, Col. 
Corresponding Member. 
Monsieur Robert Schlumberger, Vienna, per Mr. W. F. Andres, 33 Golden 
Square, W.—Cuttings of Voslau vines. 
James Bateman, Esq., F.R.S., F.R.H.S., Biddulph Grange, Congleton—Cas- 
tanea chrysophylla, Cypripedium caricinum. 
Mr. Wm. Bull, F.R.H.S., King’s Road, Chelsea, S.W.—Packet of Seed of 
Raphanus candatus. 
Higford Burr, Esq., F.R.H.S., Aldermaston Court, Reading—Seeds of a 
creeper, with leaves like a dragon’s tongue, from Buenos Ayres. 
D. B. Chapman, Esq., F.L.S., F.R.H.S., Roehampton, S.W.—Packet of various 
Seeds from Ceylon. 
Major Trevor Clarke, F.R.H.S., Welton Place, Daventry—Dichorizandra sp., 
Fruit of a curious Cucurbit, Sicyos edulis.—Seven packets of seeds. 
Messrs. Downie, Laird, and Laing, Forest Hill, Surrey—4 golden-leaved 
Pelargoniums. 
Mr. S. Ford, Gardener to W. E. Hubbard, Esq., St. Leonard’s Lodge, near 
Horsham—A piece of the stem of a Rhododendron, as a specimen of Rhodo¬ 
dendron w'ood. 
Messrs. Glendinning, Chisw'ick—1 small plant of Castle Kennedy Fig. 
