186 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 8. 
Class 50.—ANY OTHER DISTINCT BREED. Chickens of 1853. 
331. First prize, W. P. Flight, Winchester. (White Polands.) Age, 
seven months. 330. Second prize, Henry Ilowell, Curdridge Parsonage, 
llotley. (Ptarmigans.) Age, cockerel and one pullet, six months; two 
ditto, four months. 
POLMAISE HEATTNG. 
That Polmaise, the fire-king and arch-enemy to vegetable 
life, is the worst system of all that has been brought into 
light since 1820, when applied to gardening purposes, such 
as heating l’ine Stoves, Greenhouses, ifcc., I am prepared to 
say is perfectly true, and that no thorough practical gardener 
can deny, at least, if he has had the working of one twelve 
months, and feels disposed, as I do, to tell the truth about 
the matter. 
I have had to do with nearly all kinds of houses, and have 
lived in some of the best and largest forcing establishments 
in England many years, and have taken many a Banksian 
Medal, in my time, at the Chiswick Horticultural Shows, but 
never did have to do with any system of heating that had 
less merits than the one alluded to. In the first place, it 
dries everything up, whether the sun shines or not, in the 
course of a few hours, consequently, it produces an atmos¬ 
phere unfavourable to the growth of plants, so much so, that 
every particle of moisture the earth in the pots contain is 
evaporated prematurely, and particularly if we endeavour to 
keep up anything like a suitable temperature for that noble 
fruit the Pine-Apple. At the same time, it produces such 
an offensive smell, which, at all times, is so readily perceived 
by the nasal organ in stepping into the house, that one is 
apt to exclaim that the crater of Etna could not produce a 
more disagreeable one, and that, too, with as much air as we 
choose to admit. Other evils exist more numerous than 
these mentioned. Thus, after a sharp night’s frost in March, 
the sun invariably shines very hot during the day, and by 
keeping up a moderate temperature in the night there 
unavoidably is a very great deal of fire-heat all day long; and 
what with the heat of the fire and the sun much air must 
he given, and, of course, in larger quantities than by any 
other system of heating. The bed for bottom-heat and the 
internal atmosphere of the house are heated simultaneously, 
so that we cannot heat one independent of the other; so, in 
summer time, we can get no heat to the bed, except we heat 
the house also when not required. 
And what is still worse, the inhabitants of such a house 
are liable to be scorched, singed, and nearly roasted some¬ 
times ; then follows blistered, blotched, and curled foliage. 
To say nothing of the great nursery it forms for red spider, 
thrips, and scale, evils in themselves great enough to dis¬ 
courage the most enduring and most persevering gardener 
in the world. 
Again, should the joints of the pipes give way, sulphur 
gets out, fills the house, and nearly destroys everything 
in it. Cucumbers , French Beans , and Vines are the first to 
show the work of this dangerous system. 
It is true, wo can now and then happen, out of a multitude 
of Pine plants, to get one or two good fruit, but this is not 
what we want in these go-a-head times; indeed, our aim 
ought to be to employ that system which suits the welfare 
of the plants, and that only if we intend to profit thereby; I 
therefore have no hesitation in saying, that he who wishes 
to see his plants and fruits growing to perfection must use 
liot-water.— Golightly, Carmarthenshire, South Wales. 
HARD Y BORDER PLANTS. 
(Continued from page 127.) 
ACHILLEA PTARMICA FLORE PLENO. 
This double variety is sometimes called Double Ptar- 
mica, or White Batchelors-buttons. It is a variety, of course, 
of our common, indigenous species, Achillea ptarmica, of 
our fields and river side banks, which is called Goose- 
tongue or Sneezewort. However, the double variety is an 
extremely beautiful border plant, and very useful as a late 
bloomer, flowering from the beginning of August to the 
end of September. Its stems rising from one-and-a-half to 
two feet high, make it a very desirable plant for the second 
row in tho borders or beds. Its flowers are produced in 
rather loose, spreading corymbs. All its leaves are strap- 
spear-shaped, pointed, equal, sharply saw - toothed and 
smooth. 
Its creeping root puts up such a profusion of suckers all 
round its crowns, that they should be all cut or hoed off 
during the spring months, leaving the centre part or bunch 
from seven to nine inches in diameter. 
When the bunches are attended to, and treated in this 
way, they may remain in the same spots in the borders for 
years. When increase is required, the whole plant should 
be taken up in the spring, and chopped through into two or 
four nice pieces, or if an extra bunch or two are required as 
late as when it has put up its profusion of suckers, which it 
does round the old-established plants, these may be taken 
up carefully, and separated from round the main crown. 
Take a handful of them together, and plant them in one 
hole made by the dibble, so as to form one snug bunch in 
the well-prepared border or bed, and watered. It flourishes 
in any good garden soil. These bunches soon become well- 
established in their situation, and make as neat or even 
neater bunches for autumn-flowering than the parent plants 
from which they were taken. 
This double variety is mentioned as being found growing, 
in a wild state, as long ago as 1666, near Chilmark, in Wilt¬ 
shire. It has also been observed in one of the little islands 
called Small Holme, in the Lake of Winandermere, previous 
to 1724, and since then it has been found wild at Ripton. 
These pretty little double llowers in September (like 
the Ranunculus (iconitijolius plants, or Double Fair Maids of 
France, in May), are great favourites with persons seeking 
bouquets. T. W. 
THE GAPES AND ITS WORM. 
A number of correspondents of The Cottage Gardener, 
have, from time to time, recorded their several observations 
of the presence of a number of small worms in the wind¬ 
pipes of chickens affected with the “ gapes ; ” and many of 
them have gone on to show, that these parasites can be dis¬ 
lodged by that well-known “ vermifuge,” turpentine, either 
directly applied to the windpipe of the fowl, by means of a 
feather, or by causing the bird to inhale the vapour. 
These facts, as they were observed, were recorded in good 
faith, and in all humility, in the attempt to trace effects to 
causes. There has been no evidence of “ smiles of satis¬ 
faction mantling the lips,” nor do I think that any of the 
said correspondents would have been bold enough to 
hazard a positive opinion, as Dr. Horner, of Hull, has done, 
on purely negative evidence. Dr. Horner dissected the 
windpipes of six chickens, which he sags died of gapes, and 
he found no worms, upon which, and at once, he jumps to the 
conclusion, that the statements of the correspondents of 
The Cottage Gardener have all been wrong ; and the 
sum of their description he “ hesitates not ” ! to declare “ an 
error.” 
Again the worthy Doctor “ hesitates not,” and declares 
the disease of gapes to be a regular case of inflammation ; 
in other words, chicken croup. We are, a little further on, 
supplied with the information, that “ the fowl gapes to open 
a freer passage for the air ”! 
Dr. Horner admits that the dislodgmont of the worms 
has been fully narrated, but says, that “ no one has yet 
described” the parasite, “as situated in the windpipe, by 
dissection after death.” Permit me to supply this missing 
link in the evidence. 
Some months ago, my friend, Mr. Lort (who is known to 
many of your correspondents as a careful and skilful 
“Fancier” of some particular varieties of poultry), after 
communicating with me frequently on the subject of the 
best mode of applying turpentine to the interior of the 
windpipes of chickens, did, at my request, forward me, by 
post, a windpipe of one of his defunct Cochin - China 
chickens, which, he said, “ he had suffered to die of 
‘ gapes,’ ” expressing his belief that the application of the 
turpentine would have saved the bird, as it had done 
dozens of others; but, as I said, he allowed the chicken to 
die, that I might open its windpipe and judge of the 
