TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 15. 
54 
flower) are looking very sickly. Do you approve of the 
pans under them ?—A Subscriber.” 
[It is too great a heat to put Strawberries in a temperature 
of 00° at once. If they had been in a frame, so as to 
average 50° for a time, they would have a better chance. 
Still, under the circumstances, at this season of the year 
they ought not to have shown such results as you mention. 
We fear the plants have not been properly prepared in the 
autumn, or have had the Crowns injured by frost and cold in 
winter. The result you mention also takes place in dull 
weather, from careless watering, either pouring the water 
on the crown of the plant, at all times bad in doors, and 
more especially in dull, foggy weather, or in leaving water 
in the flats for several days. At all times, but especially in 
early forcing, no water should stand in the saucers until the 
plants aro setting their fruit. To avoid this in early forcing, 
we prefer placing the pot on turves of soil, the earth upper¬ 
most. The bottom of the pot thus absorbs sufficient 
moisture, and no stagnant water is retained.] 
HEATING WITH HOT-WATER MPES.—IIOW TO 
AVOID A DOOR-WAY. 
“ I am about to heat a small propagating or forcing-pit 
with liot-water for top-heat. I want one pipe round the 
pit. I have a path down the centre, and, for reasons I have, 
must have my entrance at one end, and the boiler at the 
other ; consequently, the pipe must cross the doorway. I 
had an idea of earning the pipe level until I come to the 
door, which will be about fifty-four feet from the boiler, and 
then passing it upwards over the door-head, and bring it 
down to the same level, and take it down the other side of 
the pit, still level until I come near the boiler. 
“ Will the liot-water rise at the door, after leaving the 
boiler that distance? or must I have a receiving box at the 
boiler elevated above the highest level of the pipe? or must 
I take it down beneath the level of the floor ? If so, must 
I keep the bottom of the boiler below, or as low ns the 
lowest level of the. pipe, to insure free circulation? and will 
it be necessary to have a receiving box, or syphon, at the 
boiler carried up above the level of the side pipes ? 
“ If I carry it over the door-head, it will rise two feet nine 
inches, but if carried under the floor it will fall three feet 
nine inches. —A Subscriber.” 
[Proceed thus:—Take your pipe along the one side, to 
the doorway, and in the fifty-four feet let it rise three inches 
or so to the doorway, instead of being level, there have an 
air-pipe, or, better still, your supply-cistern or open socket; 
from thence take your pipe below your doorway, and raise it 
to the same level on the other side, provided the pipe be¬ 
neath the doorway is higher than the top of your boiler. 
On the top of the pipe, on this second pipe, and close to the 
doorway, insert a quarter-inch air-pipe, and from that point 
let the pipe decline to its boiler, as much as it was raised on 
the other side. This seems the simplest mode, according 
to your own plan. Would you allow us to suggest a better 
still. Whatever you are going to have for bottom-heat, it 
would be more regular, and render you more independent, 
by having a pipe passing through it, and an extra five 
pounds would be well spent. All you would have to do, 
would be to take a flow-pipe along each side, and bring the 
return through your bed. You could thus heat either side 
at pleasure, and you would have no trouble with your door¬ 
way, as at that point the pipe would have a circular bend, 
and return again to the boiler. If this is adopted, the end 
of the pipes next the doorway must be the highest.] 
MANAGEMENT OF A DUNG-BED FOR CUTTINGS ; 
AND IN A VINERY. 
“ Will you be so obliging as to say, whether it is a good 
or safe practice, when making a hotbed in which to strike 
cuttings, and raise plants from seeds, etc., to leave the sur¬ 
face of the dung (within the frame) entirely uncovered, 
merely placing the pots and seed-pans on it, if not too hot, 
in which case to have just so much space as is needed, 
covered with a few inches of mould, on which to set the 
pots, while the remaining uncovered portion gives up, un¬ 
checked, the reeking vapour and odour into the frame? My 
I gardener thinks that they are beneficial rather than hurtful; 
j an opinion in which I cannot agree, until I hear it confirmed 
\ in your paper. 
I “ In a Vinery, which has a brick flue, and also a pit to be 
filled with heating material, can we use leaves of Laurel, 
i Holly, and other evergreens, and of some Beech (perhaps 
one-half of Beech), they arc now quite dry? How should 
we proceed with them, to make them heat? 
If they are unfit for this purpose, can we use stable 
dung? If ive can, should the surface be covered over with 
mould, or other matter ? — A very grateful Subscriber.” 
[You are both right. Everything thrives in such vapour ; 
that will stand the heat, provided tbe dung is quite sweet, i 
Though well made, a little bit will sometimes pass unnoticed, j 
and the steam from it will do mischief to any thing tender, j 
As a security, and also as being more cleanly, it is a good 
plan to cover tbe surface with a few coal-ashes. If your | 
gardener, however, prefers the first plan, you had better let i 
him have his way. If experienced, his nose and eyes will 
tell him when to venture, and if he should have a slight 
i misadventure, it will be bought knowledge he will not forget. 
I All the materials you mention may be mixed together, 
I and watered as they are put into tbe pit. Of themselves, 
tbe steam from them will do no harm. We mean the leaves. 
The dung, if mixed, will cause the heat to come stronger, 
but it must be sweet before it is admitted, if there is any¬ 
thing green in the house. Two months ago, when the Vine 
buds were hard, and there was nothing else in the house, 
I you might have put in tbe dung and leaves at once, and 
wrought and sweetened them in the house, to the benefit of 
the Vines, because it would be sweet before the buds broke. 
But you could not do so now, even if you covered tire sur¬ 
face. With the leaves alone, have the surface uncovered, 
' and turn the leaves at times.] 
FIGS FALLING OFF.—SOIL FOR APRICOTS. 
“ I have some Figs at the back of nn early reach-house, 
which had a first-rate show of fruit, they came to the size 
of marbles, some larger, but now they are falling off. The 
bouse is kept at GO'-’, and they get the same treatment as 
the Peaches, and these look remarkably well. The Figs are 
on young trees. I have a nice crop of fruit (Figs) in the other 
Peach-house. Is having Figs at the back of a reach-house 
a good plan, or not? 
“ I also wish to ask you what soil Apricots like best. I 
have some on a south wall, in good, rich soil, and they do 
not do as well ns I should wish them. I also have some 
Apricots on a west wall, in much poorer soil than the others, 
and they thrive.— Smith.” 
[Are your Figs shaded at all, if so, the softness of the 
wood will account for it. If not shaded, then we suspect 
they are too dry at the roots. If this is not the case, and the 
shoots are very strong, check their growth by root pruning. 
A strongish loam suit Apricots best. We suspect your 
soil on the south wall is too rich; substitute poorer, or cut { 
the roots a little in September, as soon as the fruit is I 
gathered, that will cause flower-buds to form.] 
LTNUM GRANDIFLORUM, PERILLA NANKIN- 
ENSIS, AND TROPCEOLUM SCHEUZItlANUM 
CULTURE. 
“ A. M. R. will be obliged by the Editor of The Cottage 
1 Gardener informing him the proper cultureof Liinim grandi: 
\ florum, Pcrilla nanlrinensis, and Trnpccolum fiehcuzrianwn.”, 
[ Linumgrandijlorum .—Unless you are a very good hand at 
rearing seedlings, you will have a world of trouble with this 
t plant, and fail to bloom it, after all. If you can flower it, 
however, it will pay you. The nearest and best way is to 
raise it in a gentle hotbed, in sandy soil, to get it out of heat 
as soon as the seedlings are up; but to keep them from 
strong sun and too much air, till the end of May; to repot 
them three and three in (30-sized pots, and when they have 
filled these pots with roots, to plant them out on a warm 
bonier, all except one pot, which you may try to flower under 
glass. 
As to the Peril la, you can grow it easily enough. The 
