">02 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 
Marcji 31. 
sight beneath the floor. There is no hot-water appa- j 
ratus, however well fixed, but lets a portion of its heat 
up the chimney ; and, therefore, when using this mode 
for a largo house, it would be advisable to carry a flue 
' through the north wall. Keeping in mind that wc 
recommend a flue only in such small greenhouses, wc 
will illustrate what we mean, by a case. We had such a 
small house, sixteen feet long, nine feet wide, eleven feet 
high at back wall, and seven feet in front, four of that 
; being glass. One end was a part of a garden wall, j 
against which the heating power was to be placed, and 
I the other end was mostly glass. An average temperature 
j of -10° in cold weather was wanted. I applied to a trades- 
! man, but as he asked £15 for what we had calculated 
I might bo done handsomely for i'5, as we w'ero to find 
the labour and materials of setting the boiler, and con¬ 
structing the chimney, we left the matter in abeyance, 
ultimately finding it was no go, the demand was greatly 
reduced. By this time, we had thought that pipes 
would bo rather in the way, wherever placed, and had 
resoh'ed upon having a small flue beneath the floor, 
which was covered with nine-inch paving tiles. A part 
at the doorway consisted of stone flooring, which we did 
not wish to disturb, so that the length of the flue, before | 
it turned, was only twelve feet, instead of sixteen feet, 
making twenty-four feotin all. We removed as many tiles 
I near the front of the house, and whatearth we calculated 
exactly would be necessary; wo fixed a small furnace out¬ 
side the wall, so that the bars of the grating were fifteen i 
inches below the bottom of the flue; and inside the | 
house, the sloping rise to the bottom of the flue was 
bedded with fire-brick ; the bottom of the rest of the flue 
consisted of common house slate, bedded on the earth 
in a little mortar. The flue was from four to five inches 
wide—wc intended to form it of two bricks on edge— 
but wishing to have a hollow place on each side of the 
go and return flue, so as to give out more heat to the 
tiles above, the go and return flues being placed side by 
side, we used three bricks on bed for strength, the three 
walls thus serving for the two flues; on the toji of these 
slate was again bedded in such a manner that the joints 
of the slate were crossed by the joints of the paving 
tiles, which were bedded on the slates with a layer of 
good mortar between them. It will be seen that the 
tiles next the flue rest partly on the top of the flue, and 
1 partly on the earth on which the floor is laid, leaving a 
I hollow space. A very small fire is felt in a few minutes, 
I and we are rather afraid to state how long a bushel of 
coals and cinders kept up the requisite heat in the 
coldest weather we have had this season. In such a 
position, we would be glad to know of any other mode 
that would be preferable. Mr. Snow, as previously 
recorded, has several houses heated in a similar manner. 
At the point whore the flue turns wo can take off a tile, 
and clean in a few minutes; the soot being shoved in 
one branch to the furnace, and in the other to a move¬ 
able iron plate in the chimney. E. Eisii. 
THE BELAEGONIUM, 
(Continued from page 481.) 
Hisk.vse. — The Sgwt .— This disease is so named- 
because it first appears as a small spot near the centre 
of an otherwise healthy leaf. It gradually spreads 
until the whole leaf turns yellow and drops off if not 
removed by hand. The great cause of this disfiguring 
pest is over-excitement, by heat and moisture during 
the latter part of summer, and then reducing both these 
stimulants through autumn and winter. The propor¬ 
tion then between the root action and the surface of the 
leaf is disarranged, and, the plants having more leaves 
than they require in such a low temperature to carry 
on the functions of growtli, parts of the leaves will 
become diseased or gangrened, w-itli ulcerated spots, a 
state of life in the plant induced to case itself of a too 
groat number of leaves. When a plant is in this con¬ 
dition, a low, close atmosphere greatly aggravates the 
disease, causing it to spread to more leaves than it j 
otherwise would if the internal air of the house w'as . 
purer and drier. The remedy is obvious—it would not j 
answer to keep up the summer-heat, and amount of 
water through those late months, for that would cause : 
them to grow weak and lanky, and the leaves would be 
of a sickly pale colour—that remedy would be worse 
than the disease. The only means left, then, arc to give 
I plenty of air, and keep the walks, &c. as dry as possible, 
; and to remove instantly every leaf that appears the 
least diseased. In very damp, foggy weather, it would 
be advisable to give a small amount of artificial heat 
early in the morning, giving air in the upper parts of 
the house at the same time. This will cause the stag¬ 
nant air, overloaded with noxious damp vapours, to fly 
olf into the external atmosphere, and the internal air 
will bo purified. By ado^iting these precautions the 
disease will gradually disappear, and the plants will 
show, by renewed health and colour, that the desired 
cure has been effected. 
4th. Section. — Preparing tor Exhibition. — The 
cultivator, having paid duo attention to his plants in 
regard to cultivating them, and getting them into bloom 
in full perfection when the day of exhibition arrives, will 
be examining and watching his plants with peculiar 
interest for three weeks before that time comes. Tliey 
should be trained about that time, so as to have each 
truss of bloom arranged so as not actually to touch j 
each other, and yet to bo so close as to form a dense mass 
of bloom above the foliage. All blooms likely to be 
over before the day should be cut off at once, close to 
the branch, so as not to show they have been in exis¬ 
tence. About a week before the show each truss should 
be tied firmly to a stick to keep it in its place, and these | 
should remain till they arrive at the place of exhibition, i 
that is, if they have to travel a considerable distance, j 
as much, say, as four or five miles, or more. This is 
rather a troublesome affair; but if not adopted, it is more 
than likely many of the blooms will, by shaking against 
each other, bo bruised, and rendered unfit for competi¬ 
tion. To afford time, the plants should arrive at their 
destination two or three hours before they are required 
to bo placed on the stage. Any packing the trusses 
of bloom with cotton, or other kinds of wool, should 
always be avoided ; it is so difficult to remove w’ithout 
injuring the flowers. Supposing they arrive in good 
condition, then remove the sticks carefully, luck off all 
injui-ed blossoms, and place them in their appointed 
])lacc. Should the day be hot, a good watering previous 
to placing them on the stage will keep them fresh and 
blooming through the day. 
Arrangement .—The largest plants should be placed in 
the back row, and the smaller in front. Place them so 
that every bloom can bo seen. A wedge of w'ood put 
under the back of each pot will serve gx'eatly to effect 
this, especially if applied to the back row; but the wedge 
should not be so thick as to give the plants a leaning- 
forward appearance, but just enough to show off the 
plants and blooms to perfection. The colours are 
worthy of some attention in arranging. Two scarlets, 
or two crimsons, should not bo placed together, neither 
should two light-coloured ones be in juxtaposition. The 
Pelargonium produces plenty of choice in shades of 
colour to arrange them so as to have a very pleasing 
effect. Deep colour’s set off each other very beautifully; 
ns, for instance, a glowing crimson-scarlet, like 'Turner’s 
Magnet, is greatly enhanced in colour if jilaced next to j 
such a bright pink-red as Gaines’s Salamander, and the j 
colour of that is brightened if placed next to such a 
