January 1. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
243 
could our niarket^i, or our gardens, I'oyal and noble, be sup¬ 
plied without miles of brick walls? Wealth can always 
I command luxuries. Tt is not for millionaires that wo re- 
j (|uire cheap Orchard-houses or cheap Vineries. It is for the 
I i)oor gentleman who has the taste to enjoy a Peach, or a 
I Nectarine, as well as my Loi’d Duke, but who cannot spend 
TIOOO on a brick wall, or a Vinery. 
! I would rather, yes, much rather, be the man to tell such 
how to buihl a Vinery with Larch poles for ten pounds, than 
be the architect of the Crystal Palace; or, as it may now 
be called, the Crystal Polly. 
I have a Vinery in point, it is thirty feet long, eleven feet 
I wide, and cost, as nearly as I can calculate, TIO Ids.; its 
I sides and ends are half incli boards nailed to Larch poles, 
’ cut once down, charred and tarred, and let into the ground 
with their Hat sides outwards; it was built by one of my 
labourers, and owes its cheapness partly to its site, for it is 
; on a saiuLbank; height of back, four feet; front, one foot. 
I The jiath is excavated, and, as the sand is dry, it answers 
i well; but for 3()s. or 40s. more, a house of the same materials 
j miglit he built of the same dimensions on level ground, of 
I course with tlie walls higher still, with a sunken path. Who 
would not, then, have Grapes ? In fact, every decent 
well-to-do person ought to have a Vinery. I ought now, 
also, to tell liow to keep Grapes in such a house. 1 found, 
this autumn, my house, just described, full of Hambro’ 
Grapes, and having others, I wished to keep them for a late 
supply ; hut 1 had no hot-water pipes, and could not con¬ 
veniently build an Arnott stove. 1 wrote to you, Mr. Editor, 
and you procured for me a 2.i)s. .loyce’s stove, with prepared 
charcoal. I used the prepared and then burnt common 
charcoal, which neither injured fruit nor leaves, and I kept 
my Grapes w'ell till nearly the end of December. I mention 
these matters to show at w’hat a cheap rate garden luxuries 
may be procured.— Thojias Rivers. 
WEIGHT ATTAINED BY PUMPKINS. 
Your corresiiondcnt, “ G. YVieson,” wishes to know the 
weight and girth of the largest Dritish Pumpkins on record. 
If he will look into Loudon’s Gardener's Magazine, vol. 7, 
page 101, he will there see an account of one growm by 
Riehai'd Saunders, gardener to C. Hoare, Esq., Luscomb, 
near Exeter, that measureil in circumference, 9ft. 3in., and 
weighed 245]1)s.—W. H. Mould, West Everkigh, Wills. 
PERNS AND LYCOPODIUMS FOR GARNISHING 
THE DESSERT. 
Not having seen any account in any Gardening work of 
the materials which are used for garnishing the dessert, and 
I as the Russian style (« la Ilusse) is getting very much in 
I fashion amongst the Nobility (viz., by placing the dessert 
I on tlie table at once, and serving t(;e dinner from the side- 
I hoards), i think something more than the ditferent leaves of 
i slirubs, variegated Kale, Ice plant, &c., is required to em- 
j hellish our fruits ; fronds of Perns are used here as a change, 
I with vei’y good eti’ect, giving the fruit a somewhat exotic 
appearance. Twelve dishes, for examjile:— 
I 'i’op dish, ricris longij'vlia; bottom dish, Flcris serrulala; 
! two Hanks, Pteris argiUa and Aspidiuni Jilia'-mas; four cor- 
, ners, Asplenium Brownli, Aspkninm Mariainim, Asplenium 
I adinntuni nigrum, and. adiantum cuneatnm; and i'ov four less 
; dishes. Lycopodium robuslum, L.Jlexuosum, L. densum, and 
I L. cccsia. 
Of course, the gardener cannot claim the Hanks at all 
' times, as the housekeeper will he anxious to come out with 
I her hon-bons, preserved fruits, tfcc., and, as a matter of 
I course, find her own material for garnishing. It is true, 
there are many that would not cut their pet Perns for such 
a purpose; and justly may they be termed pets, for of all 
plants. Perns are, I think, the most interesting. 
The beautiful crimson leaves of the Barbarossa Grape 
N ine makes a pleasing contrast to some kinds of fruits at 
this season of the year.—J. Perkins, Thornhnm Hall, 
SuffoUi. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
HOT WATER NOT CIRCULATING. 
“I purchased a second-hand lean-to greenhouse, 24 feet 
by 12 feet, which I determined to heat by hot water. I ob¬ 
tained a Burbridge and Ileeley’s jiatent boiler, wdiich cost 
me T2 5s., and fitted it with 4-inch How and return-pipe, 
going round one end and the front of the house; but I have 
been sadly disappointed in my expectations ot its heating. 
The lower pipe heats Hrst, after two hours’ heavy' tiring; 
but, with all the fire I can put on, I can hardly get the upper 
pipe to be warm. I always understood the flow or upper 
pipe would be first hot, and the water would return by the 
lower, which would be coldest; but mine is quite the reverse. 
My flue-door is a common one: I have a small door at the 
top of the boiler to clean out the soot. Will you be so kind 
as to tell me Avhat you think is the matter,—whether the 
boiler is too small for the size of the house, and the cause of 
the lower pipe heating first ? Is there not some jilace in 
Loudon where I could obtain a boiler and furnace altogether 
in one, and set it in the greenhouse ?—R. R.” 
[We have lately said much upon various modes of heating. 
With a little attention you might have seen enough to meet 
your case. AVe write, however, immediately, that you may 
effect the necessary changes before the very severe weather 
assails you, or we should only be telling you how to shut the 
door securely after all the valuable in’operty had found a way 
out of it. Your boiler we presume to be quite large enough, 
and will yield enough of heat even for more pipes, if properly 
set. Any bricklayer ivho knows how to throw the most heat 
from the fire into a copper wash-house boiler ivill not go far 
wrong. In this case, the fire is made in the middle, passes 
over a break at the back, comes round the sides, and passes 
over the top up the chimney; and a clamper should be in 
the chimney to regulate the draught, and to keep the heat 
from a bright fire round the boiler, ancl prevent it bolting up 
the chimney to heat the external air. Now, according to the 
plan you have adopted, so far as Ave can see, Ave are not sur¬ 
prised that you have failed to get heat into your upper or 
flow-pipe. We should not have been surprised if, Avith such a 
strong lire as yon speak of, your boiler, chimney, &c., had 
all been bloAvn into smithereens. This has partly been 
avoided by an air-pipe fixed at near the farther extremity of 
the flow-pipe—thus helping to save you from a crash—Avith- 
out getting a particle of Avater into the near end of yoiir 
flow-pipe or the higher end of your boiler. Your reservoir 
is a considerable distance from, and considerably elevated 
above, the top of the boiler—hoAV many feet Ave cannot say; 
and from this reservoir a feeding-pipe is taken not to the 
/fo/e-pipe, as most people Avould have done, but to the lower 
I or return-pipe, near to where it joins the boiler. The upper 
! pipe does not come at right angles from the side ot the 
' boiler, as the lower one does, but rises considerably above it, 
I and then slopes gradually down, until it runs at a certain 
i equal distance from the lower pipe, both connectetl at the 
junction Avith a semicircular piece, and near to Avliich and 
the upper pipe is fixed the air-pipe, higher than Avhich the 
water cannot get, Avith the exception of the influence its 
jn’essure may have in compressing the air above it, the 
force of that compression being vastly augmented by the 
long tube connecting the reservoir Avith the lower or return- 
pipe. Had you an open pipe at the highest point of your 
flow-pipe, and rising as high as your reservoir, you Avould 
have water to the top of your boiler; and there Avould be no 
Avant of circulation, as Avater Avill get to its level ii it be not 
prevented by' an opposing medium. Leave tiA'o ends of a 
crooked tube open, or formed as your pipes, Avith a semi¬ 
circular or rectangular bend ; and Avhen you pour in Avater 
at one tube, it will rise equally high in both. Put a cork, 
air tight, in one side of the tube, and pour the Avater into 
the other, and though you HU the open side full, you will 
not get it Avithin a good distance of the cork on the other 
side, let the Avater compress the air as it Avill. Take a tumb¬ 
ler, and fill it three parts Avith Avater. Place a dram-glass, 
reversed, upon the surface of the AV'ater, and, though you 
press it right down to the bottom, you Avill perceive that all 
you can do Avill fail to cause the Avater to rise any great 
