408 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 4. 
In conclusion, the lecturer, after proving that all 
Rhododendrons, and all such, may be grafted with ad¬ 
vantage, advised liis audience to be careful in selecting 
their grafted plants; and, he ought to have added, be also 
most scrupulous about those with wlmm you would deal 
for grafted plants. D. Beaton. 
A BUNDLE OE INQUIRIES ABOUT GREEN¬ 
HOUSES, VINERIES, AND OTHER GLAZED 
STRUCTURES. 
I c.AN well believe that it is next to an impossibility 
for an editor of a popular periodical so to conduct it as 
to give satisfaction to all his supporters. There is a 
continual influx of fresh readers, and to them anything 
but the simplest A-B-C details are bewildering. On the 
other hand, if an old tale is repeated, the adherents who 
have stuck by you through a succession of volumes shrug 
their shoulders, and commence muttering, “ Well, we 
surely have had enough about that!” A writer sketches 
out a few things to be thought about at a particular 
time, and a gentleman complains that the whole treat¬ 
ment of a particular plant, and the various modes of 
managing it, did not constitute a part of that article! 
The writers, just like the editors, are anxious to give 
the greatest possible satisfaction and pleasure to the 
greatest possible number of readers, and to do so they 
ought never to be above simplicities. Our superiors in 
position and intelligence should remember, tliat there 
are many as undrilled and inexperienced as -they them¬ 
selves were years ago. When beginners And that the 
food is too strong for their digestion, let them spend a 
postage-stamp in detailing all theiii symptoms and 
wishes to our Soyers of editors, and then complain if 
suitable provision is not provided. Even then, it will 
be wise policy not to give up, though each should not 
get all he wants at once. He is only one of many, and 
there can be no favouritism. He would often wish for 
more ample details; but space is limited, and there are 
increased demands upon it. Often I wish to scrawl on 
and on, but the ferula of our head master comes vividly 
before me. Then what am I to do with the contents of 
the actually dozen of letters now before me ? And how can 
space be found for a chat over them ? Each letter is 
suggestive of a separate treatise ; but then the most of 
them would make their appearance when they could be 
of no use to those chiefly concerned. I must, therefore, 
treat them briefly, and somewhat at random. 
1. Greenhouse Stages, Heating Tank by Gas, &c. 
—A correspondent {E. Anderson) proposes putting up a 
greenhouse in the bleaching green behind his house, 
thirteen feet by ten, glass one end, the other end a wall, 
but that not at a right angle; wishes to have the roof 
rectangular, so that it might fit another place if moved. 
This is easily managed. Place the two end rafters of 
your house (thirteen feet apart, I presume) at right 
angles with each other. Between the end rafters and 
the wall there will be a small triangle to be filled with 
glass. As you have a hipped roof at the back, back air 
could be given there, and the roof might be fixed, using 
strong sash-bars, instead of rafters, as done by Messrs. 
Rivers, Lane, &c. 
Stages .—The house is six feet in height in front, and 
the highest point in the roof seems about ten feet. At 
two-feet-and-a-half from the ground it is proposed to 
have a platform at the front two-feet-and-a-half wide, 
])ath two-feet-and-a-half wide, and the back stage to 
consist of another two-fect-and-a-half shelf on the same 
level as the front one, and two other shelves one-foot-and- 
a-quarter wide each, and raised above each other about 
four inches ; and an opinion is asked. 1 would say tho 
front platform is all right; the arranging of the other is 
right or wrong, according to the size of the plants to be 
grown. As, by the dotted lines, the back shelf of the 
stage is intended to be only seven or eight inches above 
the front one, I can see no reason wliy the two shelves, 
of equal width, should not answer as well as the three; 
or even a level platform right across, through the former, 
would bo better. Were it intended to grow a good many 
plants in smallish pots, I would raise the back shelf 
against the wall from two to three feet above the front 
one, and divide the space into five shelves, or six, instead 
of three. 
Heating. —“It is jiroposed to do this by means of a 
tank placed underneath the stage, in connection with a 
a small boiler heated by gas.” Size of tank wanted. 
That will depend upon the material. If of iron, least; 
if of slate, much the same; if of brick, covered with slate, 
more; if of wood, covered with slate, more still. If of 
iron, one nine inches wide would be sufficient; if of 
wood, covered with slate, eighteen or twenty inches 
would be necessary. In either case, it would be as well 
to have a division down the centre, and about three or 
four inches would be deep enough. I am supposing 
that this goes the whole length of the house. 1 should 
prefer that it went round the glass end, and beneath 
the front shelf. If more than greenhouse heat is wanted 
the tank must be wider. 
2 . Growing Erijiting-I'I.ants in Pots in the border 
OE A Greenhouse.— “ An old Subscriber,” in Scotland, 
wishes to try Oranges, Pomegranates, Olives, Eugenia 
Ugni, and others we may name, in imitation of Mr. 
Rivers, in his Orchard-houses, and proposes making 
holes in the pots, to let the roots down. Now, the first 
thing I should want to know here, is the position of the 
said border, as respects light; if that is unobstructed by 
the sliade of plants, I would say, go on and prosper. If 
it is desirable to change the pots, ripen their wood fully 
out-of-doors, and give them a rest there when necessary. 
I would do little in the way of encouraging the roots in 
the border. I have not tried Olives, or Pomegranates, 
but liranges. Peaches, Eigs, Vines, and, 1 believe, 
Eugenia Ugni, &c., w'ould answer well. With green- 
house^ temperature, keeping the frost out merely, you 
must not expect to have fruit early. 
3 . Glass for roof of Conservatory.—Mode of 
Heating from Kitchen Boiler.— “ Z. Z. Z.” says:— 
“ There is a north and west wall now in existence, the 
roof to be as flat as possible, and face the east, the end 
will face the south. The rafters, or strong sash-bars, are 
one foot apart,” which will answer well, and might be 
wider; and, as it is desirable to dispense with all means 
of shading tho roof, there is not a question but that 
Hartley’s rough glass will answer admirably. In a 
cool veranda-house, the back wall being of a light 
colour, I used to bo much troubled with the scalding 
and burning of the foliage near it. A roof of small, 
lapped squares was exchanged for large, thick squares 
of Hartley’s, and I have never seen a scald since, and 
there has been no necessity for shading. It is proposed 
to heat this from the kitchen boiler twenty-three feet 
distance, “ the top of the boiler being just one foot 
above the floor of the conservatory, and the bottom 
about the level of tho same.” These will bo the replies. 
1st. 'The boiler will do, but it is a near go. Your lowest 
pipe will be all the better to bo twelve to eighteen 
inches above tho floor of tho conservatory, the upper 
flow-pipe as many inches as you can find convenient 
above that. The flow-pipe should rise, from the boiler 
to the extreme end, and there terminate in an open 
socket, or cistern, and the return should sink to the 
bottom of tho boiler in a similar manner. 2nd. One- 
and-a-half inch pipe will not heat the house sufficiently ; 
you would require a three-inch, or even four, and then a 
flow and return would do. Eor the sake of economy, 
however, one-and-a-half-inoh pipe might be used for the 
twenty-three feet before it gets to the conservatory. If 
