408 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Mauch 2 i }. 
i Crystal Palace Company will beat us all in tliis way; as 
j room, room, they must have, to show their graceful and 
admirable habits.—IJ. Feeguson, Stowe, lIuckiiKjIunn. 
same. After the ground is well prepared, and tubers 
planted, keeping the weeds down is about all tliatis required. 
‘Earthing up,’ as we do with the common Potato, is quite 
unnecessary.”—AV. H. AVaenee, Melrose. 
I 
i 
HEATING BOILERS AAHTH GAS. 
As (his subject is at present under discussion in your 
pages, and 1 liave had a gas boiler and range of pipes so 
heated, I venture to make a remark or two thereon. I am 
satisfied that it can be done with facility, cleanliness, and 
less labour than otiier mod((S, but with respect to economy, 
I tliink some allowance must be made for the luxury and 
advantages named before tlie balance of cost is made out. 
Moreover, tlie gas-burners used will materially affect the 
consumption, and to that I wish to call attention, with a 
view to obtain information myself. I have tried large jets, 
and also a circular pipe with small jets, but still with the 
same result,—a production of a thick coating of soot or 
lamp-black on that part of the upper boiler exjiosed to the 
flame, which, of course, destroys the heating power. I am 
about to try a guaze wire-frame, the size of the bottom of 
the boiler. Ibave any of your readers tried one, and with 
what result, whether it is likely to consume more gas ?— 
AV. X. AV. 
P.S.—I notice a writer in a recent number speaks highly 
in favour of pot-tile flues. They soon warm a house, but 
as rapidly lose their heat, and are, therefore, less valuable 
than bricks, the retentive powers of which are well known. 
DIOSCOREA BATTATAS, OR CHINESE YAM. 
Cii.VNCE has throwm in my way the method of cultivating 
this plant in America, w’hich tends to throw much light on 
its usefulness as a culinary vegetable, and its superiority (?) 
over the various sorts of Potatoes now in use ; and deeming 
it probable that your numerous readers would be gratified 
by perusal of the same, I give it to you as given to me. 
“ ‘ The Chinese Yam,’ or ‘ .Japonica Potato ’ {Jnpoiiira 
Baltatas), bids fair to supersede the common Potato as a 
table vegetable. It has, for a great number of years, formed 
the chief food of the Chinese and Japanese, and must, 
therefore, be wmrthy of some consideration. 
“ It has been but lately introduced into Europe, and still 
more recently into America, but wherever its propagation 
has been tried, the result has been most successful. 
“ They resemble somewhat the ‘ Sweet Potato,’ but are 
much longer, growing often from twenty to thirty-six inches 
in length. They grow perpendicularly in the ground, are 
largest at the bottom, about two inches in diameter, and 
taper towards the top of the root to one-half-inch in diameter. 
They w'eigh from a half to three and five pounds. 'The 
skin is a kind of fawn colour, rather more brown than the 
Sweet I’otato. The vines, like the Sweet Potato, spread 
over the ground for several yards. The ffesh is white, has 
an exceedingly pleasant tlavour, and, moreover, is so dry 
and mealy, that it can be converted into flour, and baked 
into bread, in appearance almost as white as wheat bread. 
Roots liavc been produced weighing from tw'o to two-and-a- 
half-pounds, fi’om tubers planted in April, and dug in 
Octoi)er of the same year. 
“ One great point of superiority possessed by it is, that it 
may remain in the ground two or three years, always en¬ 
larging in size, and equally nutritious and excellent in 
tlavour. Experiments have proved that when the roots are 
left for eighteen months in the ground tlie yield is more 
than treble that of the roots left but for one summer; and 
it is also considered that tlie roots are improved in quality. 
“ It possesses another great advantage; the roots, when 
left in a cellar, remain firm and perfect, as well as free from 
sprouts, and they can be kept out of the ground a year with¬ 
out injury or deterioration of their alimentary qualities. 
This property renders them inv.aluable for use in long sea 
voyages, .and especially as a preventive of scurvy. 
“ All things considered, this A’’am promises to be a most 
valuable acquisition to our garden vegetables. The mode of 
culture is easy. Any one who understands growing the 
Sweet Potato can grow the A’am ; its culture is about the 
HOW TO GET ON AS A GARDENER. 
I EXXD, from the pages of The Cottage Gaeoenee, tbat^ 
you invite us youngsters to give you our thoughts, woi’ds, 
and deeds occasionally, and as it will be a means of self¬ 
culture, if of no other advantage, I beg to make a feeble 
attempt; and my object in doing so, is to tender my grateful 
acknowledgment of advantage I have derived from the 
perusal of Tjie Cottage Gaeuenee. Also, to add my 
humble opinion of that valuable w'ork, The Cott.vge Gae- 
HENEEs’ Dictionaey, particularly to one in my position, 
though, no doubt, many first-rate gardeners find it of much 
assistance to them. } 
Perhaps I had better begin at the beginning, and tell you , 
that I have kepit daily memorandums of the tlai/p occurrences, \ 
and for particulars to them I often refer. And I will just i 
remark liere, that I was Imping Mr. Appleby would have | 
urged it on the notice of his young friends, i.e., the young 
gardeners. I do not lay claim to that title, for I am one of 
those nondescripts, called ijeiierall;/ usefuls,” with the cure 
of cows, pigs, and sheep on my hands. 
Now, Sir, this is what I want to tell you. Doctor- 
is in want of a man, or a boy, or a something between the 
two. I apply, and got the situation. Having a pretty good 
knowledge of handling tools gener.ally, having been accus¬ 
tomed to agricultural work, I could dig, plant vegetables in 
a kitchen-garden, as well as most youths in my position ; but 
then, there is a large jnece of lawn to moxv, and in mowing 
I had had but little practice; but “ never mind that,” the 
Doctor says—“I know you can manage that, if you try, and 
feel a wish to do it.” 'There is a good deal of tlower-garden, 
too, and that I know nothing about, but the Doctor is not so 
particular as some about new sorts, or very choice kinds, or 
scientific arrangements, or things at unseasonable times. 
'Still, he likes to see a good bloom and showy colours. As 
to Roses, he s.ays—“ You may put Roses anywhere and 
everywhere.” “ Yery good, Sir,” says I, “ I’ll do my best.” 
But then, where am I to get Roses from ? I never budded a 
Rose; and as to raising them from cuttings, I had never 
hc.ard of it. But as there are several gentlemen in our 
village with gardens similar to our own, and with gar¬ 
deners to m.anage them, I naturally thought I could get any 
little piece of advice I wanted from them ; but I w.as doomed 
to disappointment, and I am glad I was, for I should have 
had to unlearn most of it again, and it made me seek that 
needful advice in a far surer channel. I had a pretty good 
stock of books by me, but they did not treat much of gar¬ 
dening, or, at least, in a way that was not suitable to my 
wants, with the exception of “Mawe's Gardening,” and that 
I consider a very useful liook to one in my position, but I 
wanted to know what gardeners were saying and doing at 
the ]iresent d.ay. So I called on a neighbouring bookseller, 
and fr.ankly made known my wants, and he handed me a 
number of The Cottage Gaedexee. “ That’s what you 
want,” he says. AVell, Sir, I read it all through, and I 
thought the bookseller was about right. 'The vegetable part 
of it 1 could understand very well, but the (lowers, with their 
English and Latin names, almost made me despair; but 
having put my hand to the plough, difficulties must be over¬ 
come, so I I'ead again, and mentally say — Now here’s a 
list of Annuals, I’erennials, and Bienni.als, bulbous, tuberous, 
and fibrous. And, no doubt, these very flowers that I am so 
anxious to become belter acquainted with arc in these very 
borders. Now, wh.at shall I do ? why. I’ll just take a run over 
to a neighbour’s. 1 do so; there I see the same kinds, and I 
ask their names. AVell, he tells me somethiTig neither 
English nor Latin, and laughs at my simplicity. Now, I 
thought, if I wished to mount this “ladder of learning,” I 
must put my foot on the first round at once ; 1 must h.ave 
some tallies (and I must not ask for anything that will be 
any expense until 1 am in a ])osiLion to show the necessity 
and utility of it). 1 can make some with a little trouble out 
of the old thatching spikes, just paint the tops with white 
lead, and keep a black lead in my iiocket, and the tallies 
