280 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 9. 
I find I have so lengthened out these remarks, that I 
cannot well allude to other plants. 1 will, therefore, 
just glance at a few more circumstances that will make 
the article a little more complete. 
1. Soil .—This has been already alluded to. Filmy 
poat and loam, lightened with bits of charcoal and 
silver-sand. As the plants get oil in size, 1 prefer the 
last shifting to consist chiefly of sweet iibry loam, and 
nodules of old diked cow-dung. 
2. Propagation .—One mode has been given. Another 
mode is to cut the roots, the strongish old parts, into 
pieces; cover them firmly with soil, and plunge into a 
brisk, sweet bottom-lieat. When the shoots appear, 
they, and tlm roots attached, are treated as young plants. 
Plants are, also, easily raised from seed; sowing it as 
soon as ripe, or keeping it carefully until next spring. 
For quick-blooming plants, i prefer stubby side-shoots 
from the old stems, as already referred to. 
3. Enemies .—The most prominent of these are three. 
First, a scaly insect, which requires to be rubbed off 
when it makes its appearance. It is least seen when 
the plants are plunged in sweet fermenting matter. 
Tobacco-water will kill it; but if not carefully used, and 
the leaves syringed with clear water shortly afterwards, 
it will also injure the leaves. The second is Green Fly, 
especially when the shoots are young. The remedy is 
fumigation. The third is Red Spider, and the remedies 
for that are sulphur fumes, arising from hot-water pipe 
or plate; the free use of the syringe, and a moist heat 
from the fermenting material. If the old shoots are 
well-ripened, all these evils will be mitigated by cover¬ 
ing the shoots with a paint of clay and sulphur a week 
or so before the plants are put into heat. R. Fish. 
MY NOTE BOOK. 
HEATING CONSERVATORIES AND GREENHOUSES 
WITH GAS. 
lx has long been a desideratum with amateurs residing 
in villas having a conservatory or greenhouse attached 
to their dwellings, to be able to heat them by gas. I 
know this has been tried near London, and has failed, 
why, I could never understand ; because heat applied to 
a boiler, whether from coal, coke, wood, or gas, amounts 
to the same thing, namely:—heating the water, and 
thereby causing a circulation; throwing off the heat 
into the area of the bouse, cooling the water, causing it 
to become dense, or heavier, whereby it returns to the 
boiler to be re-heated, and sent round again to give off a 
fresh quantity of heat, and so keep up the warm iuternal 
atmosphere. 
1 have now to inform the readers of The Cottage 
Gardener that I have seen, in two places, this de¬ 
sirable method accomplished with perfect success; and I 
shall, on this occasion, endeavour to explain how it is 
managed at both places. 
There is a place called Widdrynton House, at Edg- 
haston, near Birmingham, belonging to John Radcliff, 
Esq. On the garden front, the entire length of the 
house, this gentleman (who is passionately fond of his 
garden) has put up a long conservatory, of a very 
elegant design, for the purpose of enjoying plants in 
flower. This house it was, of course, necessary to heat 
sufficiently to keep out the frost, and also to render it a 
comfortable promenade in cold weather. To do this in 
tiro ordinary way, by hot-water with a boiler heated by 
' coals, would have been extremely objectionable, because 
of the room the stoke-hole would occupy interfering with 
arrangements of the garden, and also the difficulty of 
getting rid of the smoke. Mr. Radcliff’s place is near to 
a road aloug which there are gas-pipes laid. Taking ad¬ 
vantage of this, he had the gas brought in, and applied 
to an upright, ornamental boiler inside the conservatory. 
The gas was applied to the bottom of the boiler by jets 
from a ring under it. This plan kept out the frost; but 
the gaseous vapours were very unpleasant, and injurious 
to the plants, so much so, that it was given up. The 
owner, nothing daunted by this failure, has, this last 
month, had a small square boiler fitted up outside the 
conservatory, with an ascending and return pipe 
attached to it. The gas jets applied under this boiler 
heat the water quickly, and send it rapidly through 
the house, keeping up a constant circulation as loug as 
the gas is allowed to burn. There is now no scent of 
gas, and the house is warmed up to any moderate heat 
required. All that is required is to keep the boiler and 
pipes full of water, and to turn on and light the gas 
whenever heat is required. I have seen this, and can 
avouch for the practicability, safety, and economy of 
the plan. 
The other instance is in the garden of J. Simkiss, Esq., ! 
Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton. This I saw at work ] 
on the 29th of December last, heating a span-roofed 
greenhouse. The water circulated freely in pipes under 
the stage, which was of the same form as the roof. The 
boiler, a square one, was placed in the middle of the j 
north end, partly under the wall and partly within the 
house. It was an open boiler, with a tight fitting lid. j 
To see where the gas was applied to heat the water, 1 
had to go round outside. 1 saw, on arriving there, what 
had the appearance of a common furnace door. On 
opening it the gas was visible issuing out of several 
holes lrom a circular ring pipe, heating the water very 
freely, as well as the air in the square space under it. 
This heated air Mr. S. thought might be made use of. 
He had, therefore, an upright zinc pipe carried through 
the boiler, and when through it two or three inches, 
turned at right angles through the glass into the open 
air. This heated the water still more, and made a less 
quantity of gas necessary. 
Such is my brief account of two successful experi¬ 
ments of using gas as the power to heat water in the 
boiler and pipes of a conservatory and a greenhouse. 
My Note Book says both might be greatly improved 
by having the boiler made in the form usually called 
the saddle, and by having above the flames a pipe j 
with a funnel end to catch the heat that would otherwise i 
he wasted, and this pipe to be coiled round, and again ! 
inside the boiler, bringing the small end into the open 
air to carry off the effluvia of the gas. By having a 
boiler of large dimension, with stronger jets of gas 
playing against it, houses of large dimensions might be 
heated. 
The advantages of gas are, that there are no coals to 
use, and no ashes to cause dust on the leaves of the 
plants, and the readiness of its application. On any 
sudden emergency, such as a frost or a cold wind, the 
gas may be turned on and lighted at once by any one 
that may be at hand. Nothing can be more convenient 
and-easy. No doubt, many an ingenious mechanic could 
improve the methods ami plans of the two instances I 
have given of using gas for the purpose of heating hot¬ 
houses, and I should be glad if some such an one would 
turn his attention to it. T. Appleby. 
ROLLESTON HALL 
I he Seat of Sir Oswald Mosely, Bart. 
1 had the pleasure of visiting this interesting [dace, 
near Derby, a few days ago, and was truly glad to note 
the progress many of the Conifer:® have made. 
1 was informed, that last winter, on one particular 
night, the thermometer indicated 37° of frost, that is 5° 
below zero, and it is exceedingly interesting to mark 
