February 27. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
421 
the hands of Mr. Beaton, who was on the point of resuming 
his ABC instructions in gardening ; he may probably put 
you in the spelling class ; at any rate, wo leavo you in his 
hands ; but, by way of evening class, we would suggest that 
the rest of his pupils should he equally attended to mean¬ 
time.] 
HEATING A GREENHOUSE FROM A PARLOUR 
FIRE. — HOLLYHOCK SEEDLINGS BLOOMING 
THE FIRST YEAR OF SOWING. 
“ Pray accept my best thanks for your very kind reply to 
my large demand for information respecting greenhouses 
(p. 352). One other point with reference to the subject 
1 should feel obliged by mention in your ‘ Answers.’ 
“ My greenhouse will be at the end of my house, and a 
door will communicate between the greenhouse and an 
occasional sitting-room. Can I, to save fire, make use of 
that in the sitting-room to heat a boiler for supplying the 
hothouse and greenhouse ? And will it be likely to prove 
injurious if I have the back part of the fire-place and chimney 
thinly bricked (carefully, of course, to exclude noxious air, 
&c.), in order to allow some heat to be given by that means ? 
“ A correspondent asked, a few numbers back, if it were 
possible to flower Hollyhocks the first year. You thought 
not. Last year, however, I did. I sowed some seed in 
January in a hotbed, and kept the plants growing till May, 
when I put them out, and in September three of them 
flowered. I do not advise this unless he, as I did, wanted 
to know the colours.—W. F. G.” 
[There will be no difficulty in having a little boiler in the 
sitting-room, provided the pipes in the greenhouse are higher 
than the boiler—say a foot or eighteen inches. You might 
also manage to have a damper in the chimney. We presume 
the fire-place is at the end of the house, and the greenhouse 
on the other side. In such circumstances, an iron plate 
would be better than bricks; but either would give you a 
considerable amount of heat. In a previous volume, Mr. 
Fish described a whole series of greenhouses in a row of 
houses, the heat from the kitchen fires of which was suffi¬ 
cient to keep all common greenhouse plants over the winter. 
Two pipes from a boiler at the fire-place would be an addi¬ 
tional security. For places of any size it is better to heat 
them separately, independently of rows, as in cold weather 
you might be obliged to heat the row when you did not want 
it, though much might be done by a damper in the chimney, 
and enclosing the fire place, so as merely to have an opening 
for draught.] 
HEATING GREENHOUSE BOILERS BY GAS. 
“ In the number of The Cottage Gardener for the 9th 
of January, I see an article, by Mr. Appleby, on the subject 
of heating greenhouse boilers by gas. As an improve¬ 
ment to the plain jets acting on the boiler, I would recom¬ 
mend that the gas be allowed to pass through wire gauze, 
before ignition. It will then burn on the surface of the 
gauze, with a lambent, but very intense heat, owing to the 
wire being heated, and thereby causing the entire consump¬ 
tion of the gas. 
“ Can Mr. Appleby obtain from any of his friends, who 
have tried heating by gas, how much gas was consumed per 
diem, giving at the same time the size of the house, and 
the height outside and in ?”—G.A. 
“ B.S.—The gauze should not have too largo a surface, 
say half to three-quarters-of-an inch in diameter ; else the 
flame will flicker, or run from one place to another, and great 
loss of heat will be the result.” 
[Mr. Appleby sent an enquiry to Mr. Catling, Curator of 
the Birmingham Garden, respecting the quantity of gas used 
per diem in heating the conservatory belonging to J. Ratcliff, 
Esq., Wyddrington House, Edgbaston, and has received the 
following answer:— 
“ The conservatory is 70 feet long, 12 feet wide, 13 feet 
high in front, and 17 feet high at the back. The boiler is 
heated by nine one-jet burners. The house is in a very 
exposed, high situation. On the morning of the 14th of 
February last, the thermometer inside indicated 40° Fahren¬ 
heit, and outside 19°, at 7 a.m. Mr. R. has no means of 
ascertaining the quantity of gas consumed per diem, having 
no meter, neither can he form an approximate estimate. 
“ What does “ G. A.” mean when he says the gauze should 
not have too large a surface, say half or three-quarters-of-an 
inch ? it surely cannot be gauze with apertures half-an-inch 
across ? 
“ Mr. R. will make some further alterations in the spring, 
and is aware of the gauze being beneficial.” 
This is, as far as it goes, a very satisfactory answer; it 
clearly shows that gas used to heat a boiler outside the 
conservatory is quite sufficient to keep out frost, especially 
when the exposed situation of the conservatory, its great 
height and length, is considered. 
“ G. A.” will confer a favour if he will more fully describe 
the size in diameter, and size of the mesh of tire gauze he 
recommends. We should be glad also if Mr. Catling will 
send us an account of the improvements he alludes to when 
they are effected.] 
LUCCA BROOM—SOWING FERN SPORES. 
“ I beg to ask if you know a plaut by its popular title of 
Lucca Broom ? as I am apt to throw things away when I 
cannot make out their proper name ; and Loudon’s ‘Hortus 
Britauicus’ gives me no clue to it whatever; and I should 
be obliged if you would just add bow 1 must sow the seeds 
of Ferns to have a probability of success.—M. H. Lee.” 
[The Lucca Broom is, we think, the Spanish Broom, 
Spartium junceum. You should have said where you got it 
from, and sent a seed. Sow a few in a pot, in a cold frame, 
in April. You will see then what they are. 
The way to raise Ferns from seed has been often described 
in The Cottage Gardener, but as you may not possess the 
parts containing that information we will briefly repeat it. 
To cause Fern seed to vegetate, a close, quiet atmosphere 
is necessary. To attain this, take a shallow, wide garden 
pot, drain it well, and fill it with very sandy peat mixed 
throughout with small pieces of sandstone. Give a good water¬ 
ing, and as soon as the water is settled brush off the seeds 
(spores) from the fronds thickly over it. Then fit a bell-glass 
to the pan and place it upon it. Do not remove it till the 
Ferns have appeared ; shading well from the sun. To keep 
the soil moist water over the bell-glass frequently. If the 
soil is watered ever so gently the seed will be washed away. 
If you wish to be very particular you may scald the surface- 
soil to destroy the wild Fern seed that may be amongst it; 
but the scalded soil must be dried previous to using. 
If you have no bell-glass do not fill your pot quite full, 
and place a square of common flat glass upon it, turning it 
every morning to dry off the condensed moisture. This 
will answer, but not so well as the bell. 
As soon as the young Ferns have made their second 
frond pot them off, putting three or four at equal distances 
close to the sides of a three-inch pot. Place them under a 
hand-glass till well established, when they may be potted off 
singly, and treated in the ordinary way.] 
LISIANTHUS RUSSELLIANUS CULTURE— 
GENTIANELLA FAILING. 
“I have a little seed of the Lisianthus Bussellianus from 
Mr. Cullingford, and am at a loss how to cultivate it. 1 
think it is not in The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary, unless 
under a different name. I suppose the plant was brought 
here from Mexico; and was found growing in the brush¬ 
wood, by Mr. Russell. 
“ There is, also, the common blue Gentianella that I am 
beat by. It flowers beautifully in the more elevated gardens 
in this neighbourhood. I have tried plants of it for several 
years, but have never been able to get the plants to grow at 
all, never to speak of flowering; they have always remained 
at a stand still for about two years, and then died. The 
soil is a pretty strong dark loam, and the place pretty well 
sheltered.—F. B.” 
[You will find the name and culture of this beautiful 
Lisianthus the last on page 557, in The Cottage Gardeners’ 
Dictionary. It is profusely written about in The Cottage 
Gardener, and more than once; but you must turn over and 
find it for yourself; what is got too easily is easiest forgotten. 
The plant is from Mexico; but as you only “suppose” it was, 
and by Mr. Russell, we shall put you right. In the first place, 
Mr. Russell never went to look for plants at all. He has 
been writing for the Times these many years ; always went 
with the Queen to Ireland and Scotland. Do you not recollect 
