500 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 27. 
of the Mangle’s Variegated Geranium! I have some seed¬ 
lings from it, curious-looking things, very unlike the parent. 
“ Will you also he so good as to tell me if the inclosed 
leaf is Pelargonium denticulatum, or dentatum ! I saw a plant 
named Pelargonium crassicaule at Kew; but I think it was 
wrongly named. I fancy it was the old Gibbosum. I am 
happy to say Moore's Victory is still in existence; I have 
a plant of it.—W. T. B., Esher.” 
[Mangle’s Variegated Geranium has been hitherto looked 
on as a natural sport from a thin-leaved Horse-shoe pink 
species, which will not interbreed with any other known 
species, as far as we have heard. Your seedlings will only 
reproduce the original species; but the flowers may he a little 
larger, and more given to seed than the old one. That lias 
been our experience ; hut if you will send a leaf, or leaves, 
to Mr. Beaton, he may be able to tell you if you have got 
into a different strain. 
The leaves of P. crassicaule are in the way of Gibbosum; 
hut no one could take the one for the other. We have seen 
Crassicaule at Kew. Moore's Victory is not scarce, except 
in some localities. The leaf you inclose is far more like 
bipinnatijidum than denticulatum or dentatum; and yet your 
plant is neither the one or the other, but a much better- 
looking one. Probably one of those varieties which Mr. 
McIntosh once delighted in when he lived at Claremont; 
but we incline to think it what is commonly known as the 
Carrotleaved.'] 
HEATING BY GAS. 
“ I have just tried heating my liot-water apparatus with 
gas. It is a failure, and expensive. I have, therefore, had 
a pit erected inside my greenhouse, to be heated with an 
apparatus as enclosed sketch ; so that I can still make use 
of the gas. The pit will be tilled with tan, to be used for 
propagating.—G. Smith." 
[Your boiler a, and pipes c c, are as right as need be, but 
we can see no possible use whatever in having the second 
boiler; all that is needful there is a small expansion pipe, 
with a square or round box to hold the expanded water. 
You do not give the dimensions of them, nor of the green¬ 
house, nor of tlie pit. Hence, we cannot advise whether you 
will have heat sufficient from your inch-and-a-half pipes. 
We suspect not. Your idea of a hot-air chamber is very 
well; but why not carry a tin pipe from it all the way round 
the greenhouse ; it would give out a large amount of heat, 
besides heating the boiler. You have two Argand burners 
of gas under the boiler. If the gas-flames rise up 8gainst 
the bottom, there must escape into the greenhouse more 
fumes of gas than would be good for the plants. To 
prevent this, go to some brazier, and get him to make 
you two copper cylinders, about eight inches long, and 
three in diameter, and two rims to fit the same; on the 
two rims, let him braze a cover of the finest copper-wire 
gauze he can get; put these two rims upon the two 
cylinders, and place them upon the gas-flame. Immediately, 
you will see the flame much reduced, the colour altered, and 
no carbonic fumes arising (yet the heat greatly intensified), 
so that no injury can possibly arise from the gas to the 
most delicate flowers. This we saw practically demon¬ 
strated lately, and can vouch for its truth. All the rest of 
your plan appeal's feasible enough. When your plants are 
growing, keep the top of the boiler (made like a saucer) full 
of water, to give off moisture into the air.] 
VENTILATING A STOVE FERNERY. 
“ I have just built a small stove for Ferns, about ten feet 
long, by eight feet wide, inside; all the glass is fixed, and 
the ventilation provided for, by an opening to the front in 
the brick-work immediately under the glass, thirty inches 
wide, by seven inches high, and by two openings in the top 
of the wall to the back, one under each sash, about fourteen 
inches wide, by twelve high, all three openings provided 
with wooden shutters to the outside. I propose covering 
the back openings on the inside with a mesh—perforated 
zinc plate, fearing the north-west wind from the river 
Mersey, from which we are distant less than a-quarter-of-a 
mile, may be too boisterous and brackish for tender Ferns. 
Will you kindly say if this ventilation will be sufficient for 
stove Ferns, what should be the average height of the 
thermometer ? Most of the flue-covers are “ dished,” which, 
by keeping them full of water, will allow a constant steam to 
be kept up, if advisable. The Ferns will stand on a table, 
three feet wide to the front, and to the back of the stove in 
a box about the same width.—S. H. G.” 
[Correspondents like yourself, wishing for information on 
such important points as heating and ventilating, should be 
very explicit in stating full particulars of the size of the 
house or pit to which their queries refer. How is it possible 
for us to tell whether the openings you have made in the 
front and back wall are sufficient, as we do not know 
the lieighth of your stove ? If your house is not above ten 
feet high at the back, the air-openings will be quite sufficient. 
The precaution of covering the openings with a perforated 
zinc plate, to prevent the sudden rush of cold air, and to 
interrupt the saline particles that may be in it, owing to 
your place being so near the sea, is a good and useful idea. 
This plate, however, should be loose also, as well as the 
shutters, for removal in perfectly still, hot summer days, or 
when the wind blows towards the water. The heat for 
stove Ferns is, in summer, day-lieat, 75° to 85°, night ditto, 
60° to 65°; winter, day, 00° to 65°, night, 55°. For lull 
particulars on Fern-culture, see back numbers of The 
Cottage Gardener.] 
ORCHARDING—TIME IT NEEDS—EXPENSE OF 
PLANTING. 
Ci.ericus puts to us sixteen queries on this subject! of 
which we can this week only answer the two following :— 
I. “ Supposing that I am within 30 or 40 miles, by rail¬ 
way, of a good market, in a large city, do you think, that 
spending seven or eight hours per day on a fruit-garden of 
four or live acres, I could make it realize me £30 or £40 
per year in the sale of its produce 
[We shall suppose your Orchard to consist of dwarf bush- 
trees, planted at a distance of fifteen feet apart. We speak 
of dwarf bushes, because they come sooner into bearing; 
and we consider them best adapted for producing fine fruit, 
and less liable to suffer from high and cutting winds than 
standards are. Suppose, then, that you plant your ground 
with dwarf-trees, at a distance of fifteen feet apart, you 
will have 1!)4 trees on an acre. In three or four years they 
will begin to bear; in six years they will produce a good 
crop, and in nine or ten years they will be in perfection. 
When in full bearing, it is estimated that on an average of 
years such an orchard produces 100 bushels of Apples per 
acre; which, taken at live shillings per bushel, would give : 
the value of the produce of your five acres at £125. But j 
from that sum you must deduct for gathering, carriage to 
market, and commission for selling, say eighteenpence per 
bushel, which, amounting to £37 10s., would leave you clear 
£88 10s., for the produce of your orchard. This, however, 
is the estimate when the trees have come to their full-bear¬ 
ing, and you cannot, therefore, expect to have such a return ' 
for eight years at least; but in the meantime you will have ! 
the produce of the minor fruits, such as Gooseberries, Cur¬ 
rants, and Raspberries, with which the space between the 
rows of fruit-trees would be occupied, till the latter have 
attained their full growth. For the first year or two after . 
the ground is ploughed, by devoting seven or eight hours ! 
daily, you might accomplish the management of such an 
orchard ; but when the trees have come to their full size, and 
if you treat them as they ought to be treated, we imagine you j 
will find, at some seasons, the work rather arduous, par- j 
ticularly if, as you hint in your subsequent queries, you 
intend to introduce the forcing of fruits under glass in 
addition.] 
II. “What would be the cost of planting with the best ; 
kinds of espalier Apples and rears, Apricots, Blums, i 
Cherries, Currants, Raspberries, &c 
[Apricots will not succeed on espaliers, nor in any situa¬ 
tion in the open ground, so as to be relied on for a crop, 1 
There are instances, in the warm districts of the south and 
west of England, where the Breda and Brussels, and, some- j 
times, the Turkey and Moorpark, have borne fruit as ! 
