134 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 4, 1860. 
young ones to come less every year. As your Eerns are growing 
so well you cannot do better than let well alone; you cannot stunt 
their growth without injuring their health and beauty. 
Some Ferns are deciduous—that is, the fronds die down in 
winter, but the buds remain alive. Such kinds require to be 
kept cool and only just moist enough to keep the roots alive. If 
you have any such, place them in a cool room, and water only 
occasionally. 
Are your Ferns named ? If they are, we should be obliged 
by a list of them. 
Lily of the Yalley tree is, as you conjecture, a species of 
Citrus. It is what nurserymen call the Otaheite Orange. The 
older leaves will turn yellow and drop off. Perhaps you have 
given too much, or may be too little water. Your compost 
would be improved by the addition of a small quantity of well- 
decomposed dung, added in the spring when you repot the plant. 
When it is growing fast in summer give it a watering now and 
then with weak manure water. This will improve the colour of 
the leaves.] 
LILIUMS. 
I want to have a word or two about these favourites. Some 
good people that one comes in contact with seem to think them 
not hardy. I have a goodly number of them for a private 
garden. I grow annually about six pots of them, each contain¬ 
ing not more than three bulbs, for conservatory decoration. In 
the borders I have a considerable number, which I allow to take 
their chance about the w r eather, but make it a rule to manure 
well and deep any place where I intend to plant them. I never 
keep the same bulbs in pots more than one season, but plant 
them in the borders and take up fresh ones, and the strongest too. 
I find by this plan that I get spikes with from twelve to sixteen 
flowers on. I am quite satisfied about the hardiness of the 
Lilium, for I had some last year that were frozen to the quick, 
but they did not seem at all affected by it. My friend, Mr. 
Tipping, an amateur, grows them on Ashton Moss, a place where 
they are scarcely ever dry, and he laughs at the idea of protecting 
them. To see his magnificent spikes of flow T ers would do good 
to the eyesight of a genuine lover of them. He never alknvs 
them to want, but gives them plenty of good food to live upon.— 
J. Hague. 
HEATING A SMALL GREENHOUSE BY GAS. 
Many of the readers of The Cottage Gardener may be in¬ 
terested to know that I have been successful for two seasons 
past in the use of a small lean-to greenhouse, forming an elon¬ 
gation of a glass verandah. It is 11 feet by 7 feet, and 101 feet 
high at back. I keep the frost out by one of Kimberly’s small 
gas stoves, to which is attached a pipe running under the stage 
almost the length of the house, and terminating in a wash¬ 
house chimney. On the top of the stove is a cistern of water, 
which produces the necessary evaporation. I have an outside 
roller-blind for use in very severe weather. Last winter I kept 
with perfect safety several hundred Scarlet and fancy Geraniums, 
most of which were in excellent order for turning out in the 
spring. The house is now (November 21st) gay with Chrysan¬ 
themums and Geraniums, chiefly cerise and rosea superba. In 
the stove in early spring I raised without difficulty seedling 
Lobelias, Petunias, Cobceas, and Asters, which have since flowered 
remarkably well, considering the unfavourable season. I have a 
galvanised iron pan about 2 feet square and 4 inches deep placed 
over the stove for this purpose, into which I put about an inch of 
crocks, and then some old sandy turf soil. The gentle bottom 
heat of the stove (about 60°) brought up the seeds capitally. 
As a u cottage gardener ” under circumstances which compel 
economy, I should like to inquire if last year’s seeds of Asters, 
Lobelias, Petunias, &c., will be safe for next spring’s sowing, as 
I happen to have a good supply of these on hand which have 
produced excellent blooms this year. [Yes.]— Blanc. 
MIS-SPELT NAMES at the CRYSTAL PALACE 
SHOW. 
My attention being called to your report of the Crystal 
Palace Chrysanthemum Show, in your Number of November 20 th, 
by several of my friends, I take the opportunity of informing 
you of a mistake (a very unjust one), you made with regal'd to 
me not spelling the names of my plants correctly. The kinds 
I exhibited were, Drin Drin, La Vogue, Helene, Giralda, Duruflet> 
and Cedo Nulli, names which were copied from a Chrysanthe¬ 
mum catalogue. As for one called Dr. Bois Duval, it was not 
in my collection.— James Weston, 9, Park Terrace, Clapham 
Park. 
[We forwarded the above to Mr. Beaton, and he replies as 
follows“ This is like the jackdaw getting shot among the 
rooks—he had got into bad company. There ought to have 
been a better separation between Mr. Weston’s plants and those 
of the writer of Dr. boieis ; but that would not save any nursery 
catalogue or a transcript from it from criticism. Mr. Weston’s 
Drin Drin was put down ‘ Drine Drine,’ and ‘ Ceodnella ’ for 
Cedo Nulli most certainly, or else he allowed his name to be set 
against the plants of some one who was a good grower and a 
bad speller of common names. I ought to have been a better 
shot certainly, and I regret very much if ever I see white 
feathers flying about after shooting at what I considered a black 
bird. All the reparation I can make Mr. Weston is to drink his 
health at Christmas, and wish him and myself better luck next 
year.—D. Beaton.” 
In addition to Mr. Weston’s letter, we have had another, which 
we did not forward to Mr. Beaton, inquiring satirically if 
“Curtius Quintus,” is correct, or if the writers of Roman 
history were wrong in naming the hero “ Quintus Curtius ?” We 
must leave this query to be answered by the florist who chose to 
name his Chrysanthemum “ Curtius Quintus 5 ” but at all events 
he spelt the names correctly. 
Mr. Beaton pointed out an error which was liable to mislead, 
and the best course for any one to pursue who commits an 
error is to admit it, and try to do better in future.— Eds. C. G.] 
CHEAP HOT-WATER APPARATUS. 
As requested by you, I have great, pleasure in sending you a 
sketch and description of the hot-water apparatus I alluded to in 
my former letter. It is an arrangement designed to bum a 
cheap kind of fuel—viz., the refuse from the fires in the dwelling- 
house, after getting rid of the mere dust by sifting with a fine 
sieve, and mixing with a small quantity of coal of the non-caking 
kind, as any very bituminous coal is apt to choke up the fire. 
I shall call it after the inventor, “ Bishop’s Hot-water Apparatus." 
Fig. 1 is a general elevation of the apparatus in section, scale 
an inch and a half to a foot; a boiler, b firebox, c chimney, 
