239 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 22, 1861. 
3. Stoye Orchids that Thriye Best on Blocks of Wood, 
with a little moss tied over* the roots. 
Aganisia pulchella 
Barkeria Skinneri 
Broughtonia cocciuea 
Comparettia coccinea 
Cattleya citrina 
marginata 
pumila 
superba 
Lselia acuminata 
majalis 
Oncidium crispum 
ciliatum 
4. Stove Orchids that 
half buried in moss in pots. 
Phalsenopsis amabiiis 
grandiflora 
Oncidium bifolium 
Forbesii 
Insleayanum 
pectorale 
pulchellum 
tricolor 
triquetrum 
Sophronitis cernua 
grandiflora 
pterocarpa 
violacea 
Thrive Best on Logs of Wood 
Scuticaria Steelii 
5, Stove Orchids that Require to be Kept under 
Bell-glasses, and to be grown in moss, sand, fibry peat, and 
leaf mould. 
Ancectochilus argenteus 
pictus 
El Dorado 
Lobbii 
Lowii 
yiresccns 
Ancectochilus Roxourghii 
setaceus 
cordatus 
intermedius 
stria tus 
Veitchii 
6. Stove Orchids, Terrestrial Species, requiring a com¬ 
post of fibry loam, sandy fibrous peat, leaf mould, and caked 
•cowdung in equal parts, with a liberal addition of silver sand. 
Bletia Guineensis 
Parkinsonii 
Sbepherdii 
verecunda 
Calanthe curculigoides 
Masuca 
vestita aurea 
sanguinca 
veratrifolia 
Cypripedium barbatum 
majus 
caudatum 
Fairrieanum 
hirsutissimum 
insignis 
(To 
Cypripedium Lowii 
purpuratum 
venustum 
villosum 
Peristeria elata 
Phaius albus 
graudiflorus 
maculatus 
Wallichii 
Pleione humilis 
maculata 
lagenaria 
■Wallichiana 
Uropedium Lindenii 
continued .) T. Appleby. 
HEATING- BY A ELITE. 
Were I to substitute a raised flue for the two four-inch pipes, 
recommended by you at page 192 to be carried under a bed 
round three sides of a propagating-pit, should I get sufficient 
top and bottom heat (the top by means of slides as suggested) 
for forcing Cucumbers as early as January ? I should, I suppose, 
have sufficient heat by having a large-enough flue, but would it 
be a wholesome heat ? and what size should the flue be ? The 
house has yet to be built, and I propose to have it 12 feet by 
8 feet; height of back wall 8 feet; the roof at an angle of 45°. 
Of course the height of front wall will be according to the angle 
fixed on. The house to face due south ; the door to be at the 
west end, and the stokehole, &c., at the back, as near the north¬ 
west corner as possible.—P. 
[See answers to “E. H.” and “ J.B.,” in addition to “Dorset 
Subscriber.” In referring to previous statements, correspond¬ 
ents would much oblige in stating the page, &c. We endeavour 
so to place ourselves in the position of our correspondents at the 
time as to do the best we can for them ; but our memory is not 
retentive enough to recollect much about it after it passes from 
our hands. We knew we said something lately to a “ Dorset 
Subscriber,” but it took us fifteen or twenty minutes to find 
the place. Singular, no doubt; but so it was. In a hurry, and 
to prevent inquirers waiting, we may refer to a late or a previous 
Number; but in this respect, if it be a fault with us—and we do 
not pretend that it is not one—we have no desire that our friends 
should imitate us. Now, to our correspondent “ P.” In such a 
sized house, but then with roof much flatter than 45°, we have 
grown Cucumbers successfully after January without any bottom 
heat at all, properly speaking, for the main crop. The flue was 
9 inches wide inside measure, and 18 inches deep, and for 15 feet 
from the furnace was built brick on bed. The house in winter 
was used for various purposes with a heat averaging 50°. On 
the 1st of January it was raised to 60°; and a box with a sparred 
bottom, and 18 inches deep and 2 feet wide, filled with leaves 
and tan, was set on the flue at the warmest end, but separated 
from it by the thickness of thin brioks. In these boxes the 
Cucumbers were sown, and covered with a hand-light. When 
potted off another box was prepared for them, and when the 
plants filled a four-inch pot with roots they were planted into 
similar boxes all along the flue, with the exception of 9 inches 
between each, which was occupied by an evaporating-jar filled 
with water. We have never had better Cucumbers, and with 
one or two striking exceptions we have never seen the produce 
surpassed. In another house with an old flue, and built brick 
on edge, we were equally successful; but twice at least we 
lost our plants by an explosion of gas in the flue : hence flues 
are not so safe as hot-water pipes ; though when brick on bed, 
and kept clean, we have never experienced any disaster. We 
would advise all friends, however, to avoid sprinkling the flue; 
most cases of scorching arise from that habit. 
Our friend, however, may dislike this bother with boxes, &o., 
and, therefore, would rather have bottom heat from his flue at 
once. Now if his house had been 40 feet or 50 feet in length 
we should have advised a return-flue, as alluded to by another 
correspondent to-day, taking it along the back; or, for winter 
work, we should have preferred the flue going along the front in 
an eight-feet-wide house, but free from the front wall, and 
returning, leaving a foot or so between them. The front flue 
we should supply with evaporating-basins, and build it brick on 
bed. The return-flue we should surround with clinkers, cover 
with rough gravel, and then, as a correspondent proposes, cover 
with rough mortar or concrete as the bottom of our bed. Under 
such circumstances no gases could escape if there was such a thing 
as an explosion. Three or four feet wide would do for this bed. 
This return-flue might be brick on edge, and should be so to 
equalise the bottom and top heat. Wc mention this to suit 
another inquirer, who does not even wish his initials to be given, 
but who will find what he wants under “ Cucumbers. Now, 
in our correspondent’s case, with a house merely 12 feet long, 
we think his proposed plan will answer. The flue should bo 
9 inches wide inside measure and 18 inches deep, covered with 
a stout tile, and for half the length at least built brick on bed. 
The cheapest eliamber would be stones, clinkers, bats, covered 
with concrete. Pipes should be inserted to make sure that the 
soil was moist close to the concrete. A couple of slides might 
be left to let out more top heat when wanted ; but as the width 
is 8 feet, and 4 feet of bed would be wide enough, or even 
3| feet, there would be 4 feet or 4£ feet of open flue at each 
end, which, for such a short house, ought to give, unless in 
severe weather, top heat enough. These ends might be covered 
with evaporating-basins. We are calculating that the back wall 
is as now. Even with the front wall pretty close to the ground 
you would have to raise the back wall 4 feet more to get an 
angle of roof of 45° ; but for the time you specify the somewhat 
flatter roof will do very well. A roof uf 45°, or even steeper, 
however, is rather desirable for Cucumbers when a house is 
appropriated to them.] 
INARCHING OE OLD YINES—PINE APPLE 
LEAVES DISFIGURED. 
I HAVE some old Tines between thirty and forty years old 
under my care, which I understand are from the Tines at 
Hanpton Court (Black). Upon entering my situation here I 
found them in a deplorable condition; and it being then too 
late to use the knife, I had to let them alone until the present 
time. I have made use of the knife now very freely, for this rea¬ 
son .—the system adopted here previous to my taking charge was 
that of bringing up four rods the full length of the rafters, 
which are 18 feet in length, and tieing them together like a 
bundle of sticks and spurred in. The fruit was miserably small. 
Not liking such a system, and the rods being indifferent, I 
asked permission to take them up, make a new border, and plant 
fresh Tines; but my employer said they were planted by hi* 
father and he would not have them disturbed. 
Now, the Tines are allowed to extend their roots as far as they 
please, which I should say will be sixty or eighty feet from 
home. Soil good, resting upon a limestone bottom. 
What 1 have dons so far is this. I have cut away all rods 
but one to each rafter, leaving the youngest and strongest. I 
thought of inarching them, being a late vinery, with the 
Trentham Black, Black Prince, and Golden Hamburgh. Should 
I be right in so doing? The Tines commence their growth 
about the latter end of April, at which time I thought of doing 
what I have before stated. 
