338 
TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mabch 5, 1861. 
till he saw it in black and white. He then told me, or rather 
wrote to say, I made a mistake about the ash-pit ventilation, 
saying the draught from the ash-pit was carried into the neck of 
the flue. A very lucky mistake, thought I to myself, for this 
will surely bring us in as many cross-bow shooters as were 
assembled at the last Popingay match that is recorded in “ Old 
Mortality,” and when the mark is up we shall not want chal¬ 
lengers, nor have we, and then I put the ventilation of my own 
ash-pit outside on each side of the fireplace, in anticipation, as 
you will see at page 306. In the long run, that will catch as 
jpuch heat as the way Mr. Kidd has it.—D. B.] 
Would Mr. Beaton favour us with the following additional 
particulars regarding the Kiddean system—the size of the con- 
ducting-flue from the hot-air chamber to the site where the heat is 
required, and the size for the entrance of that flue from the hot¬ 
air chamber ? Also, the size for the exit of the hot air from the 
flue to the site where heat is required (pits or greenhouse) ? the 
size of the hot-air chamber being taken as the size he gave in 
The Cottage Gardener. I have erected some frames, and 
applied hot air by his description, but I find the hot air driven 
back through the flue, and out at the regulating-dampers by 
the cold air in the pits. The hot-air flue is about 6 inches by 
7 inches inside, and there is a rise of 1£ inch in 2} yards —the 
distance from the hot-air chamber to the pits.—A Subscriber. 
[The sizes of air-chambers, and of openings into them, and out 
of them, also of the flue, pipe, or drain through which the heated 
air goes to the place which is to be heated, do not depend so 
much on the quantity of heat required as on the draught obtained. 
Success depends more on the rapidity of the current of hot air 
in the Kiddean than on its volume, when facing the opposing 
influence of Polmaise, to which it will always be exposed when 
it is attempted on the level, or with a small rise, or through a 
short passage. With a long passage of 75 yards the Kiddean 
system has worked down hill for many years in a conservatory 
near Worcester, and the results proved better on the Orange 
trees “ than is generally seen ” in this country, as you will see 
to-day in another place. You are, practically, working on the 
level for all the rise you have. The principle of Polmaise is so 
exactly the opposite from the principle of the Kiddean that the 
two will never cease their opposition when they meet on equal 
terms, as they must necessarily do when they meet on the level, 
or from the two ends of a very short passage. But as the power 
of Polmaise lies in the bottom current—the cold air draught, 
and the strength of the Kiddean in the top current, you can 
easily arrange for giving the latter the advantage, such as you 
would give to an honest friend—give it a lift in the world, 
put a pipe in its mouth where it enters the greenhouse, let 
the pipe be an elbow pipe, and you gain the height of the 
pipe in the rise of the draught. If that does not quite 
succeed, put on another pipe, or get one long pipe at once, 
with an elbow turn at the bottom, to go into the hot-air 
mouth; and pray let us hear how you succeed. We would 
rather choose for us and ours a different degree and plan of 
opposition : we would put a plain pipe in the hot-air mouth— 
that is, a straight pipe without an elbow, and we would carry 
the pipe across the house on the level of the ground or path, 
and raise it, leaning against the farthest end of the house, a 
couple of feet or so. The heat over that horizontal pipe, and 
the heat on both sides of it, would, most certainly, break Pol¬ 
maise, and make a bankrupt of it; after that there would be no 
more opposition. 
The first man of mark to whom the writer was introduced on 
this side of the border was the late Mr. Williams, of Pitmaston, 
the companion and fellow labourer of Mr. Knight, of Downtcn 
Castle ; and the last thing which Mr. Williams did before your 
humble servant bid adieu to the Malvern Wells was to introduce 
the Kiddean system into his conservatory, and to take the ad¬ 
vantage of the heating powers of spring water, about 46°, the 
year round in this climate, in place of coals against frost, to the 
extent of 10° or 12° of it, which system, after the lapse and ex¬ 
perience of twelve years, has been reported in the “ Journal of 
the Horticultural Society” by Mr. Thomson, of Chiswick 
Garden, as answering better for Orange trees than is generally 
seen in England; and the Kiddean system is destined to greater 
things than the heating of the high glass-domed conservatory 
at Pitmaston, near Worcester, or the circular and long oblong, 
conservatories at the Stud House, Hampton Court. You will 
see, by reference to the Pitmaston conservatory in another page, 
that the Kiddean system works perfectly at the distance of 
75 yards from that house—a tremendous powerful advantage in 
its favour, as, no doubt, at the distance of 775 yards from the 
furnace it will act with equal ease and efficiency.— D. Beaton.] 
HOSES, THEIR PRE3ENT POSITION AND 
PUTURE PROSPECTS. 
Aeter Mr. Beaton has given us so wisely his views upon 
Roses, it may seem needless for any other person to try a word ; 
but the subject is so important, and so heart-rending at the 
present time, that I may be excused for looking at it with a 
florist’s eyes and with especial reference to forthcoming exhi¬ 
bitions of the flower during the present season. 
I have, during the past few weeks, been in a considerable number 
of the southern and midland counties, and have heard also from 
other persons residing in other districts ; and from all I saw and 
all I have heard, I think the disastrous consequences of the late 
frost on roseries are beyond what any one could have conceived. 
In Lord Middleton’s garden, near Nottingham, I did not see 
one single Rose alive; and the gardener told me that even the 
old York and Lancaster, which had been thirty years in the 
ground, was killed down to its roots. At my friend’s, the Rev. 
Geo. Jeans Alford, his gardener had told him there were ninety- 
five dead. He went through them himself, and found twice 
that number gone. And wherever I have caught a sight of a 
standard Rose, then the same sad tale has revealed itself—either 
dead or so injured as to be only counted as invalids, which will 
never, I fear, be put into the convalescent ward; for I have 
generally observed, that when a standard Rose receives such a 
check it rarely ever recovers its ground. Thus many, having 
seen some nice green-looking sprays on their bushes, have con¬ 
cluded they must be right: but they will find on looking at the 
neck of the plant that it is gone there, and that this appearance 
of vitality will very soon give way to the brown hue of death: 
hence it is impossible to say as yet how far the evil may have 
spread. Equally fallacious will be the attempt, too, at present 
to decide on the relative hardiness of any variety. There is 
one, indeed, which seems, as far as I have seen it as yet, to hold 
a foremost place in this respect—Gloire de Dijon, at least as 
compared with its congeners, the Teas and Noisettes. While 
Safrano, Solfaterre, and others have “gone dead,” this still 
shows signs of life and vigour. By-and-by we may be able to 
enter more minutely into particulars, and by careful comparison 
in different localities come to some definite result. One result, 
I think, has been already accomplished—the days of standard 
Roses are numbered. It is all very well to say that we only 
get such a winter once in twenty years ; but if that one winter 
strips our gardens, and we never know when it may come, 
surely we must provide against it: hence I believe that which 
Mr. Beaton has so assiduously preached up for many years 
must be largely entered on—Roses on their own roots. I know 
one enthusiastic grower, who is so thoroughly convinced of this, 
that he is going to set to work at it at once and build houses 
for the purpose. Whether all Roses will thus answer remains 
to be proved; but I have little fear but that the skill and 
perseverance of our floricultural leaders will conquer whatever 
difficulties may surround the subject. 
There is one other result that I think ought to be taken into 
consideration soon—I mean the manner in which Roses are to 
be exhibited this year. Will it be wise to look for such large 
numbers—to require more than one truss of a sort—to look for 
collections of 100 varieties ? Any one who knows the difficulty 
of cutting flowers for an exhibition, even in a good season, will, 
I think, question the wisdom of looking for the same results 
in so unpropitious a one as the present. I see Mr. Hoyle has 
wisely merged the National Rose Show in the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s one in July.- This is as it should be, and is 
a graceful tribute to the new regime at Kensington Gore—not 
but that we should have a second. The authorities at the 
Crystal Palace, and Mr. Houghton in particular, know the full 
value of a grand Rose show', and that it draws thousands of 
visitors: hence amongst their plans for the forthcoming season 
is a “grand Rose Show in July.” Here, doubtless, all the 
arrangements that tended so to popularise the exhibition of last 
year will be reproduced, and whatever the season will permit 
will be done. Might I suggest, before publishing their schedule 
of prizes, that it would be well to take these things into con¬ 
sideration—unless, indeed, I am wrong in my premises; and 
