150 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 9, 1857. 
mestic pot in Scotland some eighteen inches in diameter, 
and as much in depth. I presume the lid is fixed securely, 
because if it is open it will require more fire to heat such a 
bulk of water. Provided the top was securely fixed extra 
power would he given by having the boiler placed some two 
or three feet below the level of the tanks to be heated. 
Any bricklayer who can set a washhouse copper would he 
'able to set such a boiler to the best advantage. The fire 
should not only play on its bottom, but all round it; and 
the damper in the chimney should so regulate draught that 
as little as possible of the heat should get up the chimney, 
instead of being absorbed by the water. After all care, 
however, the boiler is one of the worst in shape, so far as 
economy in heating is concerned. Some people say that the 
1 setting is everything, and the form of the boiler nothing; ! 
but Where quick heating and rapid circulation are of im¬ 
portance the form of the boiler has very much to do with it. 
* 'Other things being equal, that boiler will be the most 
j powerful which contains the smallest quantity of water, and 
exposes the greatest amount of surface to the direct action 
of the fire. A friend of ours, somewhat incredulous on this 
point, had a nine-inch-diametered tin teakettle so made that 
there was an open funnel of five inches in diameter through 
j its centre. This was set on a brisk fire along with another 
I teakettle of the same diameter, but without any open funnel : 
I through it. In the one case the water was hissing, steaming, 
and coming out in fierce jets before that in the common i 
teakettle was well warmed. All the improvements made in 
boilers are more or less derivable from the principle em- j 
1 bodied in that simple fact. Hence we have conical boilers, 
with the fire placed in their centre. Hence we have saddle- 
backed boilers, containing between the sides a space for only 
two inches or so of water, whilst the fire plays on the under 
side of the saddle, and then goes all round the upper side 
before it gets up the chimney. Hence, again, we had the 
j late Mr. Weeks’ oblong tubular furnace boiler, and the up¬ 
right tubular boiler of the present Messrs. Weeks, presenting 
such a large surface to the action of the fire. Thus we had 
the oblong boiler, with the fire playing on its under side, 
and that saddle-backed, and then passing by a wide flue 
right through its centre, as described in Paxton’s “ Magazine 
of Botany” more than twenty years ago. A modification of 
this plan, but with the sides corrugated, was what I saw last 
year at Dalkeith. The retort boiler of Mr. Thomson is 
now much more simple. If you would suppose a fair-sized 
cannon cast with a vacuity for water between its inner and 
outer side, you would have no bad idea of this very simple 
boiler. Hang this cannon or retort boiler over the fire, 
let the fire play all over it, and then by a break be forced to 
i come rushing through its centre, and you will see that by 
this, as well as the other modes mentioned, there can he no 
i depth of water anywhere to heat, while the surface in one 
of these simplest amateurs’ retort boilers is considerable. 
Your metal pot will hold more water, and have little surface 
in comparison. If properly set, however, it should heat 
such a house or pit, though the consumption of fuel would 
, be a little more than for any of those mentioned. A small 
• conical, an amateur’s retort, or the smallest size of the 
Messrs. Weeks’ would answer if you contemplate a change; 
and provided your furnace wanted lowering, or the top of 
j your present boiler wanted fixing, it would be advisable to 
have a boiler with more surface at once. As, however, three 
i or four inches of water will be quite deep enough in your 
| tank (and this reduction you can effect without interfering 
with the tank at all), it would be advisable to try the present 
boiler fairly with such an amount of water before making 
any alterations, except having pigeon holes in the inner 
| w r alls of your tank as well as the outer ones, that the heat 
may have free access to the chamber in the centre beneath 
the flooring, as well as into the narrow chambers for top 
; heat. 
General considerations. —Even then, unless we knew your 
mode of culture, we can see that you might have difficulty. 
The flooring of boards is the worst you could have for the 
conducting of heat. I would advise the openings to be more 
| than an inch from board to board, and the spaces filled with 
pieces of slate, furnace clinkers, broken bricks, &c. Even 
then the bottom heat will not be so strong as if the bottom 
was formed of slate or iron, or if, after securing the top of 
the tank, the space between and over the tank was covered 
to the depth of from twelve to eighteen inches with rough, 
clean rubble, laid as hollow as possible, and terminated with : 
fine-washed gravel, over which a little sweet, longish litter ; 
might be placed to prevent the soil getting down. 
According to your line of soil, at present that must 
average a depth of four feet from the glass, whilst it should 
scarcely be half that distance to give a sufficiency of sun¬ 
light to the Melons. Probably you intend training the 
plants to a trellis some eighteen inches from the glass, and 
in that case, though still a matter of some consequence, it 
is, nevertheless, of comparatively less moment at what depth 
the roots of the plants may be growing. If thus to be 
grown on a trellis the plants might be reared on a dung bed 
at one end. In fact, with the flooring and everything just 
as they now are, I should be strongly tempted to put 
from two feet to two feet and a half of sweet fermenting 
material over the flooring before the soil was introduced, 
and if such could be done I am sure that the Melons 
would never complain about it. Previous remarks about 
curtailing the space for the roots to run in will be worthy of 
attention. 
I have noticed this inquiry at this length because the 
notion has been gaining ground that a vessel of any shape 
or size was suitable for a boiler; and hence the complaints 
of waste of fuel, and yet ineffective heating. Whatever 
kettles or pans are used let the tops or lids be fixtures, con¬ 
siderably below the pipes or tanks to be heated, and exposing 
as much surface to the fire, and containing as little water to 
be heated as possible.—R. Eish.] 
MR. BEATON’S EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN. — 
DOUBLE RICHARDIA.—PREVENTING BARREN 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 
“ Our friend Mr. Beaton often speaks of the Experi¬ 
mental Garden, and as often as he does so he excites my 
curiosity. I should be much obliged if you will answer the 
following questions :— 
“1. Is it a private garden ? 
“ 2. Can it be seen on application ? 
“ 3. Where is it situated ? 
“4. Are the experiments mainly for the benefit of the 
subscribers to The Cottage Gardener ? 
“ I have an Arum whose leaves stand fully four feet above 
the surface of the soil. It has three stems, or shoots, or 
whatever you may please to term them. Each has pro¬ 
duced one flower, just now gone by, the tops of which 
reached the height of five feet. The plant was rested last 
autumn, and repotted in good rough stuff in November last, 
and was covered in the early part of April with a slight 
dregsing of Burns’s patent manure. The leaves are heavy 
and large in proportion to the height. Two years since this 
same plant produced a perfectly double flower. 
“ Can any of your writers tell me why many Strawberry 
plants from early runners of last year are barren, and 
whether or not they will fruit if left till next year?”—A 
Constant Reader. 
[1. The “Experimental ” is a private garden. 
2. It cannot be seen by application. 
3. It is in the parish of Kingston-on-Thames. 
4. The experiments are for the benefit of all whom they 
may concern. 
“Scape” is the proper botanical term for the flower-stem of 
the “ Arum,” and Richardia JEtliiopica is the proper book 
name of this “Arum.” We do not recollect to have heard of 
a double Arum before. Many more besides you have, and 
have had barren Strawberries on those light, sandy soils of 
yours. Old and young plants are affected by the same cause 
—great drought; but for your “benefit” at least we may say 
that a complete preventive to barren Strawberries has been 
discovered in the Experimental Garden. As soon as you 
plant the runners water them well, and mulch them imme¬ 
diately one inch thick with the refuse of the cocoa-nut mills | 
in your neighbourhood; tell them to give you the kind they 
supply to the Experimental Garden, where it is used for old 
and young, and for every experiment.] 
