170 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 16, 1857. 
ammoniacal and other gases given oil by such decomposing 
vegetable matter. 
So much is this the case that some of the most success¬ 
ful growers, who use pipes for bottom heat, and plant out 
in fibry soil, without any fermenting matter, water with 
manure water, and place soot water and other strong waters 
in the evaporating pans of the house—a plan which we find 
beneficial to many things besides Pines. Though, therefore, 
we should prefer pipes, and, perhaps, for economy in fuel, so 
that little or no heat should get out at the chimney, would 
probably have a due from the furnace likewise, there is no 
reason why our correspondent should not be told how to 
manage in the best manner with a Hue alone. It is now 
many years since we helped to grow good Pines from such a 
mode of heating. The pits were some seven feet wide, 
and the front was some two feet above the surface line, 
with the back about four feet and a half. They must 
have been pretty deep, as the due went and returned in 
an open chamber, into which a person could crawl with 
some difficulty so as to reach the iron openings for clean 
ing the due properl)'. We forget now exactly how the 
platform of strong slabs was supported; but, supposing we 
wished for such an open chamber, we would leave a brick jut¬ 
ting out an inch or so all round at the proposed height of the 
chamber, say three feet from the bottom of the pit, and 
on this projecting ledge the ends of the planks or stones 
might rest, supported farther by a longitudinal bar of iron 
passing underneath the platform in the centre, supported 
on small stone or brick pillars. In the centre of each 
light, back and front, were small wooden funnels about four 
inches square, opening with their lower end into this i 
chamber, and with their upper end into the atmosphere of | 
the house, that upper end being furnished with a lid to | 
open or shut at pleasure. 
The planks, or rather, rough, thick slabs, Avere not in- j 
dividually very wide, and Avere placed about two inches apart 
(for the gardener Avas Avell aAvare that wood Avas a non-con- 1 
ductor of heat, though very inflammable, and, therefore, he I 
interposed the depth of the chamber, that the Hue should not 
be too near the Avood), and that space Avas Avell crammed with 
all sorts of clinkers and angular stones, and then plastered 
over Avith roughisli concrete. The pits Avere easily managed, 
and there Avas no difficulty in getting plenty of bottom and 
top heat. When sandy gravel, however, Avas used as a 
plunging, medium there av as some difficulty in keeping the 
atmosphere moist enough, as the surface, though Avatered, 
soon became dry; aud Ave do not recollect that water was 
often poured in by the side openings so as to get into the 
chamber, Avhich would have greatly neutralised this tendency 
to dryness. This dryness Avas scarcely felt Avhen the pots 
Avere plunged in SAveet tan or fermenting leaves. They not 
only retained more moisture, but gave ofi' nourishing ex¬ 
halations. 
So much for the reminiscences of a pit heated by a Hue 
that did answer. Our correspondent, if resolved on a 
chamber and platform, may find a hint for action. He also 
has a right to any ideas derived from farther experience; in 
fact, to know Avliat Ave should prefer doing if restricted to a 
flue, and economy in outlay a great matter of considera¬ 
tion. AlloAving, then, an average of four feet from the 1 
surface of the bed to the glass roof, and from fifteen to 
eighteen inches of a plunging in, or an earth for groAving in ! 
medium, and a foot or so from that to the top of the flue, i 
Ave would regulate the depth of the pit accordingly. If the 
pit was short, say thirty feet, one length of the flue would j 
be sufficient, the chimney being at the opposite end. If 
fifty or sixty feet long it Avould have to return to the same 
end as the furnace, so as to equalise the heat. If much 
longer it Avould be as well to have a furnace at each end, 
and no returning. In either case the flue must be substantial , 
built with brick on bed , and covered Avith strong tiles, or 
rather, Avith paying flags fully two inches and a half thick for 
more than halt its length. If returned the cooler half may 
be built Avith brick on edge in the usual Avay. Around the 
flue and over it, but chiefly around it to the very outsides, Ave 
Avould place rough boulders, clinkers, &c., as open and loose 
as possible, yet so as they Avould keep their position, cover¬ 
ing all with rough gravel, and then a surface of finer. When 
this Avas going on we Avould fix strong earthenware pipes in a 
slanting direction back and front of each light, their lower 
ends in the open spaces Avithin nine inches or so of the flue, 
and their upper ends reposing against the side Avails, l 
furnished Avith Avooden plugs to stop or open at pleasure. 
Through these pipes, some four inches in diameter, we Avould 
regulate the top heat, and by pouring clean and manure 
Avater doAvn among the stones we Avould command moist, rich 
vapour for roots and tops. Provided the flue is thus securely 
built, and places left for cleaning it thoroughly, there is no 
reason Avhy it should not succeed as well as a tank or a hot- | 
Avater pipe. The heat from a close tank or a Avater-pipe j 
is just as parching as from a flue, but unless the latter \ 
is kept clean and built strong there is danger of sulphureous 
and other destructive gases finding their way through the i 
joints. With good brick-on-bed flues this seldom happens ; ' 
in fact, in managing such flues we have never known an 
explosion, and our predecessors as under gardeners, as Avell 1 
as the head gardener, assured me there had been nothing ( 
of the kind since either of them had known them. With I 
brick-on-edge avo have had Cucumbers and French Beans 
sacrificed in a feAv minutes; but then the flues Avere old and 
rickety. In greenhouses, or even where only a little forcing | 
Avas Avanted, these brick-on-bed flues would be unsuitable, j 
because they take much time to heat them. In a Pine- 
stove this objection does not apply, as a continuous heat is 
required, and none is lost; for though such flues are long in 
heating, they are also long in cooling. To prevent the 
cracking and unnecessary Avearing of the flues, Ave advise the 
fixing of the earthemvare pipes as directed, so that when 
Avater is poured doAvn none of it touches the flue. The ! 
vapour that then rises from the stones will never be per¬ 
niciously hot. The Avatering of a flue to produce vapour is 
one of the relics of barbarism. We lately saAv some nice j 
Vines scorched and parboiled by such steaming. In such 
cases it is better to fix troughs of some sort on the flue, and 
then the moisture given off Avill be in proportion to the heat, j 
and there will be little danger of a scorching excess at one 
period. Even the earthenware pipes might be dispensed 
Avith by leaving an open space all round, say tAvo inches : 
Avide, by means of boards or slate set on edge, so as to j 
give communication Avith this stone or clinkered chamber i 
round the flue ; but Ave prefer the pipes, because the top heat, | 
aud also the bottom heat, can be more easily regulated. 
With such a flue-heated house avo should prefer having a 
piece at one end supplied Avith tan or leaves aboA r e the stone 
and gravel bed for growing the young small plants in pots; 
but, as soon as they Avere Avell rooted and a good size, Ave would 
plant them out in a bed of good fibry loam some fifteen 
inches deep, mixing pieces of charcoal and hard pieces of 
fibry turf to keep the Avliole open, and for richness and 
vigour depend on clear manure Avaterings, and pouring 
drainings from the dunghill, and soot Avater at times, 
through the pipes among the stones. 
In summer, Avhen the bottom heat is from 80° to 85°, and 
the top heat in the morning is from 65° to 70°, and rises 
some 15° in sunshine, fire heat Avill not be necessary. In j 
dull weather a little fire heat Avill be advisable. If the 
bottom heat is rather Ioav and the Aveather sunny put on a 
little fire and plug up the pipes. Were Ave near a coal field 
Ave Avould, in the case of groAving tender exotics and forcing, 
use much more fuel than Ave do, and give air in proportion. 
When every shovelful of coal is a consideration Ave must 
make the best use Ave can of the sun in the Avav of heating, 
and make a compromise between economy and desirability 
by shutting up early and lessening the quantity of air.J 
EARLY SPRING FLOWERS.—HABIT OF THE 
ENGLISH TULIP. 
“ I quite agree with ‘ A Constant ReadeeJ in yours of 1 
May 19th, that our best thanks are due to Mr. Beaton 1 
tor calling attention to spring floAvers. I have long been a i 
cultivator of them, and have this year had my garden filled j 
Avith beds of most of the floAvers named. I would add to 
the list Sgsirinchium grandiflorum, purple; Adonis vernal is, 
bright yelloAV ; Ca/tha palttslris Jlore plena , golden yelloAV; 
Cardamine pratensis jlore pleno, pale lilac. This looks very 
much like a dwarf Rocket, and is beautiful in April and 
May. 
“ 1 think it would also be well to call attention to some of 
