136 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 1, 1857. 
colours, with a broad belt all round it of Floicer of the Fay 
Geranium. 
“ Last night we (at Dublin) had our first frost, and all our 
Dahlias are done for; so good-bye to out-of-door gardening 
till next March or April, when I hop© to be able to give you 
some further accounts of the doctor’s experiments with native 
flowers. By-the-by, I must not forget to tell you that he 
fecundated, last summer, the stigma of some common Digi¬ 
talis with the pollen of some Gloxinias. Being at the time very 
much engaged professionally, he is not quite certain whether 
the experiment will succeed; but in any case he intends try¬ 
ing it again next summer. He begs to thank you for the 
hint concerning Finguicula grand fora, which, unluckily, 
does not grow in this neighbourhood, though abundant in 
some localities. 
“ Would you like to see a really beautiful bouquet Place 
in the centre a well-formed flower of Brugmansia Knightii , 
and surround it with scarlet Geraniums, supported outside 
with Myrtles. The doctor brought such a one with him 
yesterday when he came to dine with us ; and no bouquet was 
' ever more admired. Do you know the origin of Brugmansia 
Knightii ? 
“ I want the names of a few greenhouse Geraniums for 
bedding that will flower all the summer.”— Italicus. 
[Tell the worthy doctor there is no chance of seeing the 
Experimental Garden when he comes over, without an order 
from the Vatican. Why should we be behind the times in 
England, if the grand secrets were allowed to oose out first 
in Ireland ? Let us rather endeavour to exchange “ value for 
value.” And to begin: we own we owe a great deal for that 
Aster bed of his, with the Flower of the Fay round it; we 
shall all have it, and call this the “ doctor’s bed.” Tell him, 
next time he comes, the Figitalis and Gloxinia will not breed, 
even in the hands of a doctor; and say, we shall take the 
responsibility of determining for him, that the experiment 
did not succeed. We do not know the origin of Brugmansia 
Knightii. That bouquet was a good conception, undoubtedly. 
I The best three greenhouse Geraniums for bedding are, Fennis ’ 
| Alma , Crimson King , and Gauntlet. Then a host of them 
| come in for competition ; but tell the worthy doctor that a 
man’s fortune might be made in such a climate as yours is, 
out of those three Geraniums, by operating on them as he 
did on the Figitalis; and good legacies for one’s uses might 
be looked for, by operating the pollen of the Virginia:u 
1 Geranium on the offspring of the three high-coloured ones 
J alluded to. If you were to make very poor sandy beds, the 
I Fiadematums ought to do well with you; also Sidonia, and 
I the small-leaved quercifoils , as G. coccinea and suyerba. But 
j there is an immense accession to this class “ under consider- 
( ation.”] _ 
HEATING A GREENHOUSE FROM A DWELLING 
HOUSE. 
“I observe in your notice to correspondents in No. 477 of 
The Cottage Gardener, you state that you had seen a 
greenhouse heated by a drawing-room fire. As my vinery 
adjoins my dining-room, in which there is a fire burning all 
winter, I shall be happy to hear how the heat of this fire 
could be made available to protect from frost a few bedding 
plants, such as Geraniums, Verbenas, Calceolarias, Ageratums, 
Alyssums, &c. I do not wish to go to the expense of a fire 
for these exclusively, as it is not my wish to force my Vines, 
having succeeded admirably this season without furnace heat, 
i Indeed, I have no means of doing so without going to the 
expense of building furnace and flues, which I at present do 
not possess. I may observe, the front of my vinery is due 
I south; the back of my parlour stove due east at the west end 
j of my vinery; the chimney, in fact, forming part of the wall 
at that end. I find the Grape Vines more forward by a 
fortnight at the fire end than at its opposite end, although 
j losing the afternoon sun. Now, I should be very happy to 
i receive any suggestion, either from yourself, or any of your 
obliging contributors, that would assist me in getting enough 
i heat from my dining-room stove, and keep the temperature in 
my vinery above freezing point. As I generally pay pretty 
good attention to my fire in cold weather, economy in fuel 
would not endanger any plan that might be suggested. I 
have already removed the brickwork from the back of my 
stove, which is furnished with a firebrick, generally at a wliito 
heat; the effect of which on the temperature of my vinery 
last winter was to keep the roof free of frost to about half its 
length, say fifteen feet; beyond that it seemed to have little 
or no effect. Having two thermometers, placed one at either 
end, I found generally a difference, varying from six to eight , 
degrees. Having no bedding plants in last winter, I am 
unable to form any opinion as to the safety of those which 
my vinery at present contains. I intend having extra lights 
placed over them this year. The back of my vinery being a 
fourteen-inch wall to the north, I hope I may succeed in 
securing them from danger during the coming winter.”—TV. C. 
$ 
[TVe are afraid that we can do but little to assist this cor¬ 
respondent without entailing considerable expense. Very 
probably, his present contrivance of removing the brick¬ 
work, and using a little covering for the plants, in very severe 
weather, might be sufficient of itself; though we should be 
doubtful. When we used the word “ drawing-room :! the other 
week, we ought to have said the “ living-parlourbut the 
word slipped in, because the drawing-room of the corres¬ 
pondent held the same position to the greenhouse as did the 
parlour of our friend who heated his greenhouse from a 
narrow boiler that surrounded the fireplace on all sides ; so 
that a small amount of heat told upon the boiler. The flow- 
pipe was inserted near the top of the boiler, and the return 
near the bottom ; the wall was thinned near the fireplace, as 
our correspondent has done; and thus a considerable amount 
of heat was obtained. The pipes went round level; for in all 
cases where the pipes rise above the boiler, the top of the 
boiler must be fixed, and be supplied by a cistern. If cir¬ 
cumstances permit, we should prefer that the boiler be some 
feet below the heating-pipes, though they will do very well 
on the level. Now, if we understand the position of this 
dining-room fire, there would be little doubt, if the fireplace 
were furnished with a boiler grate, the house could be suc¬ 
cessfully heated by hot-water pipes ; and when the heat was 
not wanted, stopcocks in the house would stop the circula¬ 
tion of the water. But, there must be a safety pipe, and, 
as already said, this plan would entail considerable expense. 
In another such case, we have known a flue six inches 
wide, and rising considerably as it went, taken along the 
dividing wall, but mostly in the greenhouse, and turning 
back again to the chimney, which answered very well for the 
keeping out of frost. 
We do not greatly admire those little portable stoves, used 
for heating shops, warehouses, &c.; but last winter we noticed 
several small ones that kept out the frost from houses filled with 
bedding plants. In every case, however, they were furnished 
with a small iron chimney that went outside the house, the 
joints of which were securely luted. If common care be exer¬ 
cised, no damage will ensue in the case of such hardy plants 
as you name. One such upright metal stove, costing some 
30s. or 40s., would keep the frost from such a house, placed 
at the end farthest from your dining-room fire. Clean cinders 
and coke should be chiefly used. A friend of ours uses two such 
stoves in a large house, seemingly more than three times the size 
of yours, and not only cultivates Vines, but grows and keeps 
some thousands of bedding plants. He ha3 never had the 
least accident; but, as the stoves are light, he moves them 
outside when fighting them when they have been long dis¬ 
used ; but wdien in use this is less necessary. However, he 
makes nothing of taking them out and in, and in the very 
coldest weather he can thus keep a temperature of about 40°. 
He is particular in luting a close-fitting joint when he moves 
the stove; and, of course, the pipe goes outside the house. 
As tins -would be entirely out of sight in summer, and would j 
cost little, we question if, under the circumstances, our cor¬ 
respondent coidd do better. 
Many modes may be adopted according to circumstances. 
A neat little lean-to house was placed against the garden side 
of a mansion. The floor was some five feet above the furnace 
that heated the scullery copper; a small flue was made under¬ 
neath that floor, from the same furnace, and the draught let j 
on or off, by means of dampers, without any bother with ad¬ 
ditional fireplaces or chimneys. 
A merchant built a nice residence for himself a few years 
ago. A neat flower garden was on the east side of the house, 
communicating by folding doors with the living-room, the j 
