291 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 9, 1858. 
appearing like the blood or sap of Kenyon s Free 
Fearing , of thirty years back, which free-bearing 
kind was then the favourite on both sides of the 
Mersey, and which Mr. Forest brought up from Eaton 
Hall to Sion house, about 1826,1827, or 1828 ; and the 
said Mr. Forest, then and there changed the name of 
Lord Kenyon’s Cucumber, to that of Sion House , or 
Sion Free-bearing, which was an unfair thing to the 
Chester and Liverpool Gardeners, and a good oppor¬ 
tunity for such as did rejoice to sell seeds of one good 
kind of Cucumber under two substantial names. 
But the best of all I have to report, is, that we 
elected nineteen new Fellow s, in the midst of the 
snow storm. 
Mr. Thomson’s new gas and hot water stove for 
heating small greenhouses was there on exhibition. 
It is altogether different from all the engravings I had 
seen of it. It is a common gas stove in appearance; 
with a square tank for water fixed to the top. The 
tank is from three to four feet long, and about twenty 
or twenty-four inches wide, and two or three inches 
deep. The stove and tank are filled with water from 
a small hole on the top of the tank at one corner; and 
spiral tubes, with funnel heads below, over the gas 
jets, carry the heat up through the stove, and across 
the tank, to a pipe-chimney at the back of the tank. 
Now, take away the gas and stove, and place the tank 
inside a Cucumber bed, and put a lamp under it, and 
you have the Waltonian case in operation. 
Every stove in London heated by gas, this one of 
Mr. Thomson’s, and all that I have seen for heating 
plant structures, are essentially and entirely on a 
wrong principle. I would not use one of them for my 
seedlings upon any consideration whatever; and yet 
I could alter them all so as to suit the most delicate 
plants we have. I would merely fix the bottom of a 
gas stove, so that no air from the house or room to be 
heated should get into it; and the air to sustain com¬ 
bustion I would borrow from another source—a cellar, 
an adjoining room, or from the open air, through an 
underground drain or pipe. Common lighting gas is 
the most searching of all the deadly poisons to plants, 
and should never be risked to contaminate the air 
which plants must breathe: and they all do breathe 
as assuredly as we do, and are much more easily killed 
by breathing “ foul air ” than w T e are. One may heat 
plants with gas for a dozen years, and have no accident 
that way: but the knowledge that one’s plants are 
liable, at any moment, to be killed through the smallest 
or least-looked-for accident, is enough to make one 
dream of thunder and lightning the moment you get 
to bed. But make sure of the gas fumes passing into 
the outside air, and it is as good as any other mode of 
heating, as far as its strength goes. 
The next subject was also very ingenious—a tell-tale 
flower-pot—a pot which will tell when a plant in it 
wants water. No more “ answers to correspondents ” 
about how often or how much water to give to a plant. 
All correspondents of that kind should buy the new 
pots, and save the postage. They are sold by Mr. 
Smith, 3, Queen’s Hoad, East, Chelsea, S.W., who 
says, “ A very important advantage in these pots is, 
that on account of their becoming a deeper colour in 
proportion to their dampness, they give a clear indi¬ 
cation of the state of the roots, which enables the 
attendant to regulate the watering with the greatest 
nicety.” This “clear indication” was shown to us 
by one of the pots half full of water, and another 
empty : the dry one is of a light stone colour ; but the 
moment the water runs into its porous sides, it becomes 
a dark shaded colour. They are certainly handsome 
and well-made; but for anything more about them, 
refer to Mr. Smith himself. 
The third contrivance is of still more general use. A 
regular clean sweep out of all the grass lawns in the 
kingdom by a set of patent brooms of all sorts, all forms, 
and all sizes. Mr. Fish saw these brooms in use at Dun- 
keld, under the inventor, Mr. Henderson, gardener to 
the Duke of Atholl, and he highly approved of them, 
and told us the whole story, in his Scottish tour, the 
year before last. The patent is for the socket and 
head to set the broom-handle and the besom, or birch 
twigs in. This can be done to form a round broom, 
like the common old shape, or a swallow-tail-like 
broom, to sweep after the mowing; which swallow¬ 
tail broom is, or has been, in use in Suffolk, and across 
to Lincolnshire, time out of mind. I saw them twenty 
years ago with Mr. Mathias, the gardener at Glerering, 
near Woodbridge ; and the men liked them far better 
than the round, old-fashioned brooms, and they could 
do twice as much work with them in a day : but they 
were closely put together with laths and nails, which 
were constantly getting out of order. But now Mr. 
Henderson’s patent gets over all these drawbacks. 
The only thing I heard against them was lest they 
should be considered too costly : that is as nothing, 
however, against a sound principle of universal appli¬ 
cation. 
Mr. Turner, of Slough, sent six specimens of a 
purple sprouting Kale, called Cottager s Kale, which 
appears to be a very profitable vegetable ; with long 
stalks covered up from the bottom, with a profusion 
of “ curled sprouts ” as closely as the best kind of 
Brussels Sprouts; and the lecturer justly observed, 
that if this “ tendency ” were carefully developed, we 
might expect it to result in another form of Brussels 
Sprouts. But as it is, there is no doubt about it as a 
valuable contribution to our “ greens.” 
D. Beaton. 
EARLY BULB FORCING. 
It is almost superfluous to discuss the merits of early 
bulbs, they are so generally esteemed. Nevertheless, 
I cannot but point to a few features connected with 
them, which deserve particular notice. In them, we 
have such gaiety of colour, such delightful scents, and 
such a dressy appearance altogether, as no other indoor 
tribe can combine in an equal degree. Whether in the 
plant house, or the drawing-room, they are equally 
acceptable; and many thousands find their way • into 
dwellings of no marvellous pretensions, where they may 
be seen, ornaments of a mantel-piece, and regular pets 
in the eyes of the possessor when successfully culti¬ 
vated. But, there is yet another particular feature of 
much importance, to which I would advert—and that 
is, their durability in blossom, under proper circum¬ 
stances, and the ease with which they may be retarded 
when requisite. I have had bulbs in perfect blossom 
for nearly a month—possibly more. But they must 
not be coddled in a hot room, to retard them. 
I may here point to the eligibility they possess for 
culture in glasses. This is a great accommodation ; for 
we have scarcely any other tribe, but the Hyacinth, 
that will give equal satisfaction. 
I shall not now say much about forcing in glasses, 
as few observations will suffice for that; but rather 
direct attention in the main to their culture in pots, 
which more concerns the majority of cultivators. But 
I may, before I proceed thus, endeavour to show, that 
there are a few points common to both. They are 
such as the following; and I will direct them princi¬ 
pally to the Hyacinth, for the rules applicable to them 
more or less concern all the rest of what are com¬ 
monly termed “ Dutch Bulbs but, I fear that many 
so called, have been grown at Battersea, or some such 
place. 
1st. Those bulbs, of necessity, require a given time, 
