THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY i 
too much by that severe amputation; thus I like the 
half-cutting off better. 
Onions. —A dry, cold, airy loft is best for the store 
Onious, and do not let them lie more than two or three 
bulbs thick, and often look them over, and pull out bad 
ones. Do not remove any of the outer rind but what 
comes off in the handling. They also keep well in 
ropes and hung up, the easiest way to make which is 
to tie them on to a hay or straw-band, which is better 
than a stake. This plan is useful where shelf room is 
scarce ; but the points to observe are a cool, airy situa¬ 
tion, warmth and moisture being more inimical to their 
keeping than frost. 
Red Beet, Pabsnips, Salsafy, &c. ■—These being 
tolerably hardy, and not likely to be injured by worms, 
slugs, and other similar enemies, might remain in the 
ground until the warmth of spring starts them into 
growth. Parsnips are even said to be better there ; but 
it is also advisable to take up a few, and lay them in 
sand in some cool place. In taking up Beet be careful 
not to injure it in any way, and in cutting off the leaves 
allow an inch or two of the stalk of each to remain, to 
prevent the colour boiling out in cooking, which it is 
sure to do if injured. Some growers take up all their 
crop in autumn; but, in a general way, I have found 
it keep better in the ground than when taken up. 
Carrots. —These must be dug up in October, other¬ 
wise they are liable to suffer from worms and other 
insects. Packing away in sand is not so general as it 
was years ago, owing to the numbers that rot every 
year. This, however, often arises from the heap being 
too large. It is, therefore, better only to place them in 
thin layers, or, in default of that, to let them lie in¬ 
discriminately on the floor, where the air will have free 
access to them, and they can be easily examined. 
J. Robson. 
NEW METHOD OF FIXING HOT-WATER 
PIPES.—NEW GAS STOVE. 
Those who have had any experience in fixing hot-water 
pipes in the way which has hitherto been practised know 
the trouble and almost impossibility there is in rendering 
them water-tight, and, at the same time, to fix them so as 
they may be easily removeable. We have frequently seen 
pipes which have been united by having red lead and hemp 
forced into a socket become so permanently fixed as to re- 
, quire being broken before they could be removed, or any 
alteration be made in the arrangement. This has always 
been a great difficulty, and particularly on the part of those 
who, either from change of residence or from a desire to re¬ 
construct, have attempted to disunite the lengths of piping. 
We were much pleased to find recently that this great 
drawback has been completely and effectually overcome. 
Messrs. Smith and Phillips, who advertise in our columns, 
have succeeded in contriving an arrangement which entirely 
supersedes the old method, and which is so simple that any 
handy labourer, or even a gentleman himself who has a turn 
for mechanics, or is fond of light manual operations, may, 
without any difficulty, fix any length with as little trouble as 
he can drive in two screws ; for that, in fact, is the whole 
or the greater part of the operation. When it is required 
to disunite or altogether to remove the piping, all that 
j requires to be done is simply to undo these two screws or 
! nuts, and the union is severed. 
The invention consists in forming at each end of a length 
of pipe a narrow rim, the outer edges of which are bevelled. 
I When two lengths of pipe are brought in contact by their 
ends these bevelled edges form a ring. Over the part where 
the two lengths are brought in contact a socket is fitted, 
| which consists of two halves. In the interior of this socket 
! there is a groove to receive the rim formed on the pipes, 
I and the space inside is wrapped with a piece of webbing 
saturated with lead, over which the two halves of the socket 
l being placed, they are screwed together by bolts passing 
thiough flanges at the sides of each part of the socket. A 
| 
ENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— November 4,185G. 77 ' 
perfectly air-tight joint is thus formed ; and this we regard 1 
as one of the most valuable inventions in garden mechanics 
which we have met with for several years. 
The new gas heating apparatus which we saw in the same ; 
establishment is the best which has come under our notice. | 
It consists of a cylindrical boiler, fitted with flow and return- 
pipes, and furnished, also, with a flue to carry off the noxious 1 
vapour formed by the combustion of the gas. It is highly j 
ornamental, and is the most simple and effectual thing of j 
the kind which we have ever seen; it requires no skill to j 
manage it, and is so cleanly that a lady may attend to it. 
WHITE SHRUBBY CALCEOLARIA—GERA¬ 
NIUM DIADEMATUM. 
As a good white bedding-plant is still a desideratum, I 
venture to suggest that some of the cross-breeders should 
turn their attention to the improvement of the White Shrubby 
Calceolaria. We hear of new yellow ones every year; but 
no person appears to have taken any heed of this white 
variety. I presume it seeds, or, at any rate, it yields pollen 
to inoculate with the yellow sorts. I trust that this void in 
the flower-garden will, in a few years, be filled up by some 
enterprising individual producing a good white bedder of 
this class. 
As that fine pink bedding Geranium Diadematum is not 1 
much known or sought after, and as I. have grown it for 
some years, let me bear testimony to all Mr. Deaton has 
said about it. It requires a rich soil, and will flower pro¬ 
fusely throughout the whole summer and autumn. During 
the past season it was the most attractive bed in my garden; 
and, as I grow nearly all the best bedding-plants in culti¬ 
vation, I am competent to form an accurate opinion of its 
merits; indeed, to quote our oracle in these matters (Mr. 
Beaton), “ it is the pink of the flower-garden.”—R. L. 
PLANTING BROCCOLI. 
Our experience in planting Broccoli three feet apart 
accords with Hardy and Son’s plan, page 459, in last volume. 
Formerly, when we planted them two feet asunder, not only 
did their leaves interfere with the hearts next to them, but 
the plants were seldom dry. Wet lodged in the axils of the 
leaves, or where they join the stems; and need it be said, the 
effects of frost are more severe there than in any other parts 
of the plants ? Thinning out close crops in autumn not only 
gives more room, but the removed ones are somewhat checked 
in growth, by which they are rendered more hardy. 
In elevated and dry places, like some parts of Peebleshire, 
from which Mr. Mercer writes, page 25, where the wind blows 
among the plants as if they were under a blow-pipe, perhaps 
Broccoli plants stand the winter better at two feet apart than 
they clo in damp and warmer places at the same distance. 
His heads of Broccoli, “ somewhat larger than teacups,” are 
rather under size. Such would not suit market-gardeners, 
nor large private families, where the greater part of the 
Broccoli in spring is consumed by servants. When the sorts 
are genuine, moderate-sized heads can always be cut in time 
for the first table. 
I may give a passing word respecting the difficulty of get¬ 
ting Granger’s Broccoli true. The best crops of this late- 
autumn sort I ever saw were grown by Mr. Gillespie, a 
market-gardener near Edinburgh; and I can recollect, when 
a youth, seeing the great care he took in covering his seed- 
plants with gauze net when in bloom, to prevent bees and 
flies conveying to them the pollen of other kinds. I never 
learned the exact time when he sowed or planted for seed. 
As the general crop is over before the end of winter, those 
for seed must be treated in some way like Cauliflower plants 
for spring.—J. Wighton. 
