TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 16, 1856. 183 
o. more simple system would have given the charms of 
j fitness and propriety. 
j Copious Lists of the best plants you specify have 
; already been given, and will be referred to, perhaps, before 
i spring. If you have not had practice in propagating, do 
1 not expect too much from one plant in your first season’s 
j experience. Take every means you can to see these 
1 processes conducted, and also the mode of filling beds, 
j &c., in good gardens, and then you will find our pages 
! more interesting Only show you are interested, and 
! you will find that gardeners part much easier with their 
j practical lore than our friends the lawyers. 
The Tacsonia mollissima is yet too young I suspect. 
The Geranium is purely a matter of taste. 
Heating by Gas and by Kitchen Boiler. —I have left 
little room for this, and perhaps it is as well, as it 
would be best that the gentleman alluded to by our 
correspondent should give a definite reply to the inquiries, 
as 1 never have had a gas affair under my direct manage¬ 
ment. One hint I would give in the way of expense. 
Such details can never be any more than guides, unless 
for things in such demand that you can buy them all 
complete at once. Some of our friends think it must 
be a pleasure to hunt over every volume to get at 
something they want to know more about. Not long 
ago a request was made to hunt up a varied list from 
The Cottage Gardener, and benevolently addiug, 
“ they were sure it would be a pleasure to you.” Now, 
once for all, let me state that there is nothing more 
irksome than hunting for references without dates, and 
nothing that requires more time and care than making 
out a list of any tribe of plants as suitable for certain 
circumstances. Our present correspondent sets a better 
example. 
The plans of Mr. Kimberley, of Edgbaston, and Mr. 
Vincent Litchfield, are so far the same, that each takes a 
heating or smoke-pipe through the hot-water pipe. The 
plan at page 96 leaves little to be desired. The burners 
might be moved nearer the boiler if thought desirable; 
but that will not be so necessary as if there had been no 
case round the burners. The smoke, also, in the pipe will 
be lessened, as it will get deposited on the bottom of the 
boiler and the sides of the iron case to a great extent. 
A convenience for cleaning it out at times with a wire 
brush would be an advantage. I have no doubt that 
with these gentlemen the system answers well. When 
the details are given our correspondent will be better 
able to decide. Meantime, with her seeming con¬ 
veniences, I should rather be inclined to use for her little 
greenhouse the kitchen boiler, as it is already there, 
and thus I would proceed, keeping economy in view. 
The top of the boiler is close, of course, and is to be 
furnished with a supply cistern the same height as the 
highest point of the pipes in the greenhouse. Were the 
house to be heated constantly a cistern at the farthest 
extremity would keep the boiler supplied; but, as it 
would be desirable to shut off the heat entirely at times, 
a cistern for itself would be advisable. Fix two pipes in 
the boiler, one near the top, and one near the bottom; 
if an inch in diameter, and iron, they will be large enough. 
Pipes of iron must extend at least a couple of feet from 
the boiler if joined to it near the fire; from thence, 
until they enter the house, it matters not whether the 
pipes are lead or iron. When you get to the house you 
! will need forty feet of four-inch pipe, or sixty feet of 
j three-inch pipe, and that may be of tin or galvanized 
j iron, the same as if you were heating by gas, if you do 
not mind them wearing out. I recommend cast metal 
for ultimate economy. Common taps with small pipes 
would let the heat off and on as desired.' In severe 
weather the heat could be admitted to the greenhouse 
until bed-time; then the fuel could be gathered close 
about the boiler, and an iron plate, made like a large 
damper, would separate the fuel from the rest of the 
grate, and coufiue it round the boiler. I am open to 
conviction, but I believe, at present, this would be the 
cheapest mode. R. Fisii. 
CULTURE OF THE EXOTIC HEATHS. 
{Continued from p<u/e 165.) 
Postponing until next week our promised list of 
Heaths, we now proceed with their 
Summer Management. —This season, I consider, com¬ 
mences at the time Heaths may be set out of doors up to 
the time when they must be removed into the green¬ 
house or pit. Potting and watering have been fully 
described in a former paper; it therefore remains to 
describe the situation in which they should be placed 
during the summer. The best situation is one behind 
a low hedge or wall, and the best aspect is one where 
the sun does not shine upon the plants and pots. After 
ten o’clock in the forenoon I do not approve of an 
entirely north aspect, and for this reason—that in such a 
position the soil scarcely ever becomes dry; and the 
consequence is, the pots and surface of the soil are 
covered thickly with moss and lichens, which cannot be 
healthy for the plants; besides which the plants grow 
weakly, and are more subject to the attacks of mildew, 
for waDt of light and air. On the other hand, if the 
plants are fully exposed to a summer’s sun they require 
watering so often that the least neglect is almost fatal, 
and the leaves frequently are browned with excess of 
sunlight. Hence such a situation as I have mentioned 
above is by far the most preferable. If, however, such 
a position cannot be had, then shading must be re¬ 
sorted to. 
I remember some years since visiting Messrs. Rol- 
lison’s nursery in summer, and there I saw their fine 
large sjiecimen Heaths sheltered from the summer’s sun 
by being placed under some long glazed lights or frames, 
supported above the plants by a row of thick stakes. 
When the sun shone hot these lights were shaded by 
thin mats. It is evident, in such a position, that there 
would be shelter not only from the sun, but also from 
excessively heavy thunder-showers or long-continued 
rains. Messrs. Rollison are well known as among the 
most successful growers of Heaths round London. 
Many of the large nursery growers place their young 
Heaths in beds during summer, placing them nearly 
close together. The plants themselves, so placed, shelter 
the pots and soil from the sun; and, to make doubly 
sure, they place a ridge of coal-ashes round the outside 
row of pots, so that the soil is kept constantly cool, and, 
with a due supply of water, constantly moist. I need 
scarcely inform the intelligent grower that whenever 
plants are set out of doors it is highly necessary to set 
them upon a thick bed of ashes, in order to keep worms 
out of the pots. 
I visited a garden in Yorkshire once, and observed 
the Heaths placed during summer upon a plot of ground 
paved with Hag-stones. The gardener, finding his 
Heaths constantly flagging, adopted the method of pack¬ 
ing moss amongst the pots, or, in other words, plunging 
them in that material. The plants when I saw them 
were as healthy, fresh, and green as could be; and, 
where moss can he obtained plentifully, such a method I 
consider to be a good one. Another expedient is to 
place each of the pots in larger ones, which causes a 
coolness to the inclosed pot and soil, a state always 
desirable, but more especially in summer. Some gar¬ 
deners adopt the plan of plunging their Hoaths in coal- 
ashes level with the rims of the pots; but I canuot 
approve of this as a general rule, lor, without very great 
care, the pots are liable to be water-logged and the soil 
wet; and soddened circumstances are always injurious 
and prejudicial to the health of any plants, but more 
