THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 30, 1856. 217 
The three-inch, glazed pipes make a good Hue, and 
quite large enough for that size or a size larger, and for 
one length of pit they “ draw ” as well as a flue; but we 
failed to heat the back pit by a return flue of pipes 
which were not glazed: the length being over sixty feet 
to the bottom of the chimney, aud the pipes almost level, 
was too much “ power ” for the strength of the draught, 
and the curator, in a fit of economy, “ erected ” a spare 
zinc chimney, seven feet high, which was “ lying about,” 
and he says it answers so well that he must take out a 
patent for chimneys for the ends of pipe-flues. 
There is an opening at the bottom of the chimney, 
and another a yard from the fire-place, which yard is a 
common flue for cleaning out the pipes. Tie a piece of 
strong twine to the end of a long rod, or so many rods 
tied together as will reach the extreme end; untie the 
twine and remove the rod. Now tie a handful of straw 
to the twine near to the end at which it was introduced, 
and pull the other end till the “ wisp ” of straw carries 
out before it all the soot. There should be one person 
at each end of the pull, and they should run, or rather, 
pull the straw backwards and forwards several times, 
and once a year is enough. If these glazed pipes could 
he placed on an easy incline the draught would keep 
them clean. A chimney of three-inch glazed pipes, for 
a large copper which does constant work, has been in 
use two doors from me since 1852 without any cleaning, 
and I have known the first three pipes next to the cop¬ 
per to be nearly red hot many a time without causing a 
crack or flaw in either pipes or joints: the joints are 
filled with common cement. 
There is only one thing we attend to in managing 
these pits; the greenhouse and conservatory are dif¬ 
ferent from what you see in gardening books, and that 
one thing is, we never make use of sun-lieat to warm the 
air inside during the whole winter, and those who do 
otherwise, and shut up their pits and houses in winter 
early in the afternoon of a sunny day, with a view of 
less fire that night, and less stress upon the plants in 
consequence, must have had their philosophy direct 
from the moon. But we are not upon philosophy to-day, 
hut upon the pits and plants in the Experimental Gar¬ 
den. D. Beaton. 
WINDOW GARDENING FOR THE WINTER. 
{Continued, from page 199.) 
4. Watering. — The water used in winter should not 
be lower than 55°, and should be applied in the fore¬ 
noon from the end of September to the end of April. 
In summer it is best to apply it in the evening. I can 
give no answer to the many inquiries as to how often 
such and such a plant should be watered, farther than 
just to treat the plant as you do yourself, if you are 
sagacious enough to drink only when thirsty. The 
plant may feel this thirstiness once a week or once a 
fortnight in dull weather, twice a week in blight, mild 
weather, and three or four times a week when the weather 
is very bright and frosty, because the dry air from 
the firing will stimulate a rapid evaporation. Plants 
in a state of rest, or comparatively so, may require 
moistening in the course of a month or two. Most 
succulents can hardly be too dry from November to 
March. If inclined to shrivel, the stems should be 
moistened in preference to deluging the roots. When 
water is given to the soil, let it be in quantity to reach 
every root, and then wait until the soil becomes dryish 
again. In windows it is necessary to have the pots in 
saucers; but the water should not be allowed to stand 
in them. If the drainage is good, and about an inch 
in depth, then from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch 
of water in the saucer will do no harm in the case of 
growing and flowering plants; whilst evaporation from 
it will tend to moisten the atmosphere about them, the 
dryness of the air in a warm room always having a 
tendency to absorb moisture from the stems and leaves. 
This explains the difficulty a fair friend wishes us to solve. 
The leaves of her Geraniums and Cinerarias frequently 
flag and turn up on the edges even when the soil is 
moist, and the evil is not lessened when she gives the 
soil an extra soaking. This appearance takes place 
chiefly under two conditions in winter. 
The first condition is when, after dull weather, a very 
bright, sunny day comes. From the roots having been 
in a lethargic state they are not so quickly stimulated 
into action as the rapid evaporation from the leaf by the 
influence of the sunbeams would demand. The remedy i 
is not increased soakiugs at the roots if the soil is ' 
moist, but a slight shading or moistening the foliage 
to lessen evaporation from them. The second condition 
is when, under a dull sky, there is a black frost, which 
sucks the moisture from the air as if it was kiln dried, 
and which is made drier still by the roaring fire in the 
room to keep the cold out. This dry air absorbs moisture 
wherever it can find it, greedily sucking it from stems 
and leaves, from damp soil in the pot, and from every 
bit of the pot in proportion to its softness and porous¬ 
ness. Extra moisture at the roots in such circumstances 
does not remove the danger; in fact, a new danger is 
created, and its strength will be somewhat in proportion 
to the porousness of the pot in a cold night, as the 
evaporation, thus stimulated, will produce a degree of 
cold about the best and youngest roots next to the sides 
of the pot that may be fatal to them. In such circum¬ 
stances damping the foliage and setting the plants on 
damp moss or wadding are much better than any extra 
saturation at the roots. This is easily done in a green¬ 
house by means of a syringe; but two young ladies 
succeeded admirably by different and yet both very simple 
means. One placed a number of her plants on an old 
tea-tray, and with a large hair-brush and a peculiar 
switch of the wrist, having dipped the brush in water, 
scattered the fine drops over every part just as if they 
had been dewed. In extreme cases she would do this 
twice a day. The other, having a large pail of water, 
placed her fingers over the surface of the pot so as to 
keep the soil in, and reversed the top of the plant in 
the water, giving it then a slight shake over the pail, 
and then setting it down on its saucer in its usual place. 
Some people will say, “ What a fuss and trouble about 
these trumpery plants! ” Well, they are likely to be 
trumpery without some trouble; but these ladies made 
no trouble, but a pleasure, in thus attending to their 
pets; thus antidotiug from harm, and cleaning, at the 
same time, a score or so, sooner than I write one of 
these periods, and their success was their best reward. 
This leads us, contrary to our intention just here, to say 
a few words on 
5. Cleanliness and Freedom from Insects. —Just 
let our young beginners think that every plant is an 
organised existence, and that its health greatly depends 
upon its ability to perspire and respire freely through 
every green leaf and every green bit of bark and stem, 
and then they will see at once how much they suffer 
when crusted with dust and the filthy excretions and 
remains of insects. A humorous young beginner, 
“ J. FI. W.,” tells us “ that since the foggy weather in 
November his young Geraniums and other plants have 
got mildewed, are covered with green fly, and have as dirty 
an appearance as if they had been kept in a coal-cellar 
or ciuder-hole. Every dirty insect takes its delight 
amongst them; even the spiders spread out their webs 
on the brauches, as the drapers do their fal-dals in their 
shop-windows, and I suppose for the same purpose— 
catching flies, alias flats. How am I to use tobacco- 
water or tobacco-smoke, as washing so many leaves 
would require more time than I can afford?” Did you 
