288 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, January 27, 185?. 
the shine range, divided by a glass partition. Singularly 
effough, he also proposes a Nectarine on one side of 
this partition, and an Apricot on the other, the back 
wall in the Vinery being covered with Peaches, to 
all of which the above remarks will apply; but there 
are two matters different. First, “ the hot-water pipes 
in the Vinery are three feet distant from the partition, 
and sunk in the floor: will they affect the roots?” Not 
injuriously if the earth is separated from the pipes by a 
four-inch wall of brickwork, and security is taken for 
good drainage. Two feet eight inches in width of soil 
across the house would be sufficient if it was from 
fifthSh to eighteen inches in depth. You have not said 
how deep the pipes were sunk. If less than eighteen 
inches, the roots might be allowed to run beneath them, 
as the lower pipe, if a return, will be rather cool on its 
under side; but if that depth and more, it will be 
better to restrict the roots to the narrow pit between 
the partition and the pipes. Secondly, “ the centre of the 
Vinery is to be a pit for Melons, forcing flowers, &c., 
eighteen feet long by six feet wide, with a flow and 
return pipe of four inches through it. Would you 
advise me to fill this pit with sand and ashes, and grow 
the Melons in pots, or fill the whole with suitable soil at 
once for Melons? The Vines are young, and planted 
last spring, and are two Black Iiamburghs , two Oolden 
Drops, one Black Barbarossa, one Muscat of Alexandria. 
Will they do together?” Taking the last question first, 
I must own my ignorance of Golden Drop, but it is 
most likely a synonyme of some well-known kind. The 
others will do well enough. Give the Muscat the 
warmest end, then the Barbarossa, &c. 
We do not know the length of the house, but, from 
your description, I should suppose it to be about thirty 
feet. If less than twenty-four, the shade of your Vines 
will ultimately injure the Peaches on the back wall, not 
to speak of the Nectarine at the partition. Your raised 
bed in the centre of the Vinery is a good idea. You 
will find it very useful for seeds, cuttings, and as a 
platform for tender plants in summer, and for hardier 
greenhouse or bedding plants in winter. When I first 
forced Vines on my own account I broke them almost 
entirely from placing strong fermenting matter in such 
a pit. I have had the house so full of rank steam for a 
week that you could scarcely see your finger at an 
arm’s length. The only tiling to be sure of was, that 
the fermenting matter was sweet before the Vines broke. 
Peaches would not stand so much; the fermenting 
material would require to be sweetish before it was 
introduced. You could get some assistance from your 
pit in bringing on the Vines and Peaches gradually if 
you had fifteen or eighteen inches of tan in it. What¬ 
ever you fill it with, it is important that you should 
have an out and in chamber about your pipes, say a 
foot deep, consisting of bricks, stones, clinkers, &c., 
placed as hollow and as far from each other as they 
will stand, covering them with rough gravel, and then 
with fine. In the sides of your pit, on a level with 
this roughish chamber about the pipes, you had better 
have several slides, so that when you did not want the 
bottom heat it would escape into the atmosphere of the 
house. The fine gravel referred to above would be con¬ 
sidered the permanent covering to the pipes and their 
rough chamber. It matters not greatly whatyou use above 
that as a plunging medium; sand would be the cleanest, 
but as combining neatness and efficiency, I would 
prefer tan from a tanner’s yard if easily procurable, 
and rather dry. The sand and ashes will merely retain 
for a time the heat given from the pipes. The tan will 
do this, but, in addition, be a source of heat in itself 
so long as it is not thoroughly decomposed, while the 
sweet gases and moisture rising from it will help to 
make the Vines and Peaches break kindly. For all 
propagating purposes such a pit would be very useful, 
and for forcing plants it would be equally useful before 
the Vines were in leaf, and would do no harm, provided 
the plants were not so tall as to shade the Peaches. By 
means of the bottom beat the plants in the pit would 
be more forced than either the Vines or Peaches. In 
such a combination forcing must proceed very gently; 
in fact, the Peaches must be in bloom and fully set 
before the Vines are little more than budding. 
I wish I could speak as confidently of the success of 
the Melons. With less convenience I have had Peaches, 
Vines, Figs, Guavas, Melons, Cucumbers, &c., in the 
same house; but it would be a mistake to suppose that 
such a mixture involved no difficulties and no extra 
amount of trouble. If Vines and Peaches have justice, 
I fear that our correspondent can hope to grow Melons 
only until his Vines are fully established. To get good 
fruit the foliage must be pretty well as fully exposed to 
sunlight as is the Vine. 
While the Vines are growing, the upper part of the 
house may have Melons in summer, and in the open 
spaces in Vineries I have had fine Melons. In such 
circumstances they do best trained to a single stem, and 
then stopped when at the necessary height, and the 
branches kept about eighteen inches Irom the glass. In 
such a house, with the pit, perhaps, three or four feet 
from the glass, it would be time enough to sow the 
Melons when the Vines broke, and protect them in the 
pit under a liandlight until the Grapes were in flower, 
when the temperature that would suit the Vines would 
suit them. In such a pit Cucumbers would do very 
well, allowing the shoots to run on its surface, and over 
the walls if the roof was not too densely covered, as, 
provided the fruit swells, there will be little matter 
about the flavour. For the reasons stated in the circum¬ 
stances, Melons could only be admissible for a season 
or so, and afterwards be reduced to a few plants where 
there was a larger opening, as every obstruction to the 
light passing freely to the back wall just lessens the 
chance of success with the Peaches. 
Another argument against the culture of the Melon 
in such circumstances is, that it is more liable to the 
red spider and thrips than either the Vine or the Peach, 
and great care will be requisite to keep the plants 
thoroughly clean, or the whole house may suffer through 
them. Were I to make a suggestion, it would be to 
shut off a space by another division for Melons, and if 
you had a Vine there to dispense with the Peach, and the 
Melons would then receive more justice, and other things 
be less liable to danger. Fifteen or eighteen-incli pots 
would grow Melons quite strong enough. Failing that, 
I would divide the pit longitudinally, and divide each 
division again into spaces from two to three feet long, 
supposing the depth of soil to be fifteen or eighteen 
inches. Were the whole roof devoted to Melons, you 
might thus divide, use pots, or fill the pit at once without 
any division; but pots or divisions are best when you 
allow the plant a limited space of head room. 
B. Fish. 
CULTURE OF THE EXOTIC HEATHS. 
(Continued from page 184.) 
In the following list those marked with an asterisk are 
the best for a small collection, though they are all very 
beautiful. I might have extended the list by several 
hundred species and varieties; but I am persuaded the 
number I have enumerated is sufficient to stock the 
largest greenhouse in the kingdom. 
SELECT LIST OF GREENHOUSE HEATHS. 
These flower in March, April, and May:— 
Erica Andromedseflora (Andromeda-flowered), red. 
„ hardens (glowing), orange red. 
