180 
TIIB FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ December, 
sorts flower at the same time, and make up into 
a very effective group. They are all deep 
stringy-rooting plants, and do not like being 
disturbed, but are found to succeed best by 
allowing them to remain and to produce their 
flowering stems from the old stools. The plan 
we adopt here is to fork out the young suckers 
in the spring, and afterwards mulch the bed 
over with a good mixture of rotten dung and 
leaf-soil. There are some beds here which 
have been managed in this way for upwards of 
twelve years, and which flower profusely every 
season. The modern style of filling up flower¬ 
beds annually is a heavy tax upon gardeners, 
and anything in the way of getting beds filled 
with permanent plants is generally considered 
as a relief.—J. Webster, Gordon Castle. 
PORTABLE HOT-WATER 
BOILERS. 
)E have lately met with one or two 
appliances which seem to supply a want 
which is very often experienced,— 
that of some simple but effectual means to heat 
the small greenhouse or conservatory of the 
amateur. There is no difficulty whatever 
where the house or houses are large enough to 
require the use of a properly adjusted hot- 
water apparatus, and where there is a gardener 
at hand to see that a fire is made when neces¬ 
sary, and kept burning as long as may be re¬ 
quired ; but in the small plant structures— 
attached or detached—which are erected in 
connection with suburban villas, and where the 
proprietor or a domestic servant lias to take 
charge of the warming apparatus, the repul¬ 
sion of frost and the maintenance of a suitable 
temperature are often troublesome matters. 
One of the most promising of these small heat¬ 
ing apparatus is Messrs. Heaps & Wheatley’s 
Portable Hot-water Boiler, represented in the 
annexed figure. This apparatus is heated by 
petroleum lamps, which have sufficient power 
to raise the water to boiling point, if necessary. 
Another similar form of apparatus is now made, 
in which either petroleum or gas can be used. 
As the former is not injurious to plants, no 
special provision is made, or indeed needed, for 
carrying off its fumes. These boilers are kept 
in three sizes:—No. 1, the smallest, is made 
in copper or tin, and has a brass tap, oil cistern, 
and one powerful burner ; the three 2|-in. pipes 
are 2 ft. G in. long, of wrought iron galvanised, 
and connected by brass unions. No. 2 is larger, 
is made in copper or tin, and furnished with 
two burners, the pipes 8 ft. 9 in. long. No. 8, 
shown in the drawing, is made only in copper, 
and the pipes (shown cut off) are 5 ft. long; 
this has three burners. At the end opposite the 
boiler the pipes are connected to an upright 
tube, the upper end of which is expanded into a 
vase or funnel, by means of which the apparatus 
is charged and the supply of water kept up. 
The openings at the top of the boiler are flues ; 
and when gas is employed, an open-mouthed 
funnel collects the fumes given off, and con¬ 
ducts them through a pipe outside the house. 
In the newer form now made, the boiler, with 
three burners, stands in the centre, and on 
each side is a stack of three pipes, 2 ft. G in. 
long, the ends of which are inserted into two 
HEArs & Wheatley's Portable Hot-water Boiler. 
upright tubes, of which one has an open funnel 
for feeding, both stacks being connected with 
the boiler by two brass union joints. 
This firm has also a heated plant-case, or 
propagating frame, which we shall describe at 
some early opportunity. 
Another useful contrivance for the same 
object, and one which is perhaps more suitable 
for the smallest-sized houses, or for merely ex¬ 
cluding frost, i3 provided in Tebbs’ Universal 
Heating Stove, which is adapted for petroleum, 
gas, or other fuel. Mr. Tebbs describes his 
apparatus as “ an original, safe, and economical 
means by which the greatest amount of heat 
can be obtained with the smallest amount of fuel, 
requiring little or no attention for twenty-four 
hours, and giving off nothing but pure heated 
air.” This is obtained by bringing any number 
of pipes or tubes into one body, arranging them 
nearly close together, and allowing the smallest 
space between each for the circulation of hot 
water on their outer circumference, retaining 
