January 10, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
295 
bearing on our profession. I am sure many a young 
man unable to afford them, would thus gladly avail 
himself of the opportunity to further improve himself, 
which in these days of advancement and severe 
competition is absolutely necessary. Seeing so much is 
expected of a gardener, surely our employers would thus 
help us were it put to them by those able to speak for 
us, and who knows where the shoe pinches. 
What example do some head gardeners-set the young 
men? How many-precious hours are wasted in 
“ public house company,’’ which ought to be devoted to 
training these erring young men in the true paths of 
our profession. Example is better than precept, and I 
am sure a little kindly counsel, forbearance and 
consideration, a little fellow feeling, and above all an 
upright example, does more for us than all the strict 
hard and fast rules by which we are sometimes governed. 
I am fully aware that leisure time is a trust committed 
to our keeping to be spent to the glory of the giver, and 
so spent to our great gain ; also of the absolute 
necessity of great efforts, and the need of much 
perseverance and patient study on our part to fit us for 
the positions we hope some day to hold. Cheer up, 
“ Father Christmas,” do not be too hard on us. I hope 
your anxious fears and forebodings have not prevented 
you spending a merry Christmas, and, if you will, please 
accept best wishes for the new year from One of the 
Erring Ones. 
The few remarks offered by ‘’'Father Christmas” 
deserve the attention alike of both the young men and 
those who have charge of them. I cannot shut my 
eyes to the fact that such a state of things is prevalent; 
I own that a great deal of what “ Father Christmas ” 
says is fact, but I venture to ask whether this is all 
due to the apathy of the young men themselves ? Is it 
not partly, if not chiefly due to the head gardener or 
foreman ? I fully acknowledge the appropriateness of 
the remarks, but I also feel that a slight protest is 
needed ; the assertion is too sweeping. The questions 
that crop up in one’s mind as to the cause of the 
supposed apathy are numberless, but I will confine 
myself for the nonce to suggesting a remedy in 
the form of establishing mutual improvement associa¬ 
tions, similar to the one we have here, which I 
will endeavour to describe. But before proceeding 
further, I ought, perhaps, to say that owing to the 
fact that all the employes live off the place the 
holding of nightly meetings is out of the question. The 
time given for the mid-day meal is requisitioned for 
the lectures and discussions ; the lecture or paper is 
given one day at 1.40, and the discussion, if time per¬ 
mits (which it does not in some cases), begins 
immediately after, then it is adjourned till next day, 
and in turn continued till the whole subject, as far as 
possible, is thrashed out, every member having equal 
privileges of asking questions or making observations 
on the paper or subject. This has happened every week, 
with but three exceptions, for the past twelve months. 
Owing to the generosity of the foreman a competition 
for prizes has taken place, which has resulted in all the 
members learning the art of getting “impressions of 
Ferns ” on paper, canvas, or silk ; also designs for 
three carpet beds (coloured), and plans of pleasure- 
grounds. The spirit here is progression. I need 
hardly say that the gardening periodicals come in for a 
good deal of attention. If young men in bothies go in 
for mutual improvement in this way, they will find 
plenty of useful and instructive recreation. I wiil add 
that the establishment of our society has altered the 
position of things here, and good feeling exists all 
round. I may say also that tho existence of this 
association and its success are due to the indefatigable 
and energetic foreman, who is held in high esteem by 
one and all. The series of subjects for consideration 
this session includes Euphorbias, Crotons, Dracaenas, 
Eucharis, Pancratium, Amaryllis, and deciduous flow¬ 
ering stove plants.— A. Barnes, The Gardens , Highbury, 
Birmingham. 
I READ with great interest the good advice given to 
young men by “Father Christmas,” in your issue of 
December 27th, p. 265. Previous to 1879 I lived 
many years in bothies, and I may say that though our 
doings were far from perfect, they were not quite so 
bad as depicted by your correspondent. It is a trite 
saying, that we cannot put old heads on young 
shoulders, therefore, before we reprove the young men 
for their doings, it would be better to consider and 
examine the conditions under which they live in 
bothies. Are they always well housed and made 
comfortable in such places ? I fear not; my experience 
of bothy life taught me that it was not so, for while there 
were exceptions, many of the bothies were devoid of the 
humblest of creature comforts. 
It i3 acknowledged that nothing is more prejudicial 
to the minds and manners of the young than comfort¬ 
less homes, and I fear this is too often the cause of 
many young men seeking the comforts of the public 
house, consequently the beginning of intemperate 
habits. I gladly admit there is a great improvement 
in the bothies of late years, and thanks for this state of 
things is mostly due to the younger generation of head 
gardeners, whose minds are naturally very much 
impressed with the poor condition of bothies in their 
young days, and the great obstacles such formed to 
the expansion of their own minds. They have set about 
the work of reforming those conditions, and they are 
succeeding to a wonderful degree; however, much 
remains to be done, and gardeners generally who have 
the welfare of the young men at heart should see, in 
the first instance, that they are well housed, attended 
to, and made in every way comfortable. Where the 
generosity of the employer can be evoked, a library 
of suitable books should be provided for their instruction 
in the theoretical part of their profession. Nothing 
should be left undone that can be done by those in 
charge, to establish gardeners’ mutual improvement 
societies, which may be used both for recreative and 
self-improvement purposes. 
These few points adopted and cheerfully carried out, 
would in my opinion soon prove the best incentives 
for young men to become studious. And it is to 
be earnestly hoped that they will, and do appre¬ 
ciate to its greatest extent any effort made in that 
direction by their masters, for it is evident in these go- 
ahead days the gardener must not lag behind; he must 
be up and doing, and not lose one opportunity of 
increasing his knowledge of the profession he has 
adopted. The following inspiriting quotation may be 
of interest and service to our youug men : — 
“Never you mind the crowd, lad, 
Or fancy your life won’t tell, 
The work is the work, for a’ that, 
To him that doeth it well. 
Fancy the world a hill, lad, 
Look where the millions stop, 
You’ll find the crowd at the base, lad, 
There’s plenty of room at the top. 
Courage, and faith, and patience, 
There’s space in the old world yet, 
The better the chance you stand, lad, 
The further along you get. 
Keep your eye on the goal, lad, 
Never despair or drop, 
Be sure that your path leads upward, 
There’s always room at the top.” 
— J. Charlton, Farnley Grove, Corbridge-on-Tyne. 
--»®g-- 
STOVES IN BRITAIN 150 YEARS 
AGO. 
The means employed in the olden times for keeping 
up a sufficiently high temperature to preserve tropical 
plants through the winter in this country, were various, 
and sometimes notable for their ingenuity rather than 
simplicity. Heating by means of hot water in metal 
pipes had not yet been invented, although as early 
as 1755, heating by means of steam in metal pipes (as 
mentioned on p. 283) was warmly advocated by the 
clever and more forward writers of the day. 
Besides the heating of pits, which were so skilfully 
managed by means of fermenting manure and tanners’ 
bark, stoves were also built for the accommodation of 
tall-growing trees and shrubs, as well as subjects of 
dwarfer growth. As at the present day, the structures 
varied considerably in matters of minor detail, but the 
principle was much the same in the two kinds of stoves 
then prevailing. These were the dry stove and the 
bark stove. In both cases they were lean-to structures, 
consequently the span-roofed house is of more modern 
date. The back wall was always built on the north 
side of the house, in order to afford additional shelter. 
Lighting in those days seems to have been of secondary 
importance to that of shelter, as everything that could 
afford additional warmth was brought to the aid of the 
horticultural builder. 
Dry stoves were heated by means of flues under the 
pavement, or by flues piled above one another along 
the back wall, traversing it backward and forward 
six or eight times, according to the height of the house. 
That heat ascends is well known ; but although our 
ancestors resorted to such cumbrous and inconvenient 
methods in large houses it must not be forgotten that 
hot-water pipes under the roofs of houses, whether 
large or small, are used at the present day with advan¬ 
tage in several cases. Cacti and various other succulent 
plants were grown in the dry stove, rightly so named, 
for the atmosphere of such a house must have been 
very arid. Stages were erected tier above tier, as is 
done generally in lean-to houses at the present day, in 
order to bring the plants near the glass and air. 
The bark stove derived its name from the use of 
tanners’ bark in it, and which was not merely a 
great aid to the keeping up of the temperature, 
but of maintaining moisture in the atmosphere, such 
as was necessary for the well-being of most tender ' 
exotics with well-developed leaves. Before the use of' 
bark stoves it was thought impossible to grow such 
plants in this country. The plants were plunged in 
the bark bed, which was 6 ft. to 7 ft. wide, and ran 
along nearly the whole length of the house. A pit was 
dug 3 ft. deep if the soil was tolerably dry ; but if the 
latter was wet, then a bed of tan that depth was made 
on the floor of the house. 
Forty feet was considered the maximum length of a 
stove, unless it had two fire-places, one at each end, 
with a partition in the middle of the house. About 
14 ft. was considered a good width to afford the proper 
convenience for plants. The front wall of bricks was 
carried up 3 ft., upon which an oak beam rested. The 
uprights were fixed in this and carried to a height 
of 6) ft. or 7 ft. The glass roof was then carried to a 
point of the back wall beneath the coping, at a height 
of 16 ft. above the tan bed in large stoves, for the 
accommodation of tall plants. The back wall was 
carried up higher, and surmounted with a crown piece 
or projecting coping for shelter. Furthermore, it was 
built from 13 ins. to 22 ins. thick, in order the better 
to keep the house warm, and swallowed up 24 lengths 
of bricks. What would builders of the present day 
think of such extravagance ? 
Besides the heat obtained from the tan bed, a set of 
brick flues were piled one above the other, as in the 
case of the dry stove. It may be stated that when 
flues were constructed under the pavement of the dry- 
stove their arrangement was sometimes as complicated 
as those against the back wall. Instead of being 
carried straight through from end to end, they were 
built in a zigzag or wavy manner from front to back of 
the house until finally connected with the chimney. 
The flues were carefully joined with mortar, puddled 
inside, and faced with mortar outside, over which a 
coarse cloth was placed before the former was dry. in 
order to prevent cracking and the escape of smoke into 
the interior of the house. Even then the destructive 
power of smoke on plants was fully recognised, and 
more trouble was taken to guard against it than is the 
case at the present day where flues are still in use. 
Turf, when it could be had, was considered the cheapest 
and best fuel for burning in hot-house fires ; but they 
also used coal and wood. As a further means of pro- 
tection, tarpaulins were fixed in frames and placed over 
the sashes of the roof in stormy weather, to carry off 
wet, as well as to protect the glass from snow and 
hailstorms. Tarpaulins were sometimes placed against 
the front lights, in order to economise fuel by preventing 
the escape of heat. 
--- 
THE WEATHER IN DECEMBER. 
The following is a copy of the record of temperature 
kept here from the 7th to the 31st ult. The record is 
extraordinary, and will surely be long remembered :_ 
December 
Max. 
Min. 
December 
Max. 
Min. 
7 
31 
15 
20 
20 
13 
8 
32 
25 
21 
18 
12 
9 
26 
22 
lowest 
10 
32 
26 
22 
16 
0 
11 
26 
23 
23 
24 
13 
12 
25 
17 
24 
28 
23 
13 
30 
24 
25 
24 
19 
14 
26 
9 
26 
32 
19 
15 
25 
9 
27 
28 
24 
16 
28 
22 
28 
27 
24 
17 
29 
23 
29 
26 
23 
18 
26 
23 
30 
24 
18 
19 
25 
23 
31 
26 
16 
On three occasions only was the thermometer down 
to 32°; the mean temperature for the twenty-live days 
w-as 22 5°. Average maximum, 26°; average minimum, 
19°. For the last eleven days the mean temperature was 
21-5°.— F. it. Swan, Enville Gardens, Stourbridge. 
A Mid-Lothian correspondent writes :—We could have 
done with more of the wintry weather in the Lothians, 
where we have not had the ground fairly white with 
snow, and only on two nights has this been more than 
a few degrees — 2° to 4° generally — of frost. On 
December 20th we had 15° of frost, and on the 28th 
7°. This is different to what you have been having 
in the south. 
