108 
October 19, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
HINTS FOR AMATEURS. 
Heating the Greenhouse. 
It may be taken for granted that it is the ambition 
of every amateur gardener who has passed 
through the initial stages of the disease to have a 
greenhouse. Many a time and oft, when chatting 
with lovers of plants about their favourites, and 
perhaps discussing the merits of some particular 
specimen, have we heard the remark : Yes ! I get 
a good deal of pleasure out of my flowers, and I have 
no pleasanter time than when I am pottering about 
in the outdoor garden, but I wish I had a green¬ 
house properly heated, for then I could do so much 
more ; now I am sadly handicapped ; the frost puts 
in an appearance and withers up my protegees with 
its icy breach, winter comes to stay, and good-bje to 
outdoor flowers ! A well-heated greenhouse ! aye, 
there's the rub ; how many people possess it ? but 
comparatively few we fear ! 
Owing to the cheapness with which small glass 
houses may now be obtained, they have come into 
pretty general use in many a little garden, but, sad 
to say, in far too many cases the heating apparatus 
is woefully deficient, and the value of the house is 
thus sadly discounted. It is true that an unheated 
house may be turned to very great advantage in a 
variety of ways, but if only sufficient heating power 
is at hand to exclude frost a great point is gained. 
Disappointment is scarcely the term to use to 
describe the feelings of those, who, after spending an 
infinite amount of time and trouble in coaching a 
batch of plants through the earlier stages of their 
existence, awake some bright winter’s morning to 
discover the frost in the greenhouse, and the leaves 
of the plants nearly as black as their own looks 
when they find out the full extent of the damage. 
If the individual thus sorely tried is anything of a 
philosopher he is apt to soliloquise thus: Well! I 
might have saved myself the trouble of bringing 
those plants in a month or so ago, as I thought out 
of harm's way; it would have been just as well 
for them to have been frozen out of doors as in. 
It is a fact that must he patent to all who know 
anything about plants or plant houses, that if a 
greenhouse is to be of real service to the amateur, 
who uses it to shield his delicately-constitutioned 
plants from the inclemency of the weather, it must 
be frost-proof, and to be this it must of course be 
properly heated. Now we have come to that parti¬ 
cular season of the year when the whole of the 
winter lies before us, all the more formidable 
because we have no means of gauging its quality. 
True, we have passed through other winters, but 
with the glorious uncertainty of our climate no two 
of them are alike. Still, like men who stand upon 
the eve of a great conflict, we must prepare for, the 
worst. We propose, therefore, to deal briefly with 
a few of the systems whereby the temperature of 
the houses may be kept up sufficiently high to admit 
of ordinary greenhouse plants being grown. With 
this we would add a word of advice—viz., to lose 
no time in remedying any defects that may present 
themselves in the heating apparatus, as during the 
next two or three months damp will prove almost as 
destructive as frost in badly-heated erections, 
even supposing the latter is kind enough to keep 
away. 
Flues. 
These are decidedly antiquated structures, and as 
inferior to the modern methods of heating as George 
Stephenson's “ Rocket ” when compared with the 
present-day triumphs of railway engineering. Flues 
had this one point in their favour, that, once they 
were well warmed through, the bricks retained their 
heat for a very long time after the fire had gone out, 
and thus the stoker could sleep till' morning with a 
quiet conscience. Still, there was always the danger 
of a crack in the brickwork occurring, and a conse¬ 
quent leakage into the house of the sulphurous fumes 
so injurious to plant life. The heat, moreover, obtained 
from flues is always of a drier and more parching 
nature than that produced from hot-water piping. 
In fact, nobody thinks of using flues nowadays, 
other systems being more economical as well as 
more effective. 
Oil Stoves. 
For very small houses, such as those measuring 7 ft. 
by 5 ft. up to 10 ft. by 6 ft , a good oil stove is a very 
easy and effective method of heating, provided it is 
properly looked after. Ay, this is the crux of the 
whole matter, proper attention, for if it is not kept 
clean it is scarcely to be expected that it will do its 
work satisfactorily and well. The wick must be 
neatly cut and trimmed each day that the lamp is 
used, whilst the oil in the chamber must never be 
allowed to run too low. Carefully wipe off any oil 
that may have been spilled on the exterior surface 
of the stove during filling, as, if this is not attended 
to, unpleasant vapours are given off. Some small 
oil lamps suitable for heating houses of the dimen¬ 
sions previously given can be obtained from Messrs. 
C. Toope & Son, Stepney Square, Stepney, N.E., 
and these, providing that the simple rules given 
above for their working are carried out, will do their 
part to the satisfaction of the owner. For rather 
larger houses, say those measuring 18 ft. to 20 ft. by 
10 to 12 ft., Messrs. Toope & Co. recommend the 
Perfection Oil Stove. This is an admirable con¬ 
trivance, and is well worthy a trial. It can be fitted 
inside or outside the house, a patent purifier being 
attached, and no down draft observable. It is fitted 
with hot-water pipes, which can be laid around the 
house if desired. No noxious fumes arising from 
combustion are ever given off. 
Another reliable invention is that sent out by the 
Frank Rippingille Stove Company, Plume Street, 
Aston Lane, Birmingham. This also consumes 
petroleum, and will burn for forty hours at a stretch 
without attention, diffusing a moist, genial heat all 
around, and all at the marvellously small cost of six¬ 
pence a day. It is constructed on the condensing 
hot-air principle, and being made of lead-coated steel 
it is not attacked by rust. An illustration of this 
stove was given in the issue of The Gardening 
World for the 16th February last, and may be of 
some service to those readers who desire to see 
what it is like. 
Hot-Water Boilers. 
These are without doubt the best means of heating 
that we have at our disposal, although we would not 
recommend them for use in very small houses, 
where, as has been previously intimated, a good oil 
stove will do all that is required. They are cheap, 
easy to fix and manage, and thoroughly efficient in 
their working. The heat they throw out is moist, 
and as perfectly innocuous to plant life as artificial 
heat can well be. 
Messrs. Jones & Attwood, Stourbridge, have long 
given attention to heating apparatus suitable for the 
smaller class of glass houses. The “ Desideratum ” 
boiler sent out by them is a marvel of handiness. 
This can be had in all sizes, and will drive three 
lengths of three or four-inch piping running the 
whole length of the house. The boiler may be fixed 
in the brick wall of the house, flush with the outer 
surface, no separate stokehole being needed, whilst 
all the stoking is done outside, no fumes at all enter¬ 
ing the house. As to fuel, nearly anything may be 
burnt, the cinders from the kitchen coming in very 
handy, although coke broken up to the size of wal¬ 
nuts is decidedly the best fuel obtainable. By a 
series of dampers the speed of combustion may be 
regulated at will, or in accordance with the whims 
of the weather. 
For a medium-sized house the No. 1 Lough¬ 
borough boiler is also a splendidly trustworthy 
apparatus. In construction it very closely ap¬ 
proaches the “ Desideratum,” and is quite as easy of 
fixture and management. Coke broken up rather 
small likewise forms the best fuel in this case. We 
are indebted to Messrs. Messenger & Co., of Lough¬ 
borough, for this excellent apparatus, and boiler 
and pipes complete may be had from them at a 
very low rate. For comparatively large houses, a 
No. 2 or No. 3 boiler may be necessary, but few 
amateurs possess such erections as these, and it is 
to those who only go in for glass on a small scale 
that the advice contained in these columns this week 
is specially given.— Rex. 
--J*- 
Old Pelargoniums.— Sepia asks whether it is worth 
while to attempt to save old plants of zonal Pelar¬ 
goniums by lifting them from the open ground and 
potting them off. He says that he has tried this 
system for several years, but has ahvays been un¬ 
successful, as, after lingering awhile, the plants have 
invariably damped off. 
Sepia is not alone in his experience by any means. 
Old plants of this kind are, to use a somewhat 
vulgar phrase, very ticklish subjects to manage, 
and need a lot of looking after. The plants on lift¬ 
ing should be cut back to within an inch of the com¬ 
mencement of the present year’s growth—that is to 
say, well back to the hard brown wood. They may 
be put two in a large sixty pot, any old soil answer¬ 
ing the purpose as long as it is not too wet. Do not 
give them any water after potting ; put them on a shelf 
in the greenhouse near the glass, and keep them dry 
all through the winter. If the house is not suffered 
to decline below 45 0 Fahr. by night so much the 
better. In a couple of months’ time they should 
be looked over with a pair of sharp scissors, and the 
dead snags cut clean out. 
Shabby Coleus.—I have a Coleus, writes Cornus, 
which has been a marvel of beauty during the latter 
part of summer in my window, but now it has got 
rather shabby, and lost a great part of its lower 
leaves. What am I to do with it ? Can I keep it 
through the winter ? 
It is very certain that you will not be able to keep 
your plant through the winter. Coleuses invariably 
behave in the way you say yours has done upon the 
approach of the cold, damp weather. If you have 
a greenhouse containing a small propagating frame 
which can be kept up to the temperature of a stove, 
we should advise you to insert the tops of the shoots 
as cuttiugs. With a little bottom heat these strike 
readily enough, and may be allowed to pass through 
the winter in their cutting pots. 
Keeping Parsnips. — Astor writes for advice as to 
the best method of keeping his Parsnips through 
the winter. He says he has got as fine a bed of 
them as one could wish to see, although his garden 
is a comparatively small one, and close to London. 
Store room with him is, he continues, rather a valu¬ 
able commodity, and wishes to know whether the 
roots will be injured if left out in the open air. 
It has been demonstrated over and over 
again that so far from frost injuring Parsnips 
which are left through the winter in the 
positions in which they have grown, they are 
much improved in flavour thereby. This system 
has, however, one drawback, i.e., that during the 
prevalence of hard frosts the ground is too hard to 
render it possible to get the roots up intact. This 
difficulty may be got over, either by putting a cover¬ 
ing of straw or bracken upon part of the bed, there¬ 
by excluding the frost, or by lifting enough roots 
before frost sets in to last for a week or two, storing 
them in sand or dry soil until wanted. 
Lifting Chrysanthemums. —In reply to your query, 
T. IF., as to whether Chrysanthemums may be lifted 
from the open and potted up, we would say yes, by 
all means, providing, of course, due care is taken. 
It will readily be understood that the farther the 
blooms on the plant or plants operated on are 
expanded, the more likely are they to receive a 
check. The plants which it is proposed to lift 
should, therefore, be operated on as soon after the 
buds have begun to open as possible. The soil should 
be loosened all round them by means of a long¬ 
pronged digging-fork, after which the latter may be 
thrust right underneath the ball, and the plant 
gently levered out. Do not shake too much of the 
soil off, but only sufficient to enable you to get the 
plant in a lair-sized pot, say one measuring about 
10 in. in diameter. After potting, place the plant in 
a position where it can be kept close and shaded for 
at least a week, after which time it will have recovered 
itself sufficiently to take its place in the greenhouse. 
Alternantheras — Dubious enquires as to whether 
Alternantheras may be kept through the winter in a 
small greenhouse, 10 ft. by 6 ft., the temperature of 
which often falls below 38® Fahr. in the very cold 
weather. He put in the cuttings at the beginning of 
September in a small propagating frame and they 
are now nicely rooted. 
The temperature in the greenhouse is decidedly 
too low to keep Alternantheras properly, and we 
should not advise the attempt, but they may be 
made to pass through the winter in good condition 
in the propagating frame to which he refers, as this 
may be maintained as a sort of intermediate stove. 
-- 
The desert of Sahara is being honeycombed with 
oases or gardens by means of artesian wells. Within 
the last few years 12,000,000 acres have been re¬ 
claimed in this way. Before all the sandy wastes of 
Africa can be made fertile, 900,000,000 acres yet re¬ 
main to be irrigated. 
